Date: 07/05/2011
Source: The Democratic Alliance
Title: DA: Zille: Address by the DA leader, to the people of Manguang, Bloemfontein

Fellow South Africans,

I am here today because I have heard about the poor state of the roads here. I heard that the potholes are so big that the taxis have stopped picking people up in this part of Botshabelo. People have been struggling to get to work and children have had to walk many kilometres to get to school.

The municipality has done nothing about this for months and months. Until now. When the ANC heard I was coming to Botshabelo, it made sure that the municipality sent in some officials to repair the roads.

This is not the first time this has happened in this election campaign. When the ANC heard I was in Mphophomeni in KwaZulu-Natal, the municipality sent in contract workers to clean up the sewage that was flooding into peoples’ houses. When I went to Pietermaritzburg to help the DA’s street-cleaning operation, the ANC hired refuse removal trucks to make sure the mess was cleared up before the television cameras arrived.

There is a lesson in this: things only happen when you apply some pressure. Your roads have been repaired because the ANC was suddenly under pressure to do so for the first time. Your vote on May 18 is your opportunity to apply more pressure.

If you continue to vote for the party that has failed you, it will continue to fail you. If you want your living conditions to improve, you need to put that party under pressure to deliver. 

The only way you can do this is by changing your vote. 

The stronger the DA becomes in Botshabelo, the better your service delivery will be. Every vote for the DA is a vote for delivery. Every vote in this election counts. 

I am not asking you to pledge your undying allegiance to the DA. No party in a democracy deserves that kind of loyalty. All we are asking you is to lend us your vote for the next five years. If we fail you, you can take your vote back and give it to someone else at the next election.

This election is your opportunity to send a signal to the ANC. It is your chance to apply some pressure so that you can get the service delivery you deserve. 

So, whatever you do, make sure you vote on 18 May.

And vote DA.

Because the DA delivers for all!