The DA wants to replicate Midvaal successes all over Gauteng

Note to Editors: This is an extract of a speech delivered this morning by Mmusi Maimane in Emfuleni, Gauteng.

The Democratic Alliance wants to win in Gauteng next year, and we've made no secret of that. But we do not want to win just for the sake of it.

We do not want to win just to add another point to our scoreboard. Power is not an end in itself. We want to win so that for the first time the government of Gauteng will serve the people of Gauteng - so that for the first time you, the voters, will be in charge. 

We have a vision for Gauteng of a well-governed province that delivers to all. We have a vision of a Gauteng that once again takes its rightful place as the centre of the South African and the African economy, creating jobs for thousands of people and growing new factories and businesses. We want to win so we can fix our public schools, so that when a child from Soweto or Thembisa or Emfuleni goes to a school, he or she can have an equal chance and building a successful future. 

We don't want power just to use it for ourselves, to give privileges to our friends, to get filthy rich off of ordinary people. Some people want to win just for the nice offices and the blue lights. 

That's not the DA. We want to win so that we can work every day to make Gauteng everything it can be. The DA wants to restore hope in Gauteng. We want to make it the centre of job creation, new investment, innovation, and growth. 

Today our message to voters in Gauteng is - if they vote DA in 2014, they will be in charge. They will be in power. If they say they don't want e-tolls, then no e-tolls. If they say they want better services, job creation and a fairer chance in life, that's what they'll get from the DA. 

We have proved that when voters vote the DA in government, they get a much better life. We call this the DA difference. If you want to see the DA difference, look at Midvaal municipality right next door to where we are today. 

In every measurement, Midvaal stands alone as the best governed municipality in Gauteng. Even when the government measures it, Midvaal comes first. And most importantly, when an independent organisation asked the people how they felt about their own quality of life, they also rated Midvaal as having the highest quality of life in Gauteng. 

Even the ANC-led Sedibeng District Municipality has awarded Midvaal a first place prize for job creation and a first place prize for doing the most for social upliftment and fighting crime. 

The DA government in Midvaal also provides the most generous package of services for poor residents, and has the highest threshold for this indigent package than any other municipality in the province. Any person who earns less than R3 200 a month qualifies for free basic services from the municipality. In neighbouring ANC-governed Emfuleni, this threshold is only R2 160, meaning that a whole lot of poor people cannot access free basic services. 

According to StatsSA, Midvaal performs best on the provision of water and sanitation, with no backlogs at all. The Municipal Productivity Index, a survey of 226 municipalities across the country, ranked Midvaal first in Gauteng and 6th in the country for its response to poverty, access to basic services and municipal finances. There is also no corruption in Midvaal. The Auditor General has given Midvaal nine consecutive unqualified audits. 

But most importantly, the DA government in Midvaal has created jobs. Unemployment in Midvaal is 18%, far lower than anywhere else in the province, and among the lowest of any area in the country. New businesses and factories are starting up in Midvaal all of the time, creating more jobs and driving unemployment down. 

That is why the people themselves rate Midvaal as the best place to live. 

But we want to turn the Midvaal story into the Gauteng story. We want to bring good service delivery, job creation and a better quality of life to the whole province. 

The ANC cannot even ask you to vote for it again based on its delivery track record. It doesn't have a delivery track record. 

If you want to see what five more years of an ANC government in Gauteng will look like, look right here at Emfuleni. The unemployment rate in Emfuleni is 59.3%. The Emfuleni council has never received an unqualified audit. In fact, it has received negative audit reports from the Auditor General every year since 2000. It's executive mayor has admitted that Emfuleni cannot deliver on its basic delivery responsibilities, and even that the council was near total collapse.

There have been many serious corruption scandals here over the years, with well connected ANC politicians, even the mayor at the time, selling council land at a discount to their friends and family.

On service delivery, Emfuleni falls behind Midvaal on every measurement. Only 39% of residents here say they are satisfied with their local government. 

On sanitation, there are still nearly 17 000 people in Emfuleni who live without access to sanitation. 

The ANC cannot ask you, the voters, to vote for them again based on this kind of failed delivery. In stead they will tell you the DA doesn't deliver, that we only deliver for white people, or that we want to take away social grants. These are all lies meant to keep you from knowing the truth. The truth is that Gauteng can be so much more. The truth is that when people vote for the DA, we deliver well for all the people, we create jobs and begin to build a better life for everyone. 

That is why we want to win in Gauteng in 2014.

Issued by the DA, May 26 2013

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