The DA gets stuff done

Note to Editors: the following speech was delivered today by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at the DA’s East Region Voter Registration Rally in Oudtshoorn, Western Cape.

Fellow South Africans,

We are here in the lovely town of Oudtshoorn today to tell you that election 2019 is your chance to bring real change to the whole of South Africa.

The DA is on a mission to build one South Africa for all.

What do I mean by that? I mean that right now, there are two South Africas. One for those with jobs and connections and access to great schools. And another for those who are locked out of the economy and have no chance of accessing the opportunities to get ahead in life.

A South Africa of “haves” and a South Africa of “have-nots”.

Fellow South Africans, our beautiful country will never move forward in peace until we have just one South Africa, in which opportunities are extended to all.

Mostly importantly, we need a job in every home across the country. Just think what a difference it would make to millions of households if they have the dignity and security of an independent income.

The DA has a plan to put a job in every home in South Africa and we know we can do it. You know why? Because the DA gets stuff done.

Most important of all, we get jobs created. Say what you want about the DA but the fact is, where the DA governs, jobs get created.

More than half the jobs created in SA in the past year were created in DA-run Western Cape Province. Even though only one eighth of SA’s population lives in this province. That’s 95 000 jobs created here, out of the 188 000 that were created in South Africa. And we’ve achieved this despite a crippling drought and despite a hostile national regulatory environment.

I’m not saying the DA created those jobs. Not at all. Those jobs were created by entrepreneurs and investors and business people and traders.

But I am saying that the DA government here in the Western Cape created the conditions that made it attractive for people to invest. In the Western Cape, we’ve created an environment that gives people confidence to invest. We’ve done that by getting stuff done.

By getting old roads fixed and new roads built.

By providing the best healthcare of any province in the country.

By keeping more kids in school than any province in the country, and by delivering the best quality education to those kids than any province in the country. And the best afterschool programme.

We’ve done it by rolling out broadband more extensively, to more schools and libraries and other places than any province in the country.

In fact, the DA-run Western Cape Province leads on every single metric of good governance. (Except crime, and that’s because the national government is 100% responsible for SAPS. They control the entire SAPS budget, so our hands are tied there.)

This province leads because the DA government here spends public money on the public, rather than wasting it or stealing it. The DA-run Western Cape government has the cleanest audit outcomes by a country mile. Last year, our government departments achieved 83% clean audits. We came miles ahead of second-placed Gauteng who only got 52% clean audits.

We spend public money to get stuff done. That’s why the Western Cape’s expanded unemployment rate is a full 13 percentage points lower than the national average. (23.7% vs 37.3%.)

This proves beyond doubt that the DA’s approach to job creation works.

The 2019 election is your chance to bring real change to SA. If you want the DA to put a job in every home, please check that you are registered to vote by going to check.da.org.za.

This coming weekend (26-27 January) is the final registration weekend. If you are a first-time voter or are not yet registered, please make sure you visit the voting station in your voting district between 8am and 5pm on either the Saturday or the Sunday, with either your green ID book, your smartcard ID or a valid Temporary Identity Certificate.

Register to vote DA!

Register to put a job in every home!

Register to bring change that builds one South Africa for all!

Issued by the DA, 19 January 2019