The DA's record of job creating growth is changing SA

Note to editors: Below is an extract of a rally speech prepared for delivery by DA Leader Helen Zille at Matlosana Stadium in Klerksdorp, North West

29 April 2014

Democrats and friends,

This week we are celebrating 20 years of democracy. And the world is celebrating with us. 

When South Africa is at its best, we are unbeatable.

Ours is a fantastic country with a great future. 

Up until five years ago, we were broadly going in the right direction.  There were problems. And yes, a DA government would have done many things differently. That's the nature of democracy. It's why we have multiparty politics. But there was a real sense that things were slowly going in the right direction.

There are two big questions which every voter must ask today:  ‘Are your living standards better than they were when Jacob Zuma became President?' And ‘Will your children's chances in life improve with another five years of Jacob Zuma's ANC?'

For the majority of South Africans, the answer to both questions is ‘no'. 

The fact is that the jobs that were promised in 2009 have not materialised. In fact, many many more South Africans are unemployed now that in 2009. Millions of South Africans are unemployed and live in poverty while the nation's leaders grow rich.

As I cross the country, more and more South Africans are telling me that a better life for all might be promised by the ANC, but it is being delivered by the DA.  

The DA is delivering more free services to more people, and we are doing it without corruption. You will not find an Nkandla where the DA governs! 

And most importantly, where South Africans have voted the DA into office, we are managing the economy well so that it grows fast enough to create many more real, permanent jobs. It is no coincidence that the one province where the DA governs has the lowest unemployment in South Africa. 

Good government, with no corruption, leads to job creation. It is a formula that works every time. And it is working where the DA governs. 

Our policies help entrepreneurs to start small businesses by cutting red tape; we help children get a better education by ensuring that every single child has a textbook in every subject. We help graduates get an internship through our Work and Skills Programme. 

All of these policies work together to create real, permanent jobs under a DA government.

Other parties talk of the better life; we are delivering the job creating economic growth that actually creates the better life.

Many South Africans are starting to see this. In this election, there are hundreds of thousands of South Africans in every street of every town and city who are going to be voting DA for the first time. We are growing! We are getting bigger, and stronger, and we are winning. 

But the most dangerous thing would be for voters to stay at home or spoil their ballots. The country needs change and change now. 

Only the DA can be the change we need in South Africa.

Only the DA has the muscle and the numbers to defeat Jacob Zuma's ANC. 

Only the DA has the track record to show that we can lead the economy and create real jobs.  

Only the DA can deliver the promise of a better life. 

South Africa has a crisis of leadership. The lack of leadership is holding back progress on jobs.

Does it have to be like this? No. 

Can we change South Africa? Yes.

Every vote for the DA will help to make history in our country. It will help to end corruption, to start job creating economic growth, to provide guaranteed university funding to all qualifying matrics, and 1 million internships for people looking to get their first job. 

Everyone is talking about change, and change we can believe in.  

Do not let there be in any doubt. After 1994, the 2014 election will be a once in a lifetime change in direction. The question that these times of change ask us though is: in which direction?

Will we continue with politics as usual? 

Or will we make history? 

Stand together with the DA on May 7.

Stand with the DA to make history!

Issued by the DA, April 29 2014

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