Note to editors: This is a speech delivered by DA Leader Helen Zille at the Cottonlands informal settlement in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, this morning. Helen handed over a DA Everyday South African Hero award to party activist and DA ward candidate Christopher Bonginkosi Langa
Fellow South Africans,
In this election, the DA is offering something that no other party can offer. We are offering government that works. And we are offering councillors that work. For all the people.
People here tell me that they have never seen their ANC councillor. I have heard that he has hardly set foot in Cottonlands since he was elected.
In the DA, our councillors take their jobs seriously. They have to. Because each DA councillor is measured against an individual performance agreement. Part of this agreement is that they have regular contact with the citizens they serve.
In this election you have the opportunity to choose a party that delivers for all. It is your chance to choose a councillor that takes your needs seriously and makes a real difference in your lives.
All of you know your DA candidate for this ward, Chris Bonginkosi Langa. He has lived here for twenty five years. You have all seen for yourself the great things he is doing in this community.
I first heard about Chris in 2008 when he asked us if he could establish a DA branch in Cottonlands. Of course, we agreed. And we helped him set it up. Since then, Chris has single-handedly recruited over 300 DA members in this area.
How did he do it?
He did it by showing the community what the DA can do for the people - even though the DA does not govern this municipality, and even though he is not the ward councillor. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday Chris drives to the bakery to pick up bread for the soup kitchen he runs from his home for school children. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he takes bread and soup to the sick and elderly at Osindweni Hospital.
He pays for all of this out of the money he earns as a security guard. On his way to the bakery to pick up the bread, Chris drives along the tarred main road that he convinced the provincial department of transport and public works to build.
He drives past the Cottonlands Primary School that he persuaded the provincial education department to establish. The 400 young learners there no longer have to walk 10 kilometers to schools in Verulam and Mdloti like they used to.
On his way past the school, Chris drives carefully over the speed bumps that he asked the municipality to build so that the children could cross the road more safely. As he makes his way back to his house, Chris drives past the streetlights that he asked to have installed along the main road. The better visibility at night has improved road safety and made life harder for criminals.
If it wasn't for Chris, none of these things would have been delivered to the community. Because, the truth is, Chris is doing the work that your councillor should be doing. All of you remember the days when you had to walk to the river to fetch water that wasn't even clean. Who got the municipality to install stand-pipes in every home so that everybody could have clean water?
It wasn't your councillor. It was Chris.
And all of you remember the days when you had no electricity in your homes. Who got the municipality to install pre-paid electricity meters in your house? And who assisted people with the paper-work and application forms?
Was it your local councillor? No, it was Chris. Chris Bonginkosi Langa is a true South African hero. He doesn't do what he does for money. He doesn't even get paid for what he does. In fact, it costs him money to do it.
Chris does what he does because he cares about this community. He does what he does because he wants to help the people of Cottonlands get the service delivery they deserve.
More than that, Chris wants to help the people of this area escape poverty. He wants the next generation to have the opportunities that he never had.
Chris has big plans for Cottonlands. He has already secured a private sponsor to build an orphanage, a hospital, a crèche and a church. The first phase of construction has created 250 local jobs.
In the next six months, Chris wants to get a police station built in the area. He is also pushing for a permanent clinic and a pension pay-out point. And he wants to get all the roads, not just the main road, tarred.
In this election, you have a choice.
You can choose a councillor that doesn't care about you. Or you can choose Chris Bonginkosi Langa.
You can choose a party that only cares about the politically-connected few. Or you can choose the DA.
In a democracy, you can make the change and choose a party that will deliver a better future. If you have never voted DA before, you now have a chance to do something different.
Look what the DA has delivered here in Cottonlands already. If this is what the DA can do in opposition, just imagine what the DA could do if it governed eThekwini. So, whatever you do, make sure you vote on 18 May. And vote DA. Because the DA delivers for all!
Issued by the Democratic Alliance March 31 2011
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
