The only people who can bring change to Matjhabeng are you, the voters

Note to Editors: The following remarks were delivered by the DA Leader during a public meeting in Matjhabeng, Free State. The Leader is on a two-day visit to the the Free State as part of the National #Change19 Tour. The Leader is joined by DA Free State Provincial Leader, Patricia Kopane. 

My fellow South Africans

It’s great to wake up in the Free State and to drive through this wonderful province. It sits in the heart of our country in more ways than one – not only geographically, but also as the bread basket of our nation.

If we are to prosper as a nation and unlock our full potential, then it is crucial that the Free State succeeds. And the power to make this happen lies in your hands.

I come to your community as part of what I call my Change19 Tour. In the course of the year I plan to take the DA’s vision for a better South Africa to communities across the country.

I think we can all agree we need to change. Our country is heading the wrong way and soon it may be too late to turn around. We have stopped making progress as a nation. We are no longer marching towards economic freedom for all.

Communities like yours here in Matjhabeng are fast being forgotten by a government that promised to take you forward, but has no intention of honouring that promise.

And here in the Free State you suffer under the double threat of a national ANC government under Jacob Zuma and a provincial ANC government under Ace Magashule.

Because these two men are the same. The promises they make to their rich friends, the Guptas, mean far more than the promises they make to you before elections.

There has been a lot of talk recently about whether the ANC will kick Jacob Zuma out and replace him with someone else. I assure you, this will make no difference at all to the ANC. The culture of corruption – of stealing money that was meant for communities like yours – is part of the ANC now. It cannot be corrected.

Replacing Zuma with someone else will just increase your suffering. Similarly, replacing Ace Magashule with another ANC leader here in the Free State won’t change the way it governs for you. It will only change the name of the person handing out the contracts and tenders to friends and family.

When I talk about change on this tour, I mean total change. I mean a whole new way of looking at South Africa.

I’m talking about a South Africa that has entered its second struggle era – this time the struggle for economic freedom for all. The struggle to escape the economic oppression of ANC rule.

I’m talking about a South Africa in which all of us have a say in how this country of ours must be rebuilt – what it should look like and how we can all benefit from it.

I’m talking about a South Africa built on tolerance and respect for each other.

I’m talking about a South Africa where violence against women is not tolerated. Where we stand up, as one, against anyone who thinks they have the right to treat women as their possession.

I’m talking about a South Africa that is no longer the rape and murder capital of the world; where children don’t disappear every day, and where our streets and our neighbourhoods belong to the people who live there once more.

A South Africa where the leaders set the examples for others to follow. Where law and order starts at the top.

I’m talking about a South Africa that works. That creates jobs in every town and every city, and that invests in educating and training our youth to fill these jobs.

I’m talking about a South Africa free from the ANC. We have to start thinking and talking about our future without the ANC. Because only then can we start to move forward.

My fellow South Africans

If we want to build this South Africa – if we want to turn communities like Matjhabeng into places of hope, where the youth can find jobs instead of turning to crime and drugs – then we are going to have to do it together.

It’s no use to see ourselves as only DA, only ANC or only EFF, and everyone else as our enemies. We need to start thinking beyond these divides. We need to start seeing those who want to build the same South Africa as we do as our allies.

A new government that rescues our country from the ANC will have to be built on coalitions and cooperation. This is how we are busy turning metros like Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay around, and this is how we will turn South Africa around.

We need to think differently and we need to vote differently. And the only people who can make this happen are you, the voters. You have the power to shape your future.

Please think carefully and choose wisely.

Ke a leboga. I thank you.

Issued by the DA, 20 May 2017