Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA has pointed to its success in running the uMngeni Municipality as it gears up to govern KwaZulu-Natal after the 2024 elections.
DA KZN Congress on Saturday heard several speakers pointing to the “success” of the uMngeni Municipality – the only municipality the party governs in the province – indicating that the DA is “ready to govern” the province. The DA came into government in uMngeni following the local government elections in 2021.
Now the party believes what Mayor Chris Pappas and his deputy, Sandile Mnikate, have been able to achieve in that municipality “in the short space of time” is what the party will sell to voters in the province come 2024 as an example of what the DA can do when allowed to govern.
Outgoing provincial chairperson, Dean Mcpherson, told the delegates that the party is no longer a party of opposition in the province but one that is in government in uMngeni.
“To win a municipality by 42 votes shows how every single vote counts on election day. This giant leap into running a government is showing the people of our province what the ‘DA difference’ looks and feels like.
“It has been inspiring to see the progress that the uMngeni team is making in such a short space of time. I have every bit of confidence that the story of uMngeni will be our great election asset throughout the province in the next year’s all-important election,” said Mcpherson.
He added that 2024 will not be an easy election and will be “make or break” for the DA in KZN. Like other speakers at the congress, Mcpherson said next year’s election would be an opportunity for the DA to get the ANC out of power in the province.
“This election is going to be the most difficult, complex, and trying we have ever fought, So I don’t want to lie and mislead you. We are going to have to work harder than ever before to get rid of the ANC because it is what the voters demand of us and because they know we are so close to doing it.
“The people of KZN want their village, town, and city to be the next uMngeni, and we have the chance to do so,” said Mcpherson.
DA leader John Steenhuisen, who addressed the congress, told the delegates that KZN has an “enormous potential, despite the ANC’s best efforts to ruin it.”
Steenhuisen said:
“The unfolding dynamics in KZN provides a perfect case study for what we can achieve through the moonshot pact I announced at our federal congress.”
He added that the relationship between the DA and the IFP in KZN demonstrated what could be achieved when political parties “work together in the best interest of the country.”
“As we’ve seen in by-election after by-election, both the DA and IFP are growing in KZN thanks to the mature cooperation between these two parties.
This is exactly the recipe we need to also replicate at the national level by bringing together all like-minded opposition parties that want to defeat the ANC and keep the EFF and its proxies out of power,” said Steenhuisen.
Last year, the DA and the IFP announced their working relationship in their efforts to unseat the ANC in government. The agreement entailed either party standing down during by-elections where it believed another would perform better.
The DA’s outgoing provincial leader, Francois Rodgers, also addressing the delegates, said the DA had proven that it is the only party in the province that is “ready to govern.”
“We proved it in uMngeni; Chris Pappas and his team, in a very short time, have made the DA’s name as good governance, a household name. That is the message we need to take into 2024. Colleagues, it is a difficult road ahead, but it is a road I believe we have now proven in our united discipline force we can take forward,” said Rodgers.
The party’s chief whip, Siviwe Gwarube, said taking on uMngeni was “the beginning” for a DA government in KZN.
“The people of Mphuphumeni will testify that they made a different choice in 2021, and their lives have changed for the better. This will be the story of many around KZN as the DA grows and threatens to form a government here in 2024. The DA’s time has come. The ANC’s time has come to an end,” said Gwarube.
However, Gwarube cautioned DA members from simply telling voters about the failures of the governing party. She said South Africans, every day, were living through the failures of the ANC.
“We need to show them that the DA can do for them what we have done in Cape Town, Midvaal, Koega, and right next door, in uMngeni,” she said.
Newly elected deputy federal chairperson, Solly Malatsi, said it was only the DA that could “save South Africa from the inhumane abuses of our freedoms by the ANC.”
He said the DA not only had the best ideas to solve the country’s problems but also had the best people to lead.
“Now more than ever, we are very close to dislodging the ANC from power. So you need to be vigilant over the tenders in your municipalities and provincial departments. The ANC knows very well they will be out of office in 2024, so they will use their remaining days in power as their last opportunity to steal. And they will do so shamelessly.
“Labantu abasa nawo namahloni (These people no longer have any shame). So please scrutinize every major contract in all government departments and municipalities. We must expose every trick they will try to channel millions to their fellow comrades and cronies to fund their election campaign next year,” he added.
The congress is expected to elect new provincial leaders. Rodgers and Macpherson are seeking second terms.
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