Alan Winde for Premier: Let’s keep the Western Cape DA

26 August 2023

Today, I am humbled to receive my Party’s nomination as candidate for Premier of the Western Cape. While I am deeply honoured by this nomination, my focus remains on the work that still lies ahead. Our country is at a critical point and all of us must come together to ensure that we continue to build hope not only for the people of the Western Cape but for South Africa.

The road we have travelled since 2019 has been challenging. The Covid-19 pandemic presented us all with many challenges but the DA-led Western Cape Government confronted the pandemic head on and developed innovative solutions, such as building the biggest Covid-19 field hospital in Africa in just 6 weeks, and opening ‘Hospitals of Hope’ at Brackengate and in Mitchells Plain.

Despite the setbacks of those uncertain days, our province has come together stronger on a shared path towards a brighter future.

We have re-energised our province’s economy. In the last quarter, our province created 54 000 new jobs. With the launch of our Growth for Jobs strategy, we are positioning our provincial economy for breakout economic growth that is rich in jobs.

We introduced the Western Cape Safety Plan in 2020, which has consistently and steadily reduced violent crime, putting us on track to halving the murder rate by 2029. Through our Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) in partnership with the City of Cape Town we have trained more than 1200 officers and deployed them to the most troubled areas of Cape Town in order to make communities safer and to offer you, our citizens, hope. In our rural areas, our K-9 and Rural Safety Units are hard at work keeping communities safe, and in doing this, assuring food security.

We are investing heavily in infrastructure and partnering with the private sector to make the Western Cape South Africa’s first loadshedding-free province. Already, residents of the City of Cape Town are protected from two stages of loadshedding, and our province has so far been the only one to present a comprehensive plan to end the energy crisis. R7 billion is set to be spent across the province over the next three years by the provincial government (R1 billion), City of Cape Town (R3.9 billion) and municipalities (R1.9 billion) to make the Western Cape energy resilient.

There is a lot that we have achieved but there is still so much more that we must do for you, our citizens. Our journey is not yet at an end. We have a clear path ahead of us, and a vision of hope for a brighter future for every single resident of this province.

For five years, the DA has taken on the challenges and obstacles of government by going back to the basics of accountability, integrity, competence, and a relentless drive to put you, our citizens, first. What this has achieved is progress, even as the rest of our country is overwhelmed by regress. Our progress in our province is far too valuable to throw away.

This is why our mission for this election campaign is clear: an outright majority for the DA in the Western Cape.

To achieve this, we need to go out and register voters to keep the Western Cape DA and to ensure that the people of this province have jobs, feel safe and are freed from loadshedding.

I call on every resident of the Western Cape to register to vote because the only way our province will continue to grow from strength to strength is by giving the DA a clear mandate.

The path ahead of us is clear. Let us get to work and build hope for the Western Cape and for South Africa.

Statement issued by Alan Winde - DA Western Cape Premier Candidate, 26 August 2023