Zille’s delicate dance for votes

DEMOCRATIC Alliance leader Helen Zille had to navigate past potholes aplenty as she crisscrossed the coalfields of Mpumalanga in search of votes this week.

Heavy rains have taken a heavy toll on the roads, with the tarmac in towns such as Emalahleni (Witbank), Carolina and Breyten showing signs of disintegration.

Politically, Zille had to tread a careful path between maintaining traditional support against an onslaught from the Freedom Front Plus on the one hand, and cultivating support in previously ANC-supporting communities on the other.

The first stop on Thursday was the business community of long-suffering Emalahleni , a major industrial hub with a strong tax base, which has been under administration for the past nine months. This, DA provincial leader Anthony Benadie told the 200 assembled business leaders, was because of ANC infighting, corruption, mismanagement and cadre deployment.

He detailed the water and sanitation problems the town has experienced under ANC rule, such as sewage spewing down the streets.

Zille tackled fundamentalist Christians who do not believe in voting. She said she appreciated their prayers, but their votes would be welcome too. “The votes are counted in Pretoria, not in heaven,” she said.

She attacked the Freedom Front Plus, to which former DA MP Lourie Bosman, who farms near Ermelo, recently defected.

The DA entourage moved on to the rural area of Doornkop between Middelburg and Groblersdal. The party enjoys strong support in the local squatter area, mainly thanks to local DA councillor Anphia Grobler’s efforts to bring it electricity and sanitation. A crowd of about 800 pitched up to listen to Zille’s stump speech.

Next was a visit to a supermarket in Middelburg’s wealthy Kanonkop suburb, where the DA is fighting a byelection on Wednesday.

From there, she went to a school where about 700 people from the white Afrikaner community had gathered to see musician Chris Chameleon throw in his lot with the DA and sing with Zille.