Africa-Press – South-Africa. DA leader John Steenhuisen believes people who want to see the “recovery” and “growth” of South Africa need to back his party in the 2024 national elections.
According to Steenhuisen, the DA has demonstrated its strengths and values and is the only “credible alternative” to save the country from the further “collapse” of the ANC government. The DA leader spoke in Cape Town on Tuesday, delivering what the party termed “the real state of the nation address” ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address on Thursday.
Speaking to a crowd of DA members, its leaders and ambassadors, Steenhuisen said the DA had given South Africans a “glimpse” into how the country could be governed with it at the helm in the municipalities where it governed, including in the Western Cape.
“It is simply this: anyone who wants to see South Africa turn away from the failed approach that has put us on the road to collapse, and get onto a new path of recovery and growth, needs to back the DA,” he said.
Steenhuisen listed what he said were failures by the ANC government, including the collapse of the Post Office. He said the “most visible” failure was load shedding, adding that it “threatened state failure”.
With the 2024 elections approaching, the DA was the only party offering a “credible, better and alternative way forward” for South Africa, Steenhuisen said.
He added:
He said South Africans had only two options – to vote for the DA or the ANC.
“The truth is that there are only two realistic possibilities on the table for what South African politics will look like after the 2024 election. The one is the horrifying prospect of a government that continues to operate based on the failed ANC paradigm of state control, cadre deployment and patronage,” said Steenhuisen.
‘The other, hopeful, possibility is of a government that charts a new course, guided by the DA’s values and principles: accountability, non-racialism and a steadfast commitment to the rule of law and a social market economy.”
Cyril Ramaphosa | South Africans are demanding action. It is time for government to deliver
The DA leader also took a swipe at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership. He said when Ramaphosa was sworn in as president five years ago, he promised reforms following the leadership of former president Jacob Zuma. He said Ramaphosa had failed to do any of that.
“We all know that today there is very little left of that goodwill and even less confidence that things will improve… Despite all the bluster and PR spin, this is Ramaphosa’s true legacy: he has only added five wasted years to the nine he likes to blame his predecessor for,” said Steenhuisen.
Speaking at the event, DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said the party had a constitutional obligation to come up with real solutions.
She said the party did not only see itself as the official oppositio but felt that its role was to offer solutions to the governing party and also to provide an alternative vision for South Africa. Gwarube said the DA hosted “the real state of the nation” to show South Africans that there was an alternative.
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