Power belongs to the people
25 January 2023
Note to editors: Please find photos here, here, here and here
The following speech was delivered by DA Provincial Leader in the Western Cape, Tertuis Simmers, at the DA Western Cape’s Power To The People March in Cape Town
Good morning people of the Western Cape,
“We’ll fix load shedding in 6 to 12 months”, said Gwede Mantashe.
And now there is word of electricity blackouts being with us for the next two years!
Lies. Lies. Lies. And more lies.
We are here today to protest Eskom’s rolling blackouts. And yes, it’s blackouts, not loadshedding.
We are here today to protest for the reasons why we are left in the dark for 4 hours at a time!
We are here today to protest against the dismally dysfunctional ANC Government.
Blackouts are one of the many ANC failures, but blackouts are a special failure of the ANC: the failed service of the ANC government which harms all of us equally. (Not really, ministers exempted, can we maybe remove this?)
Jobs, the economy, education, health services, food production, transport, municipal services – already broken by the ANC Government, are now crushed by blackouts. It is as if the ANC just cannot get enough of harming the people of South Africa.
It is as if the ANC Government was not satisfied with the harm, they are already causing South Africans, and now wants to rub it in even more.
This collective action of the ANC, from all their branches to their public representatives, is sabotage.
Sabotage by criminality! As the rule of law is second to their party’s constitution and alliances;
Sabotage by incompetency! An incompetency stemming from their cadre deployment policy;
Sabotage by indifference! As they do not listen to the sound proposals of the DA, the people or the private sector.
But we shall overcome!
The ANC continuously claim they gave South Africans freedom;
And we are free, but not through the actions of a single party
Remember the chant?
Amandla! Awethu!
Remember?
Power!
“Amandla” – “Power”, they chanted. What a joke!
“Awethu – “to us”, answered the people. Power to us? What a sick joke!
We are left in the dark. There is no power!
And, “We are free!”
What kind of freedom did the ANC give us?!
We have, all of us, an equal right to municipal service;
But there are no adequate services for most of us.
ANC neighborhoods are filthy, yet they receive ward allocations they do not effectively use;
ANC water supply cannot be trusted, and now blackouts are threatening our water supply as well;
Sewage runs in ANC streets, and now blackouts are threatening our sewerage infrastructure;
Potholes make journeys road use impossible in the provinces the ANC still governs;
What kind of freedom did the ANC give us?!
But we shall overcome!
Sadly, now, we equally share in the failure of the ANC Government.
ANC Apartheid is a crime against all South Africans;
A policy of indifference and incompetency to exclude all the people of our land – from the benefits of governance and undermines the freedom to choose.
Say with me: Amandla! – Power!
Say with me: Awethu – to us, power to us, the people.
Amandla! Awethu!
Power to us, the people!
Power to be free to enjoy the power, not power to be enslaved by misery and disappointment and broken promises and lies!
Amandla! Awethu!
There is a well-known song that says:
We shall overcome, we shall overcome,
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome.
We shall overcome, we shall overcome,
We shall overcome someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome in 2024.
Unified, the power for real change is within all of us!
Issued by Tertuis Simmers, DA Provincial Leader, Western Cape, 25 January 2023
