WE’VE SEEN WHAT HAPPENS UNDER ANC-EFF

ON MAY 8, Western Cape voters have a clear choice between the DA’s plan of action to keep the province moving forward and the ANC’s drive to steal public money at every opportunity.

Over the past decade, while the ANC drove the national economy into the ground, the DA-led province created half a million jobs.

While the ANC fails to keep the lights on, the DA-led government will fight to get our energy directly from independent power producers (IPPs).

Already, we have legalised the domestic production of solar energy in 22 municipalities and the City of Cape Town has gone to court for the right to procure energy directly from IPPs.

While the ANC treats IPPs with hostility and suspicion, we will work with these producers to stabilise our province’s energy supply.

We will fight for a provincial police service while the ANC withholds SAPS resources from the Western Cape.

We will fight for a provincial train service that works and runs on time after the ANC’s Metrorail failure.

In contrast to the DA, the ANC is in complete disarray in the Western Cape. We have seen no provincial action plan from the party and its record of governance in the province before 2009 was appalling. It cannot even decide on a premier candidate for the Western Cape, with less than two months to the election.

The ANC’s only option is to drive a theme of racial division. And the EFF, the party of ex-ANCYL leaders, thrives on a toxic mix of violence, illicit cigarette money and complete disregard of democratic processes.

We needn’t look far for an example of what happens when these two parties together take over. Under the DA, Nelson Mandela Bay was recovering from decades of abuse by the ANC.

The ANC showed no interest in playing a leadership role, preferring instead to disrupt council meetings

In the 24 months of a DA government, the city returned to financial stability and received a AAA credit rating, terminated corrupt contracts and redirected the money to uplifting the poor, achieved a 100% spend on its urban settlements, tripled the number of EPWP job opportunities and eliminated 60% of bucket toilets.

During this time, the ANC, as in the Western Cape, showed no interest in playing a leadership role, preferring instead to disrupt council meetings and violently attack DA councillors. This culminated in the breaking of the DA’s coalition and the installation of an ANC-EFF (and UDM) coalition.

It began siphoning off funds to cadres, ramping up frivolous spending. Half a million rands on catering in a month. Nearly R3 million in travel expenses in three months. The new mayor, Mongameli Bobani, hiked city bus prices, diverted money from essential water projects to suspicious projects not budgeted for, and attempted to intervene in the allocation of tenders. By mid-February this year, the administration had spent just 27% of its capital budget. Small-to-medium enterprises which were awarded city contracts had not been paid.

The ANC has destroyed Eskom, collapsed infrastructure, diverted public funds to ANC cadres and the Guptas, and let all those responsible get away with it. It cannot be allowed to do the same in the Western Cape.

Winde is the DA’s candidate for premier of the Western Cape