Together We Can Build a Better Nelson Mandela Bay

1 June 2015

Note to Editors: The following remarks were made by the DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, during a community meeting in Bethelsdorp, Nelson Mandela Bay. Maimane was in NMB on the national Freedom, Fairness & Opportunity Tour.

Fellow Democrats and South Africans,

It feels good to be back in Nelson Mandela Bay.

You can feel the momentum behind the DA here in the Bay. Change is coming. Change that will bring the DA’s core values of Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity to the people of the Friendly City. 

I know that you feel disillusioned and abandoned by the current leadership of this Metro. A leadership that shows absolutely no willingness to solve the service delivery problems of the Nelson Mandela Community.

Here in the Northern Areas, the Metro leadership do not care about making these streets safe.

It is unacceptable for you to feel like hostages in your own houses, too fearful to let your children out to play.

There is no place for gangsters and drug lords on these streets. And it’s time for a government that will work with you to drive them away.

A DA-led Metro will institute a Metro Police force that can intervene when there are spikes in gang-related crime. But what is really needed is a permanent police unit focused on dealing with the gang problem. 

That requires bringing back the specialised anti-gang and anti-drug units that were disbanded ten years ago. And we are fighting for you in Parliament to achieve this.

True freedom centres on the right to live and move around your neighbourhood without fear. It means freedom from gangs, freedom from drugs and freedom from crime.

Those who break the law in our country should face the consequences. No one should be above the law – from the gangsters who operate in this community right up to the President.

What kind of message does the Police Minister send to criminals by saying President Zuma doesn’t have to pay back a cent for Nkandla? 

What President Zuma did was unlawful, ask the Public Protector she will tell you. 

We do not think it is fair for the President to be secure in comfort while ordinary South Africans live in fear of criminals every day. 

That is why the DA has today served lawyers’ letters on National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and Police Minister Nathi Nhleko. 

We are telling them that the Police Minister’s facts are incorrect, and that Parliament must not consider his report because it is unconstitutional, irrational and unlawful. 

We are telling Minister Nhleko that South Africans will not pay more money for Nkandla. We want a government that is accountable, and leaders who care about citizens not only about themselves.

South Africans dream of a country where everyone is equal before the law, where criminals go to jail and we all feel safe in our homes. 

This vision for our country can begin to be realised when the DA takes the Union Buildings. And we are a lot closer to that goal than many people realise.

Next year, we will be presented with a huge opportunity to take a great leap forward to national government when we win Nelson Mandela Bay.

And when we win Nelson Mandela Bay, our sole focus will be on serving you, the voter. 

Change will start at the ballot box next year. And we need you to do your part. 

Each one of you needs to register and turn out to vote in next year’s municipal election. 

If you do your job, we’ll be able to do ours. We’ll be able to form a government that will work together with you to build a better future for Nelson Mandela Bay.

Let’s make it happen!

Issued by the DA, June 1 2015