Fellow South Africans, the People of the North West Province. On this day, twenty two years ago, our nation took a bold step into the new dawn of a democratic South Africa.

This day brought with it the hope that South Africa would one day realise total liberation for all South Africans.

That South Africa would be a country of freedom, opportunity and prosperity, and that each and every South African would be the master of his own destiny.

Today, let us remember the significance of this day, the day which heralded in our constitutional democracy.

Democrats, as we celebrate this historic day, we agree that South Africa today is better than the South Africa prior to 1994.

We have made considerable strides as a nation. It gives me joy that each and every one of us contributed to this success. Indeed South Africans are amazing. All of us, generations, ethnicities and genders, we contributed to this success.

Democrats, we should also be reminded that, 22 years later, progress has been made, but not nearly enough. Freedom was fought for and won, but for the majority of the people of the North West province, real freedom cannot be seen, and still, it remains a dream.

Our Constitution is under siege by the African National Congress. The corruption that is so endemic in the ANC is eating away at the gains that we have amassed. In the process, no one in the ANC seems to realise how wrong this is. Or they do, but they choose Zuma and his side- kick Mahumapelo over the constitution and over the people of South Africa.

In March 2016, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that President Jacob Zuma failed to uphold, defend, and respect the Constitution as supreme law of land. This was in relation to the Public Protector’s report on the building of his sprawling palace in Nkandla, where he was found to have unduly benefited from the public purse.

Zuma supported by his drum majorettes, the ANC caucus in parliament as well as provincial chapters of the ANC and their senior leaders, most notably North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo, disregarded the Public Protector’s report and sought to ridicule her.

The Court unanimously judged that remedial action ordered by the Public Protector cannot be ignored without legal consequence and that Zuma should have challenged the report through a judicial process before disregarding it.

He continues to undermine this judgement as if nothing is happening. What we have just seen is a less than genuine apology from the President and laughable letters of reprimand to some of his drum majorettes.

Fellow Democrats, last year the ruling party laid the red carpet for a wanted criminal, Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, who is wanted for crimes against humanity.

Calls were made for the arrest of this fellow but the ANC government refused to arrest him despite being a signatory to the Rome Statutes and having a legal obligation to arrest Al Bashir.

Again, this ANC led government was taken to the High Court and found that the failure to arrest al-Bashir was unconstitutional.

But fellow Democrats, it was not the end yet...

Baleka Mbethe the Speaker of the National Assembly, has continuously sought to violate the Constitution, stifling freedom of speech in the national Assembly and having police officers forcefully remove elected members of parliament from the house all in defence of the emperor, Jacob Zuma.

You see, the ANC think that the opposition is in Parliament at their invitation. They forget that millions of South Africans went through a constitutional process to get all members of parliament in that house to represent them, protect the Constitution, and ensure that the freedom made possible by our Constitution are protected.

Fellow democrats these illegal actions are not limited to the national assembly.

Just yesterday, 26 April 2016, the Speaker of the North West Provincial Legislature, Susana Dantjie, together with the ANC Chief Whip, Hofman Galeng connived to stifle freedom of speech when they denied members of the opposition their right to participate in proceedings of the house.

These two have continuously showed bias and engaged in unethical conduct to stifle debate. On Monday evening, all motions and member statements were unilaterally removed from the order paper by Galeng, the ANC Chief Whip.

The Democratic Alliance asked for intervention based on Rule 114 of the North West Provincial Legislature Standing Rules. This rule allows for the scheduling of the programme prior to the sittings by all political parties represented in the house, but this removal of items from the order paper was never discussed when the parties on 15 April.

When the DA requested the Susana Dantjie, the Speaker, to overrule the ANC Chief Whip’s decision she refused, stating that member statements will only be allowed after the Local Government Elections in August.

No rule in the Standing Rules formed the basis of this refusal by the Speaker. I, as the DA Leader, was then removed by the Serjeant At Arms when I stood my ground and tried to protect the democratic process, within which we at the DA firmly believe.

The father of our nation, Nelson Mandela, once said: “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others’. My resolve to protect constitutional process was based on this. However, as usual, the ANC showed arrogance and total disregard for constitutional democracy.

This is one of the struggles we are faced with in this tyranny. However we can assure the people of the North West that we will not be intimidated the ANC and we will stop at nothing to ensure that the legislature is not captured by the ANC for its sinister objectives.

Fellow democrats, the DA work, every day, as hard as we can, to make sure that every South African have freedom, true freedom in the form of creating the opportunity to employment, the delivery of basic services and working against those corrupt individuals who wish to take our freedoms away.

We stand together with the people of this province, who have not seen the fruits of this freedom, to ensure that they are not held back by a corrupt government that continues to keep people shackled in poverty and without the opportunities provided by education and economic upliftment.

To ensure that the promise of our young democracy lives on today, our generation must look to the future. In the upcoming local government elections, the people of the North West must vote for a party of the future.

Where we already govern, we want to continue to make progress. We still have much more work to do, but we are proving that real change is possible.
Where we do not govern, we want to bring change that will move South Africa forward again. This is change that will stop corruption, create jobs, and deliver better services for all.

Midvaal Municipality is the only DA-run municipality in Gauteng. It is also the municipality with the lowest unemployment rate in all of Gauteng. Likewise, the Western Cape is the only DA-run provincial government in South Africa. It is also the province with the lowest unemployment rate in the entire South Africa. The DA wants to bring this change to the North West Province.

The DA understands the need for creating an enabling environment to ensure that there is opportunity for all.

A DA government will give our economy the freedom to grow by investing in our roads, railways and water infrastructure.

With your vote, this change is possible. A change that cuts corruption in our government. A change that creates jobs. A change that frees the opportunities that this province has to offer. A change that brings quality services. A change that brings you freedom you can use. A true freedom as was envisioned by Tata Madiba. The ANC today is not the ANC under Mandela. Only the DA can offer real freedom in terms of an honest and responsive government.

The time is now. The choice is yours on 3 August. It is time to give the DA the chance to bring change to create jobs, deliver services and eradicate corruption,