SPEECH BY DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE LEADER HELEN ZILLE AT THE DA 2009 ELECTION CAMPAIGN FINAL RALLY, STEVEN REAGAN SPORTS COMPLEX, WESTRIDGE, MITCHELL'S PLAIN, APRIL 18 2009

Introduction

My fellow South Africans, kollegas en vriende, bahlobo bam.

It has been a long, long journey to this point. For 80 days we have been campaigning day and night in every corner of our country. We have made sure that every South African who cares about the truth has had a chance to hear the truth. The DA has made sure that South Africa knows what its choice in this election will mean for our future.

Now it all comes down to Wednesday. Woensdag 22 April 2009. ‘n Geskiedkundige dag vir Suid-Afrika. ‘n Dag wanneer alles kan regkom as elkeen net sy plig doen. Die dag waarop hierdie blou golf van die DA, die ANC se korrupsie kan wegspoel.

On Wednesday, every adult South African has the chance to exercise the power of their vote. Their choice will mean the difference between success or failure for South Africa.

That, my friends is what the choice between the DA and the ANC means. In ten years time, when people look back, everyone will know that the DA was telling the truth from the start. You, my friends, are among the millions out there who see the truth. You will do the right thing when it matters and where it matters and that is in the privacy of the voting booth on Wednesday.

You will choose to defend the Constitution, because that is all we have to protect all our people from the ANC's power abuse. You will choose to help us fight corruption. You know that corrupt leaders make poor people much poorer. U weet dat korrupte leiers arm mense armer maak. And you know that the ANC wants power to enrich themselves, and their family and their friends. They want to be above the law so that they don't have to go to jail. But we know that corrupt leaders belong in jail, not in Parliament. Ons sal hulle nie in die Parlement sit met ons stem nie.

And so on Wednesday we will prevent the ANC from getting the 2/3rds majority they need to change the Constitution. We have even heard Julius Malema saying the ANC will get a three thirds majority. Just now he is going to say the ANC wants to get 4/3rds or a 5/3rds majority. If Julius Malema got 20% for woodwork, just imagine what he got for mathematics. But his ignorance is what gets him promoted in the ANC because he is a friend of Jacob Zuma.

It also helps you to become a leader in the ANC if you have faced criminal charges or if you have been convicted of a crime. Just look at the ANC's election list. And look at Jacob Zuma who has spent R100-million of your money making sure he stays out of court to avoid facing charges on 783 counts of corruption, fraud, money-laundering and racketeering. He has tried to escape justice by bullying the prosecutors to withdraw the charges. Sies. Dis ‘n skande.

But the DA will not let him get away with it. We will do whatever it takes to make sure Jacob Zuma and other corrupt leaders have their day in court. Because we know: Corrupt leaders make poor people poorer. And Jacob Zuma is just a symbol for all the ANC. When you hear the name ANC, the first thing you think of is corruption.

Bonk' abantu bayayazi iinkhokheli zeANC ziyarhwapiliza.

Ons will nie hulle boetie boetie beleid he nie. Dis een van die redes hoekom u stem so belangrik is.

That is the reason that your choice on Wednesday is so important.

It's a choice between prosperity or poverty

It's a choice between success or failure.

It's a choice between being a winning nation or a lost cause.

You are all here today because you have already made the right choice. You will all vote DA to win. Niza kuvota ukuwina, ukuphumelela. U gaan stem en wen.

Every vote counts in this election. Every single vote can be the one that keeps the ANC below a two-thirds majority. Every single vote can be the one that wins the Western Cape. One vote can put us in power through coalitions in other provinces. And that will make all the difference to the future.

Where we have been in this campaign

This campaign has taken me all over South Africa in the past three months. I have been to every province of our beautiful, diverse country. We are truly the "world in one country". I have met so many different people, and crossed so many boundaries. I know that South Africans love each other and share the hope that we can make our country work for all and create opportunities for all. Ons is lief vir mekaar. Ons wil saamwerk en sukses behaal. Ons wil mekaar se tale en kultuurerfenis beskerm.

Siyathandana. Siyasebenzisana.

South Africa is not just for some. Those South Africans who are reaching out to each other, because they know we either sink or swim together, are supporting the DA, waar ons vir mekaar se regte opstaan, en mekaar verdedig.

Musa ukujonga ubala wofele lwam. Ndidaliwe njalo. Andikwazi ukuwutshintsha. Jonga intliziyo yam. Jonga intliziyo yabo bonke abantu beDA.

iANC iyabohlula abantu

iDA iyabadibanisa.

Truly, ours is a party united in diversity. A rainbow party for a rainbow nation. A party that lives the change we want to see: one nation, with one future. Een nasie met een toekoms.

In this campaign it has been a great privilege to witness what is best in South Africa, in the stories and in the faces of the men and women I have met throughout our country.

I have met remarkable people. They are ordinary South Africans doing extraordinary things to bring the vision of the open, opportunity society to life - often in the most difficult of circumstances.

I am thinking of December Mpapane, a maths and science teacher at Nkomazi High School in Mangweni, Mpumalanga. For the past 18 years he has given up his weekends to tutor learners. And every year for the past five years, between 90% and 100% of his pupils have passed maths and science in matric.

I am thinking of Gwynneth Marmetschke from Fernglen in Port Elizabeth. For the past 18 years, Gwynneth has been involved in the Baakens Valley Preservation Trust, which does everything it can to preserve the valley from destruction, pollution and decay, and save it for future generations.

I am thinking of Madikeledi Moita Khata, from Bataung in the North West. She runs a crèche for orphaned children - and cares for them and feeds them.

I am thinking of Dawn Philemon, from Chatsworth in KwaZulu-Natal. For many years, Dawn has waged a fearless - and often lonely - campaign against drug dealers in her community. Every day, she wages her battle to put drug dealers behind bars where they belong.

People like December, Gwynneth, Madikeledi and Dawn are "Everyday Heroes". They symbolise everything that the DA believes in. They live out our policies.

These everyday heroes of South Africa are doing more than the government to fight poverty, hunger, homelessness disease and crime. It is a disgrace. It should be the other way around. And that is why the time has come to vote for people who understand that government is about service to the people. And to vote against a party that wants to put criminals into Parliament.

More and more people know the ANC has failed them.

Take the people of Odendaalsrus in the Free State, where a river of raw sewage flows through the streets because the ANC awarded a boetie-boetie tender to upgrade the sewerage treatment plant. They took the money but only made the problem worse. That is how it is with corrupt governments. You pay a lot for things to get worse.

In Ikageng in the North West, ANC councillors awarded housing contracts to their friends. And now people sit without houses because the contractors never finished the work.

In Durban, the whole public transport system collapsed because the ANC allowed its comrades to make millions from the bus company and then drove the company into the ground. Now poor people suffer without public transport.

Stop a Zuma two-thirds majority

That's how the closed, crony society for comrades works. It's about making a few people rich and everyone else poor. It's about jobs for pals and deals for political contacts. That is what has caused the failed state in many other countries on our continent.

The DA is the only party that can prevent the same thing happening in South Africa. Only the DA is big enough - and strong enough - to stop Zuma from taking us down the path of cronyism, corruption and criminalisation. Only the DA will prevent Jacob Zuma and the ANC from turning South Africa into a failed state.

Don't split the Opposition

That is why Zuma and Malema hate the DA. They know we are going to stop them. That is why they want opposition voters to vote for tiny parties that cannot make a difference. They want opposition voters to waste their vote on parties wat witvoetjie by die ANC soek. Zuma and Malema want to divide the opposition into lots of little parties. Because this way the ANC can divide and rule. As Jacob Zuma himself said -- if the opposition is divided the ANC will rule until Jesus comes. Dis Godslaster. Ons sal dit nie toelaat nie. Want ons is nie onnosel nie.

We know we must stand together with the DA, to build a new majority bringing together all the people on the basis of shared values and principles and beliefs, to beat the ANC in an election, and to create a prosperous future for all South Africans.

We have the chance to do it, and that chance is now, this Wednesday.

If we succeed, we will have fulfilled our duty to future generations and prevent South Africa from becoming a failed one-party state.

We will be in government at provincial level, where we can show what the policies of the open, opportunity society mean in practice, and hoe die Regstaat die lewe beter maak vir almal.

We will use our powers to the full, to bring down crime and drug abuse, to build a strong economy that can create more jobs, to improve education and health care, to increase housing opportunities, and to end corruption. We have started doing this in the City of Cape Town and other local authorities that we govern. Give us a chance to bring a better life to all South Africans.

I am saying this in Mitchell's Plain today at our final big rally. But there is still a lot of work to do. We must work till the last minute to bring our message to every voter, because every single vote counts. In the next two days I will travel to four provinces to bring this message to Springbok, Middelburg, Mafikeng and Polokwane.

We will not give up, until the last minute of the last hour of the last day.

We will never give up. Asisoze sinikezele. Ons sal nooit die handdoek ingooi nie. We will save South Africa. Ons sal nie toelaat dat dit nog ‘n Zimbabwe word nie.

So make your vote count. Go out and vote for the DA on Wednesday!

So vote to win. For yourself, for our country, and for our shared future.

One nation one future. Isizwe esinye, ikamva elinye. Een Nasie Een Toekoms,

Vote DA and go out there and Win.

Baie dankie Ndiyabulela.

Issued by the Democratic Alliance

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