Maimane 'excited', as early results show DA growth

4 August 2016

Pretoria - DA leader Mmusi Maimane swept into the IEC’s national results centre on Thursday, saying he felt "buoyed" by early election results which showed the party had made gains in certain areas.

Stopping, first at the insistence of a catering staff member to take a picture, Maimane stepped into a media scrum where he told journalists that the DA had grown in the metros where the party had targeted growth.

It took the Kouga municipality in the Eastern Cape from the ANC, and gained a few percentage points in the Midvaal municipality, taking its support there from 54% to nearly 60%.

The DA’s support increased to two-thirds in the City of Cape Town, from 63% in 2011.

"It shows that, where we govern, we govern better and people have come out to reward us. I’m feeling quite excited and I feel quite good about it," he said.

He said the DA did not "have a track record of corruption".

Maimane said cautiously that the party was "feeling good" and optimistic about the results so far in Nelson Mandela Bay, where the race between the DA and the ANC was neck and neck.

"We have shown some incredible growth and I think it will show in our numbers. At this point in time, people have voted for change."

He said the large election scoreboard in the results centre was what a leader was measured against, but said his party’s contribution to the "democratic project" was also important.

"It doesn’t matter whether we succeed or not. It depends on whether you can ultimately say, 'we’ve had enough of this government, we will choose another one, democratically through the ballot box'."

This article first appeared on News24, see here.