DA Leader Steenhuisen announces Alan Winde as Western Cape Premier Candidate for Election 2024
26 August 2023
Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered today by the DA Federal Leader John Steenhuisen in Athlone, during the announcement of the party's Western Cape Premier Candidate for the National and Provincial Elections in 2024.
Good morning fellow democrats,
Dis is ‘n groot voorreg om vanoggend met elkeen van u te praat om die DA se premiers-kandidaat vir die Wes-Kaap aan te kondig.
Over the past month, I have crisscrossed South Africa – from Gauteng to the Free State and, just last week, the Northern Cape.
For those of you lucky enough to call the Western Cape home, I can assure you that it is absolutely eye-opening to see the true state of the rest of our beloved country.
In the rest of South Africa, law and order has all but collapsed.
In the rest of South Africa, 10 000 convicted criminals are released by the President to create cover for a convicted criminal, Jacob Zuma, to be let free.
In the rest of South Africa, the Reserve Bank lets you off the hook when you have millions of undeclared dollars in your couch.
In the rest of South Africa, you dodge pieces of road rather than potholes.
And the only running water many communities have is when sewerage runs down their streets.
But not here.
Here, in the Western Cape, law and order reigns supreme.
In the Western Cape, every single person is equal before the law.
In the Western Cape, violence will get you nowhere – a lesson that the taxi gangs learned recently.
This commitment to the rule of law is the foundation of the DA difference.
It is because of the DA’s commitment to this sacred principle, that violent crime is coming down in the Western Cape.
The DA has invested over R1 billion to deploy over 1 200 additional law enforcement officers under the LEAP programme.
As a result, murder is down 5.7% in the Western Cape!
In the most dangerous areas in the province, murder is down 48% in Kraaifontein, 26% in Philippi East and 57% in Samora Machel.
We are literally saving lives in the Western Cape because of the DA’s commitment to the rule of law.
The rule of law also provides the foundation for economic growth in this province.
Prospective investors in the Western Cape know that corruption is not tolerated and that we view business as a partner in growth, rather than as an enemy.
That is why investment is flooding into this province.
En dit is die mense van die Wes-Kaap wat die vrugte pluk.
The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows that the Western Cape has – by far – the lowest unemployment rate in South Africa.
While the national unemployment rate is 32.6%, it is 11.7% lower here in the Western Cape.
In the last year alone, 368 000 more people found work in the Western Cape.
This means that 368 000 more people are able to put food on the table for their families and a roof over their heads.
As a time when millions of South Africans can no longer feed their families due to a cost of living crisis, this DA-run province is creating the jobs that are saving lives.
But in this party, we know that businesses cannot grow sustainably without a reliable supply of electricity.
Load shedding is an ANC crime against the people of South Africa.
It is destroying businesses every single day.
It is costing jobs every day.
It is costing lives every day as our criminals come out as soon as our streets go dark.
And there is only one party in this country that is fighting to end load shedding.
That party is the DA.
The Western Cape is investing R7 billion to become the first province in the country to end load shedding.
Cape Town already protects residents against up to two stages of load shedding.
With the DA in government, we are set to increase that protection until we end load shedding altogether.
Ladies and gentleman,
This is the DA’s record of action in the Western Cape.
And it was achieved for one reason, and one reason only: because the DA has an outright majority of more than 50% in the Western Cape.
None of this happened by accident.
It is only possible because the people of this province have given the DA more than 50% in every election since 2009.
And our flag bearer on this project since 2019, is our incumbent premier.
There’s an old saying that applies to our premier candidate in the Western Cape:
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
That is why it is my privilege to announce today that the DA’s premier candidate for the Western Cape is none other than Premier Alan Winde!
This is the man who has led the DA effort to ensure that this province becomes the best-run region in South Africa.
This is the leader who has kept this province moving forward even as the state collapses in other parts of South Africa.
But Alan, and the DA, have not done it alone.
None of this would be possible without the support of the people of the Western Cape.
To the voters of the Western Cape, I want to say that in this province we have:
A lot to be proud of. A lot more to do. But also a lot to lose.
We must be under absolutely no illusion that there is a coalition of corruption out there who are desperate to get their hands on this province.
It drives the ANC mad to see the progress the DA is making in this province.
That is why they refuse to devolve control over the police and railways to the Western Cape.
Because they know the DA will fix the police!
They know we will fix the railways!
And the ANC doesn’t want to see that because it will embarrass them even more.
At the same time, the ANC also knows that it has no chance of winning its own majority in this province.
That is why they have put together a gang of small parties to try and drag the DA below 50% here.
Parties like the Patriotic Alliance, Good, Al Jama-Ah, COPE and the NCC are nothing but glorified ANC branches.
These parties are the ANC in drag.
Hulle dra dalk ‘n groen of ‘n oranje hempie – maar onder daai hempie is ‘n ANC vest!
Ons moet nie val vir hierdie rampokkers nie.
Die PA en al hierdie ander klein partye is nie opposisie teen die ANC nie – hulle is die ANC!
We cannot allow this gang of losers to take us for fools in the Western Cape.
We have to see through their lies and protect the progress we have made here.
Because we have a lot to lose.
If the DA falls below 50% in the Western Cape, a Doomsday Coalition composed of the ANC, EFF, PA and other small parties will take control.
They will bring the same corruption and collapse to this province that they have unleased in the rest of the country.
We have already gotten a bitter foretaste of what this looks like.
In Beaufort-West, Gayton McKenzie promised to turn the town into the next Dubai.
He even raised R3 million from donors at a fancy even in Sandton, which he promised would be spent on the people of Beaufort-West.
Maar waar is daai geld nou?
Nie ‘n sent daarvan is Beaufort-Wes toe nie!
This is straight out of the ANC playbook and Gayton must pay back the money that disappeared!
And look at what they did to Knysna and Theewaterskloof.
The PA and Good sold those municipalities to the ANC.
The DA refused to allow the PA to deploy its corrupt cadres in Knysna, so they collapsed our coalition and joined the ANC.
In less than two years, they took the well-run council we left behind and today they have admitted that Knysna is bankrupt.
The PA and Good helped the ANC loot Beaufort-West, Knysna and Theewaterskloof into bankruptcy, and that is exactly what they plan to do to the whole Western Cape if they ever get power!
My fellow Democrats,
We simply cannot allow this.
Because, above all else, the Western Cape represents hope.
Hope that South Africa can be saved.
That we can become a winning country.
If the DA loses its outright majority in the Western Cape, hope will be lost.
People will lose faith that South Africa be saved.
That is what we are fighting for.
Hope.
And it is a fight we must win.
That is why I am calling on Alan, on the provincial leadership, and on every single DA activist today, to intensify your efforts to register every single DA voter in this province.
We must never underestimate the desperation of the ANC, EFF and their partners in parties like the PA.
They are power hungry, and they are coming to destroy what we have built in the Western Cape.
So let’s go out there and ensure that, next year, the DA – under the leadership of Premier Alan Winde – wins its biggest majority ever in the Western Cape so that we can keep hope alive for the country we all love!
Thank you.
Issued by the DA, 26 August 2023
