DA aiming to win two more provinces in May elections

THE DA is aiming to govern two more provinces on top of the Western Cape after the May elections. The party has been running the Western Cape for nearly a decade.

Briefing the media after the federal council meeting in Cape Town yesterday, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said the federal council reaffirmed their 2019 election targets of winning Gauteng and Northern Cape as well as retaining the Western Cape and growing their share of votes nationally.

“We are more convinced than ever that we will achieve these targets as our own research shows significant weakness in the ANC across the country – particularly in the Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape.

“Our research shows that the ANC is well below its 2014 election results, whereas the DA is polling ahead of our 2014 election results.

“This is encouraging and shows that South Africans are tired of the status quo and are desperate for immediate change,” he said.

Maimane remained optimistic about the DA’s improved performance at the upcoming elections, saying this year’s election was a referendum on the ANC in government.

“South Africans must go to the ballot box and vote for the future country we all dream of – and for the party they believe can best deliver on that dream,” he said.

“We are confident South Africans will choose the DA at the ballot box on May 8, 2019,” the DA leader said.

Maimane tore into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address, saying it was an attempt to reassure rather than reform.

“The president failed to announce any real measures for reform, resorting to his now trademark style of talk-shops, summits, commissions and meetings which to date have brought about very little tangible change,” he said.

He also said Ramaphosa’s address on Thursday demonstrated that South

We reject the ANC’s version of redress which operates to enrich and reenrich the connected elite

MMUSI MAIMANE

DA LEADER

Africa needed a new bus, not a different driver of the same broken bus.

“President Ramaphosa cannot effect change because he is part of the ANC, and the ANC is past the point of no return.

“The ANC is incapable of managing the real problems South Africa faces,” Maimane said.

“If Thursday night’s address was the best the ANC has to offer, then South Africans need to take power into their own hands and remove this ANC from government…”

Maimane announced that the federal council unanimously adopted the party’s manifesto to be launched on February 23 at the Rand Stadium in Joburg.

“The manifesto is centred around a solid plan with workable solutions to fix our economy, and we believe it will resonate with South Africans who want immediate change in our nation,” he said.

Maimane also said the DA had dumped the BBBEE as championed by the governing party.

“On the matter of redress and empowerment, the manifesto is clear: we believe race is a proxy for disadvantage and an accurate reflection of who is still excluded from opportunity.

“The party has not decided to move away from race-based redress policies; however we unequivocally reject the ANC’s version of redress which operates to enrich and re-enrich the connected elite.

“Our offer is truly broad-based in that it seeks to break down the wall that exists been the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.”