Date: 03/04/2004
Source: Democratic Alliance
Title: J Seremane: The final push to cut the ANC down to size


  ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said at the start of the election campaign that his party wanted a three-thirds majority. This quest for absolute power by the ruling party was echoed this week by President Mbeki, who said that he was campaigning for 100 percent of the vote.

But the people of South Africa have rejected the ANCs power hunger. In a survey published this week, it was revealed that 68 percent of all South Africans think that the ANC has too much power. Thats more than two-thirds of people who believe the ANC needs to be cut down to size.

And that is what the Democratic Alliance is going to do on April 14. Here in Khayelitsha, the DA is growing. The Makaza branch was established only a little over a year ago. And Im told that it already has 80 paid-up members, and many more supporters.

The DA is set to double its support from the 1999 election. Together with our partners in the Coalition for Change, we are set to win up to 30 percent of the vote. Then we will have a real power base from which to challenge the ANC for power over the next five years. Because the ANC has failed to deliver on the issues that matter most to people.

On unemployment. On security from crime. On corruption and nepotism. In contrast, the DA has solutions that work. We have spent the last two years preparing ourselves for the challenge of presenting an alternative agenda for South Africa. We have developed thoroughly researched and carefully costed policies on all the major issues facing South Africa.

Our economic policy is called "Its all about jobs". Because that has to be the number one priority of government. Nearly 80 percent of all South Africans believe that unemployment has gotten worse under the ANC government over the last ten years. How could they not? 600 000 jobs have been lost from the formal economy since the ANC came to power. With a figure like that, its a little surprising that 13 percent believe that it has got better. Perhaps some of these are the ANC insiders who have benefited from the ANCs policies.

But the DA has the policies to create one million real jobs over the next five years. And this could be tripled by 2014.

The DAs criminal justice policy is entitled "Freedom from Fear". This too has been shown to be very apt, because 92 percent of all South Africans are worried about being a victim of a violent crime. A third of all South Africans have been a victim of crime in the last five years - more than half of these, violent crimes.

That is why the DA aims to put 150 000 properly trained and equipped cops on the streets where you live by 2007. We campaigned so effectively on this issue last year, that the ANC adopted our policy for this election. But they have not shown the necessary urgency or commitment.

The people of South Africa have expressed their disapproval of the ruling party on crime, on unemployment, and on its quest for absolute power. Now it is time for the voters to stand up against the ANCs one party domination. It is time for opposition voters to unite behind the DA and the Coalition for Change to help build a new majority and a better alternative for South Africa.

We are pushing on.

We are ascending to new heights.

There is no turning back.

Because South Africa deserves better.