Today these brave South Africans have honoured Madiba’s dream
1 August 2016
Fellow Democrats,
People of Tshwane,
Today it warms my heart to witness democracy in action, as enshrined Constitutional rights are being claimed and exercised by residents of Soshanguve, here in the City of Tshwane.
I am thrilled that we today welcome over 100 community members and leaders, and former ANC supporters, from Soshanguve into the DA family. Residents of Soshanguve that have had enough of the ANC and its cheap politics, its corruption and its lack of care, while the majority of black South Africans are trapped in poverty and without hope of finding a job and bettering their lives.
Voters across South Africa are saying, like these residents of Soshanguve today, that they want to join the DA’s family; they are saying loud and clear: we need change! Change that moves this country forward again.
These men and women before us today have used their freedom to change the status quo here in Soshanguve, and to get behind a political party that governs for the benefit of all South Africans – not just the connected few.
Constitutional rights which were fought for for decades, such as freedom of association in section 18 and political rights in section 19, are being exercised in a truly democratic manner. This just another illustration of the movement of change which is seeingSouth Africans in their numbers realising that the dream of ’94 no longer lives in the ANC. Rather, it’s the DA’s values of Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity that will bring about the change we need to move forward again.
Today, freedom has been chosen. The freedom to associate with whichever political party you choose. It’s that freedom Madiba fought so tirelessly for. And it’s the same freedom that allows you to choose which religion to follow, what language to speak, who to love, and which gender to identify with.
It’s that freedom we must never give up or allow to be taken away from us.
But let me say this: I know it’s not easy.
They’ll call you names such as “puppets” and “sell-outs”.
They use intimidation tactics on you and your family.
They’ll lie to you and tell you that the DA will take away your social grants.
All of this is nonsense - pure lies, peddled by the corrupt so that they can use you to carry on with their corruption. I want to encourage you for being brave and for doing the right thing.
While they steal, we will unite and build!
Fellow democrats, any party that says this race must be on one side, and another race on the other side is simply not fit to govern our diverse country. While Zuma’s ANC want to tell you where you can and cannot vote. Black this side, white that side, the Constitution says that we are one nation, united in our diversity, and dedicated to helping and supporting each other.
Our job is to honour the Constitution and advance the rights it gives us. The ANC clearly want to do the opposite. And that’s because they simply don’t believe in the Constitution any longer.
Just yesterday, former President Kgalema Motlanthe said that when he was the ANC’s deputy president, he realised that he was in the leadership of a party that wanted to “selectively adhere” to the Constitution. He said the ANC of today is on “autopilot”, without any leadership, and that it is in a race to the bottom, with nearly nothing left to salvage.
A party that wants to “selectively adhere” to the constitution when it suits them is not a party that embodies the dream of ’94, and is not a party that can take South Africa forward.
We must continue the fight to see Madiba’s dream of a constitutional democracy founded on the values of human dignity, equality and non-racialism realised in South Africa. And we will continue to fight that fight, not matter what our opponents say. Because South Africa deserves it.
This Wednesday, vote for a party that will move South Africa forward again.
Vote for change.
Vote DA!
Issued by Mabine Seabe, Spokesperson to the DA Leader, 1 August 2016
