Zille back in Helenvale
DA leader canvasses for new win in hotly contested ward
ON the eve of the last local government elections, then DA leader Helen Zille canvassed fiercely in Port Elizabeth’s Helenvale and received overwhelming support, which helped the party win the ward from the ANC.
The DA has once again roped in Zille to help clinch the electorate in the hotly contested Ward 13, which the ANC is hoping to reclaim.
Zille was back in Nelson Mandela Bay yesterday – her second visit in a week – and once again welcomed with open arms in Helenvale.
However, the elections in seven weeks’ time are likely to be a tough battle as the political dynamics have drastically changed in the area.
Not only has the DA’s former Ward 13 councillor Nico du Plessis defected to the ANC recently, ANC mayoral candidate Danny Jordaan is frequently holding events in that area with the hope of winning it back for the ANC on August 3.
But Zille was confident yesterday her party would retain the ward and take over the city after the elections.
“The DA is heading the polls and the prospects of winning this metro look very good,” she said.
Recalling her visit to the Bay before the last municipal elections Zille said: “In 2011, the ANC just, just won Mandela Bay and if every DA voter had gone out to vote, the DA would have won.”
“Today I see people have learnt that lesson. They understand that a party can lose or win by a very small margin.
“There is a big sense of excitement here. Everybody knows it’s their vote that will make a difference,” Zille said.
The party is pinning its hopes on councillor candidate Pieter Hermaans who, incidentally, was the ANC ward councillor in the area between 2006 and 2011.
Hermaans was suspended by the ANC just a few months before the 2011 elections for allegedly working with an independent and the DA against the ANC.
Both Zille and Bay mayoral candidate Athol Trollip were at pains to explain that Hermaans had not joined the party for a position.
“Hermaans came from the ANC to the DA a long time ago. He worked to get Du Plessis elected the last time as a councillor because he believed in the DA’s values,” Zille said.
She said this was totally different from what Du Plessis had done as he had moved to the ANC for a position.
Trollip said: “Hermaans resigned from the ANC while he was a sitting ANC councillor and came to the DA years ago. Du Plessis was a sitting DA councillor who stood as a candidate to be re-elected and when he wasn’t, he moved to the ANC.”
Last month, five DA councillors, including Du Plessis, defected to the ANC.
Zille said the five councillors were looking after their own interests and not the interests of the people.
She also campaigned in Bethelsdorp Extension 31 and 32, and visited Khumbulani High School in North End with DA Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schäfer.