DA strategises to win 2019 elections
THE DA in Gauteng is banking on the success of the province’s two major metros it governs to bolster its bid to dislodge the ANC from power in the 2019 national and provincial elections.
The party, which is in government in at least four municipalities in the province, is also hoping divisions in the ANC over leadership succession next year will work to its advantage.
DA Gauteng leader, John Moodey, said this week the party had begun intensifying its ground campaign to grow voter support.
But equally the successful delivery of services to the people by the DA-run metros of Tshwane and Johannesburg was part of the party’s strategy to shift the balance of power in Gauteng.
The DA runs only the Western Cape Province, but it’s hoping to attract more black voters – in particular in non-traditional DA support areas – to wrest power from the ANC in Gauteng.
The party has set its sights on gaining more ground in various areas after the results of the August 3 municipal elections which saw the ANC lose two metros in Tshwane and Johannesburg.
“I believe we will be able to make inroads into the new growth areas by having people who know what it is like being on the ground,” he said.
The DA recently recalled its outspoken MP, Magashule Gana, from Parliament to the Gauteng Legislature to bolster its efforts to ascend to power in 2019.
Gana has previously said the DA needed to focus on con- necting with the people on the ground.
In 2014, the ANC garnered 53.5 percent decrease from the 64 percent support the party had in 2009 making it the party’s worst provincial performance.
The DA, meanwhile, received 30.7 percent of votes in the province, an increase from the 21.8 percent support it received in 2009.
Moodey said the DA needed “soldiers who speak the same language” as the people on the ground to win the trust of voters in 2019.
“It is time for us to deliver because we are in government and that, more than anything ,is a challenge.
“If we do that right then we have a recipe for success because people trust what they can see.”
The DA’s primary task in Gauteng, Moodey added, was to bring the ANC below 50 percent of voter support.
And the party was hoping the ANC leadership succession battle likely to be between Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and AU Commission chair Nkosazana DlaminiZuma next year would play in its favour.
“We can replicate what we have done in Midvaal in Joburg, Mogale City and Tshwane and I have no doubt that it might lead to the people giving us their trust.”
The key part of the DA’s plan is to review the work of its municipalities regularly to ensure the party can use successes as part of its ammunition going into the 2019 elections. “We have one opportunity as a party before 2019 to show that we can do things differently for the greater good of this country,” said Moodey.