DA sets sights on Northern Cape

THE DA has focused its attention on winning the Northern Cape in next year’s general election.

Addressing the DA’s 2018 Congress over the weekend, party leader Mmusi Maimane indicated the party’s campaign for next year’s general election would be focussed on winning the Gauteng and Northern Cape provinces.

The congress, hosted at the Tshwane Events Centre, was attended by around 2 000 people.

Welcoming the delegates from the Northern Cape, led by provincial leader Andrew Louw, Maimane’s message was “we can and we will win this province next year”.

To the party’s Western Cape delegates, he referred to the “trust and faith” the citizens of this province had placed in the party. “We will see this next year when we retain the province with a third successive outright majority!”

Maimane pointed out that although the DA was changing, its values were not.

“We remain committed to the promotion of freedom, fairness and opportunity for every South African,” he said.

“It is our values that allow us to come together from across the divides of our painful history. It is our values that make us different from every other party. We are showing that, despite our country’s brutal history, we can work together to improve everybody’s life.”

Maimane added that when other parties said that only black people could speak for black people, and only white people could speak for white people, the DA would be speaking for all South Africans with one voice.

“When other parties obsess about power, we’ll be obsessing about freedom. The freedom of every South African to be who they want to be, and to be the best they can be.”

He pointed out that the country needed a complete change. “A new beginning. We need a tomorrow we can believe in.

“But to do so, the DA has to be present and active in every single community. Whether we are in government there or not, we must offer the kind of leadership that makes a vote for the DA next year the obvious choice.

“We have always prided ourselves on our delivery track record. It is what sets us apart, more than anything else, from our opponents. People vote for us because of what we do, not what we say.

“We have been gifted a rare opportunity to demonstrate this difference in cities and towns across the country. We dare not fail to live up to the high standards the public expect from us.”