Why The Western Cape Works!

Dear Editor

“If you’ve lived in the Western Cape for the past fifteen years, you probably take it for granted that you drive on roads without potholes, that clean drinking water flows from your taps, and that your local taxes are not stolen. But if you had lived in another part of South Africa over the past fifteen years, your roads would have crumbled, your taps would have run dry, and the taxes you pay would all have been looted” – DA Leader, John Steenhuisen

The confidence that residents of the Western Cape have shown in the DA for the past 15 years continues to work positively in their favour as DA-run municipalities once again reclaim the mettle of the best-run municipalities in the country.

According to the latest municipal governance performance index by Ratings Afrika, the 5 best-performing municipalities in South Africa – namely, Midvaal, Mossel Bay, Saldanha Bay, Swellendam and Swartland – are all governed by the DA. Not only this, the DA-run City of Cape Town is the best-performing metro in the country with a score that is almost two times over the metro average score.

The DA has managed to outperform other municipalities in the rest of the country, which are either run outright by the ANC or are under an ANC-EFF doomsday coalition, because DA municipalities have a zero tolerance towards corruption, are committed towards their responsibilities of delivering better services and can account for all the monies spent.

The DA’s record of good governance has been so consistent that the Western Cape has become the destination of choice for people who are running away from badly governed ANC Provinces and municipalities. Mossel Bay and Saldanha Bay have experienced a 50% increase in their populations since 2011.

A record of good governance has resulted in tangible economic benefits for the residents of the Western Cape. According to Stats SA, the province created 239,000 net jobs between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the fourth quarter of 2023. This means that for every 5 jobs created in South Africa, 4 have been in the Western Cape.

Western Cape residents are therefore well aware that a vote for small parties will bring the ANC back through the backdoor and destroy the positive economic trajectory that the Province is currently on. After destroying South Africa’s 8 other Provinces, the ANC – in cahoots with other doomsday parties, is hell bent to pulling off a grand heist if elected into power.

For the drafters of our Constitution, DA governments offer the best model of the type of government they had in mind when they stipulated that a municipality must ‘structure and manage its administration and budgeting and planning processes to give priority to the basic needs of the community, and to promote the social and economic development of the community’. Voters have a choice to either vote for the ANC-EFF doomsday coalition or a DA government that will rescue and restore the social contract that has been violated with impunity at all levels of government by the corrupt ANC government.

Regards

Eleanore Bouw-Spies MP
DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA)