WHO NEEDS TO BE RESCUED?
Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said recently that disadvantaged communities in DA-run Midvaal must be "rescued". She went further and said that the people of the Western Cape also needed to be rescued.
This is an astounding reversal of the real position as Midvaal is undoubtedly the best-run council in Gauteng. While other councils get appalling Auditor-General reports, Midvaal has had nine unqualified audits.
StatsSA figures show that Midvaal performs best on the provision of water and sanitation. The Municipal Productivity Index ranks Midvaal first in Gauteng and 6th in the country for its response to poverty and access to basic services.
Since the DA took over in 2001, access to sanitation rose from 73% to 94%, and access to water from 90% to 98 per cent.
Midvaal has had an astonishing 15% annual economic growth for the past 10 years.
By contrast, the neighbouring ANC-run Emfuleni council which covers the Vaal area is a disaster. It's racked by corruption and poor delivery. Unemployment is at 59%, compared to 11% in Midvaal.
Nearly 17 000 people in Emfuleni don't have access to sanitation. The threshold to get free basic services in Emfuleni is R2160 per month, which is well below the R3200 a month threshold in Midvaal. So what on earth is Mokonyane smoking when she criticises Midvaal?
The people who really need to be rescued are in ANC-run councils like Emfuleni.
And people move from appalling ANC misrule in the Eastern Cape to well-governed DA rule in Western Cape.
Why is it not an ANC priority to rescue people in the Eastern Cape?
The real issue has nothing to do with actual comparative delivery.
It's really all about control and power.
The ANC regards itself as the only legitimate government regardless of how poorly it rules.
This is a deeply disturbing Zanu-PF mentality which afflicts elites more than ordinary people who vote with their feet.
So Robert Mugabe has passionate supporters in some circles while millions of Zimbabweans have fled his tyranny.
As election time approaches the ANC is getting more aggressive in trying to stop DA inroads into its support base.
KwaZulu-Natal ANC chairperson, Senzo Mchunu, has urged party volunteers to remove the DA from the townships.
In Gauteng, the shack of a DA activist in an informal settlement in Tembisa was recently burnt down.
I stayed the night in his shack on my visit there last year.
Last month, the ANC bussed in supporters to protest my visit to the Lethabong informal settlement east of Pretoria.
It was meant to intimidate, and got out of hand when stones were thrown at a reporter taking photographs.
Interestingly, the locals ignored them and I spent a peaceful night there.
As the ANC feels increasingly threatened, it is resorting to Zanu-PF style tactics to crush opposition.
But as in Zimbabwe, this is less effective in urban areas where people are more educated and free to think for themselves.
Old tricks like food parcels and goodies at election time have less and less effect.
The tide will change first in heavily urbanised Gauteng.
The DA will rescue Gauteng residents from ANC misrule in 2014.
Jack Bloom MPL, is DA Leader in the Gauteng Legislature.
This article first appeared in The Citizen.
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