Date: 07/12/2009
Source: The Democratic Alliance
Title: DA: Zille: Speech by the Democratic Alliance leader, on service delivery, Potchefstoom

Last week I was in Port Elizabeth where ANC in-fighting has destroyed the ability of the Metro to deliver basic services. I see the same thing happening here in the North West.

This morning I visited the communities of Pelhindaba and Agisanang. The situation there is shocking to say the least. It is a microcosm of the failed state.

Sewage flows through the streets because the treatment plant has been out of commission for five years. There are chronic water shortages, relieved only because farmers transport water from their farms to the town. In Pelhindaba, there are three taps for 1,500 residents. Rubbish piles up in the road because it is not regularly removed.

The Tswaing municipality cannot fix these problems because it is chronically bankrupt. But this did not stop the Mayor from ordering a R400 000 car at the ratepayers expense or leading a delegation to the Rugby World Cup in France.

Things are so bad and the municipality so incompetent, that residents have resorted to trying to fix the problems themselves. But, when a group of concerned citizens tried to repair the sewerage plant, they were arrested.

How did it get to this point? The answer is simply this. The ANC is no longer a real political party. It is a vehicle for corrupt cadres to accrue wealth, perks and privileges through their proximity to state resources.

Elections are not fought so that the ANC can implement its vision for government. They are fought to ensure that powerful individuals and their cronies get access to state resources.

This explains why factionalism is so rife in the North West and elsewhere. ANC members are pitted against each other in a battle for access to the spoils of power.

Since 2006, 90% of ANC Mayors, Municipal Managers and senior managers have been purged by the new order in the ANC. It is no co-incidence that 24 municipalities in the North West are being investigated by the Special Investigating Unit for corruption, maladministration and the unlawful appointment of staff.

The point is that factionalism and poor service delivery go hand-in-hand.

It brings to mind the letter that former ANC NEC member, Frank Chikane, wrote to the ANC leadership after witnessing first-hand the goings-on in Bophirima, not far from here. He wrote, and I quote:
Having worked on the problems facing the ANC in Bophirima for the last eight months, it is very clear that the conflict in Bophirima is about positions, power patronage, access to resources, tenders etc. All of it is about personal interests rather than the interests of the people of Bophirima. Winning an election into positions of the ANC is about personal gain rather than the revolutionary objectives of our movement.
I could not have put it better myself.

Many people are disillusioned by this state of affairs. Others are angry and have taken to the streets in protest.

My message to these people is: Don't be angry or disillusioned. Do something about it that will bring meaningful change. That is what democracy is for.

Democracy is like a fragile plant. It must be nurtured or it will wither and die. The best nourishment for a democracy is when people use their rights and get rid of the party that has failed them.

This is what people are starting to realise all over South Africa. They see what the ANC has become. And they see Julius Malema's racial rhetoric for what it is: a desperate attempt to hang onto a support base in terminal decline.

The people of the Western Cape understood the power of their vote at the last elections. They saw that the DA had governed better than the ANC in the City of Cape Town. And they realised that we could govern better in the province too. This is why we won the Western Cape.

The ANC in the Western Cape is now so desperate that it has dispatched Julius Malema to hand out foodparcels, paid for with taxpayer's money. But people are not stupid. They might eat the food, but they don't buy the rhetoric anymore.

The DA is growing stronger by the day. We are retaining seats in by-elections with bigger majorities. We are winning seats off the ANC in their strongholds. And we are going to win towns and cities across South Africa at the next local election.

Our recipe for success is simple. We are a party united behind the vision of a better South Africa. We are not a collection of individuals in competition with each other for access to the spoils of power.

For the next 18 months we will redouble our efforts to connect with people who have been left behind. We will spread our vision of open, opportunity governance far and wide.

If we do this, we will make historic gains at the 2011 local elections. More importantly, if we do this, we will hasten the decline of the closed, crony system that is suffocating service delivery.