ANC/EFF Doomsday Coalition will unleash a violent crime wave on South Africa – just like it has already done in Nelson Mandela Bay

30 April 2024

Fellow Democrats,

Welcome to the Rescue Tour.

It is my privilege to be here today in the friendliest city of Nelson Mandela Bay.

Waar’s dit lekker?

Hier’s dit lekker!

Want vandag is dit ‘n DA ding.

Democrats, we are on a mission to rescue Nelson Mandela Bay, to rescue the Eastern Cape, and to rescue South Africa.

To do so, we need to be honest about the problems we face.

While this city is famous for its friendly people, there is nothing friendly about the violent criminality that has engulfed Nelson Mandela Bay.

In fact, a new international ranking recently rated Nelson Mandela Bay as the most dangerous city in South Africa, and as the 9th most dangerous city on the entire planet.

The murder rate in this city has increased by a staggering 37% in just the past year.

And nothing demonstrates the viciousness of the crime epidemic in Nelson Mandela Bay like the story of three-year-old Emilio Hutchinson from Helenvale.

Little Emilio could have been my son, he could have been your son.

But two weeks ago, little Emilio’s life was ripped apart.

While he was inside his own home, violent gangsters broke in and started killing Emilio’s family.

They shot his aunt and a family friend dead in front of him.

They also shot his niece, who was six months pregnant, who survived the attack.

And then they shot little Emilio to death inside his family home.

Just imagine what those final moments of life were like for this innocent three-year-old boy.

Imagine the fear, the horror and the pain of watching his family and his own life evaporate before his eyes.

Ons is vanaand hier om te sê: genoeg is genoeg.

We are here to say loud and clear that we cannot take the pain any longer.

We cannot take it anymore to watch our beautiful, talented children die before they even started to live.

We cannot take it anymore that we have an incompetent clown as a police minister, and an ANC government that doesn’t care if we live or die.

Genoeg.

That is why the DA has taken up the fight to ensure #JusticeForEmilio.

Many of you would have been at our protest march last week, where the community turned out in huge numbers for Emilio.

We have given Bheki Cele an ultimatum of 14 days to take action to make our communities safer, or we will escalate our fight further.

The DA is leading the charge against gang violence not only for little Emilio, but for each and every family that lives in fear of violent criminals.

For every South African that feels unsafe inside their own homes and on their own streets.

My fellow South Africans,

The crime wave that has engulfed the beautiful city of Nelson Mandela Bay is a harbinger of things to come wherever the Doomsday Coalition between the ANC and EFF takes power.

Some uninformed commentators think it is “scaremongering” to warn people about the consequences if we allow an ANC-EFF government to take power.

I challenge them to come here and say that to the face of residents of Nelson Mandela Bay, who are suffering daily under the very real consequences of the Doomsday Coalition.

In fact, the reason that 37% more people are now being murdered in this city than ever before, is because the Doomsday Coalition is already in charge here.

We see this pattern all over the country: wherever voters leave the door open for them, the ANC and EFF join forces will sell-outs in small parties like the Patriotic Alliance to kick out brave mayors like the DA’s Retief Odendaal.

In place of committed public servants like mayor Retief, they then install corrupt puppets to loot our cities into the ground.

I am here with a warning today: if we do not learn from the disaster that has hit Nelson Mandela Bay thanks to the ANC, the EFF and mercenary small parties like the Patriotic Alliance, Doomsday will soon arrive across the whole South Africa.

We all know that the ANC will not get a 50% majority in this election.

But they will do anything to stay in power by forming a Doomsday Coalition with the EFF and small sell-out parties like the Patriotic Alliance – just like they have done here in Nelson Mandela Bay.

That is why we must go out in huge numbers to vote for the DA.

Only the DA has the size and the track record to stand up against the Doomsday Coalition – just like we are doing here in Nelson Mandela Bay.

I am here today to say to the people of Nelson Mandela Bay and the whole Eastern Cape: help is on the way from the DA.

Instead of living in the most dangerous city in the country, a new government anchored by the DA will make Nelson Mandela Bay safe.

We will devolve policing powers to community level, so that people can help determine their own policing priorities.

We are already doing it where we govern in the Western Cape, where the DA government has deployed over 1 200 law enforcement additional law enforcement officers who have already arrested over 27 000 criminals.

We will replace ANC cadres with skilled and committed police officers to keep us all safe.

And we will create dedicated courts, policing units and prosecuting teams to prioritise gender-based violence and crimes against children.

We will do all of these things in the memory of little Emilio Hutchinson and of all people in Nelson Mandela Bay who have suffered under gang violence.

It is in their memories, that the DA will defeat the corrupt ANC and bring about a new era of law and order in our communities.

But the DA also knows that nothing stops a bullet, like a job.

We know that the best way to prevent our children from being targeted by gangs for recruitment in the first place, is by ensuring they have job opportunities to build a better life.

As mens ‘n goeie werk het, is dit soveel makliker om vir gangsters te sê hulle moet voertsek!

Under the current government, the Eastern Cape has the highest unemployment rate in the entire country.

Nearly 42% of working-age people in this province cannot find work.

When we include the number of people who have given up on ever finding a job, that figure rises to 47%.

Out of every 100 young people looking for work in this province, over 70 will never find a job if things remain as they are.

By forcing our children into unemployment, the ANC is helping to turn them into targets for gangsters.

Genoeg!

Under a new government anchored by the DA, we will kickstart job creation in Nelson Mandela Bay.

While the coalition between the ANC and EFF has brought an unemployment crisis to this city, a vote for the DA is a vote for two million new jobs.

This isn’t just empty talk.

Where the DA already governs next door in the Western Cape, over the past five years, we have created 8 out of every 10 net new jobs in the whole South Africa.

The 8 ANC provinces combined only created a pathetic 2 out of every 10 new jobs.

In one year alone, the DA-led province created 360 000 new jobs.

It is time to bring the DA’s job creation success to the Eastern Cape, by voting for the DA.

Fellow Democrats,

We know that the ANC is terrified of what is coming their way on 29 May.

The people of South Africa know the truth that their lives are miserable for one reason only: because of the looters in the ANC.

That is why we now even see the ANC president attacking the media.

On a leaked recording of an ANC meeting, Cyril Ramaphosa issues a clear instruction to attack the media, claiming that the media has “no right to report negatively on the ANC.”

Just a few days later, the State Security Agency – which he centralised in his own office – carried out Ramaphosa’s instruction by swooping on the head of news at the SABC.

This is nothing less than a brazen, undemocratic assault on the freedom of the press by a scared and weak man who is about to lose power.

It is the behaviour of a tin pot dictator who is shaking in his boots.

In fact, Ramaphosa is so scared that he even declined an invitation to debate me on News24 last week.

The ANC is scared of the media, the ANC is scared of the DA, and above all else, the ANC is scared of the people.

Because on the 29th of May, the people are going to teach them a lesson they will never forget.

To the people of Nelson Mandela Bay, I say: this is the moment you have been waiting for.

We can elect a new government anchored by the DA, that will ensure #JusticeForEmilio by bringing an end to gangsterism and violent crime.

We can elect a new DA government that will create millions of new jobs for you and your children.

We can defeat the Doomsday Coalition between the ANC and EFF by voting for the DA.

We can do all of these things, because on the DA has the size, the proven track record of good governance and delivery, the policies, and the people to make it all possible.

I now want to invite the DA’s provincial leadership and our candidates for the 2024 election to join me on stage.

People of the Eastern Cape: help is on the way!

If you want a big, strong party with a proven track record of fighting crime and creating jobs to anchor a new government to rescue the Eastern Cape, vote DA.

If you want that same strong anchor party at the heart of a new national government to rescue South Africa, vote DA.

And if you want to get rid of the ANC and keep the EFF out of government, vote DA.

We can do it.

We must do it.

And, together, we will do it.

Thank you.

Issued by John Steenhuisen by Leader by the Democratic Alliance, 30 April 2024