North West ready for real change only the DA can bring

17 October 2018

Fellow Democrats and the people of Matlosana,

It is a great privilege to stand here before you today to speak with you as the DA’s Premier Candidate for the North West Province.

I am humbled by my nomination and am grateful for the trust and confidence the DA leadership both in the North West and nationally has shown in me to spearhead our campaign towards 2019.

I commit to all present here today, and to all the people of the North West, that I will do everything in my power, to the fullest of my abilities, to bring real, positive change to our beautiful province, and working to build One South Africa for All.

Today is a very historic moment for me as a child of the North West. Not far from here, net hier om die draai, in Alabama, I was raised and have been living here for more than 50 years. This area brings back to me a flood of childhood memories.

I remember fondly how we as young children used to walkabout on the surrounding farms here and play and swim in the many windmill dams that dot the country side.

But with this nostalgia flooding over me, and a bittersweet joy that comes with it, today, I am also saddened by the despair and desperation the people of this area have to endure 25 years into democracy.

In fact, it is not only this community of Hartebeesfontein and Klerksdorp that face the oppression of unemployment, poor service delivery as a result of failing ANC and corruption, but all communities across the length and breadth of our beautiful province.

The lived experiences of ordinary people in North West, especially people oppressed by poor, is that of struggle and misery. It breaks my heart that 25 years into our democracy, all 25 years under the failing ANC government, the quality of life of our people have become worse. And each day longer the failing ANC stays in government, the more people will suffer.

North West is in serious trouble. Governance has collapsed under the failing ANC. As for the ANC, they are so busy with factional infighting that they cannot govern nor deliver services.

In fact, different government departments and municipalities that fall into different factions are using government resources to fight these internal party battles.

The North West Provincial Government last year incurred irregular expenditure totalling R15,2 billion. Ten provincial departments are under administration, including the Office of Premier Mokgoro.

At a municipal level, R4,29 billion was recorded as irregular expenditure while another R1,19 billion was lost to unauthorised expenditure. Eight municipalities are currently under administration.

The reality is that more than R20 billion was stolen by the failing ANC in North West last year alone. Money that should have gone to delivering services such as ensuring medicine at hospitals, learner transport for our kids to attend school, buying ambulances and fire trucks, the fixing of roads, the building of houses for the poor and fighting lawlessness and crime.

None of this happened. Instead the failing ANC stole your money to live lives of luxury.

The people of North West cannot get jobs. Today, in this province, there are more unemployed people that those with a job. This means that more and more people are desperate to buy food, to access healthcare or to send their children to school and university.

Because of this tragedy of joblessness caused by the failing ANC, we see poverty and inequality in the province skyrocket. With this economic desperation we see crime skyrocket.

Here at the abandoned Shiva Uranium Mine we see gangsters and zama-zama syndicates in open warfare to loot what little is left.
We see in the crime statistics how people are not safe in their own homes, cars and places of work.

We see how farmers, farm workers and rural communities are being butchered in the most brutal way.

All the while the police do nothing because they are under-trained, under-staffed and under-resourced.

It is not just Joe McGluwa who says that the ANC is failing.

It is not just Mmusi Maimane and the DA who make these claims.

We have heard here first hand today how the failing ANC’s morally bankrupt governance has affected people like Tumi Matosela.

As if the failed governance and corruption of the ANC was not enough, we now have to live with the reality of state capture. It is this sort of collusion that has brought us today to this Gupta-owned mine, Shiva Uranium.

The ANC and their Gupta friends promised jobs and prosperity, instead the surrounding communities received retrenchments and poverty.

People are angry. I am angry. This is not how people should be treated.

I pledge to you today that I will travel to every corner of the North West to hear from you, the people, exactly what your problems are and what you expect from a government to improve your lives.

I will document every interaction, and then I will craft a manifesto offer for your consideration.

We need urgent change.

We need real change that improve the lives of people.

We need change that brings investment.

We need change that opens fair access to jobs.

We need change that accelerated the delivery quality basic services.

We need a change that keeps our people safe and restores order, and that requires an honest and professional police service .

We need change that secures our boarders to prevent cross-border crimes like stock theft, drug and human-trafficking.

The time is now for real change that builds One South Africa for All.

In Johannesburg, Tshwane and Midvaal in Gauteng. In Kouga in the Eastern Cape, in the entire Western Cape and in the City of Cape Town, people live the DA difference brought by good governance. The people in these metros and towns have jobs. They have service delivery and they have a responsive, accountable and caring government.

We can only bring that change to North West with your support.

The DA is ready to bring that good governance to North West. Lend us your support as we take the journey to build one South Africa for all where there is prosperity, safety and security and economic growth.

Issued by Joe McGluwa, DA North West Premier Candidate, 17 October 2018