DA out of touch with reality

OPEN letter to Mmusi Maimane.

I note your satisfaction on the decision concerning Brian Molefe. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn.

In Cape Town, the wheels are also turning slowly, but this time for a very unjust cause.

The DA-led municipality is planning to turn the screws very tight on residents, using the water crisis to extort money in a most unscrupulous way. The planned increases for water, electricity, etc, come at a time the economy is in a downturn and work is hard to find.

Yet this merciless pursuit to implement increases before the rains come and floods away your arguments is immoral. But the rains have started, even earlier than usual. God in his infinite mercy will send rain in abundance.

When you saw a chance to get political mileage from the water crisis you had a loud voice.

Now you don’t make a peep in the defence of your constituents. There is no effort from you to stop this tyranny being inflicted on citizens, the young, old and the unemployed.

Neither you nor Helen Zille have tried to stop this injustice. How can a household be levied based on the size of a pipe feeding that household? There is no logic in this. I am sure this idea must come from the same person who wanted to implement increases based on house values.

But the people are not defenceless. They will march and protest, and in the absence of sanity and humaneness among the DA municipality in Cape Town, they will show their dissatisfaction using their vote. You can say what you like about Julius Malema, but at least he is not afraid to nail his colours to the mast and fight tooth and nail for his people. Even Cyril Ramaphosa is looking good. So now we have new options available.

Jacob Zuma was bad for the ANC, but very good for the DA. However, times have changed in the political landscape and a shift is probable, as people reconsider their options. Now the opposition actually has to work and performance is being watched. What surprises me the most is this: the DA is in the process of losing major ground in their only province, Western Cape and Cape Town, but despite this, there is a deafening silence from leadership, while this blatant incompetence is taking place at municipal level.

Please don’t say the prices will come down later when the rains come. It’s a lie to say so. Cape Town citizens have done their part by almost halving their water consumption. Their reward is multiple and unjustified increases. For example, please explain the connection between the proposed electricity increase and the water crisis.

I think you are out of touch. In fact, there is not much of a difference between Zuma stealing and what your party is proposing. It feels the same – we still wind up getting screwed. It certainly feels like you are just letting it all slip away. Please don’t mention the gains in the municipal elections. There could be a nasty surprise waiting for you.

But 2019 is around the corner and these memories will still be fresh and will guide us.