Fellow Democrats,

fellow South Africans, Politics is full of grand promises.

In this election, other parties will make lots of empty promises.

South Africans have heard enough promises. What they now need is a government that works.

Our pledge to you is that we will show up every morning and fix what has been broken.

We pledge towns and cities that work for everyone.

We pledge to give all we can, while others only take.

We pledge to serve with love and dedication for all the people of South Africa.

You see, when you ask South Africans what they want from their local government, the answer is not grand.

They want to open a tap and get water.

They want to push the light switch and get light.

They want to walk home safely under a working streetlight.

They want their rubbish collected.

They want the pothole fixed before it cuts another tyre.

They want the people entrusted with their money to be competent, honest and awake.

But in South Africa today, an ordinary life has become an extraordinary privilege.

Today, the Democratic Alliance launches our plan to get your town or city working for all.

Because a working government should be ordinary.

Your municipality should be the least dramatic part of your day.

You should not have to plan your family’s life around a water tanker.

You should not have to check a neighbourhood WhatsApp group before switching on your stove.

You should not have to dodge potholes, broken traffic lights and dangerous streets.

You should not need political connections to get a job.

When government works, you should barely have to think about it.

But when government stops working, it takes over your entire life.

Now imagine the beginning of an ordinary South African day today.

A mother wakes before sunrise. She opens the tap to get her children ready for school. Nothing comes out.

Across town, a barber arrives at his shop.

The electricity is off again. His clippers don’t work, but his rent is still due.

A young woman walks to the taxi rank before daylight.

The streetlights have been broken for months.

An informal trader sets up next to the road.

She wants to operate legally, but the permit process is so confusing and expensive that government treats her ambition like a crime.

An elderly man arrives at a municipal clinic. The queue is long, the building is neglected and the medicine he needs is out of stock.

These are not separate problems. The problems South Africans face are the consequences of the same political choice: the acceptance of failure.

For too long, South Africans have been told that this normal. That this is the best you can hope for. Well, I want you to know that I reject that completely.

The Democratic Alliance rejects that completely.

The greatest danger to our country is the creeping belief that decline is inevitable and irreversible.

Many South Africans are losing hope that their towns and cities can be fixed.

They feel like they should lower their expectations, adapt to dysfunction and learn to live with less.

We will not lower our expectations for our country.

We will raise the standard. We will restore hope that we can fix what has been broken.

Because you should expect more from your government than you are getting.

You are not a subject who must beg a politician for a favour. You are a citizen. You pay for government. You elect government.

And you have every right to demand that government works for you.

So today, we make three clear guarantees to the people of South Africa.

First: a government you can trust. Under the DA, municipal jobs will go to people who can do the work and not to the politically connected.

We will end cadre deployment in the municipalities we govern.

Engineers must manage infrastructure. Honest professionals must run administrations. And when officials steal, waste money or fail through gross negligence, there must be consequences.

Public money is not party money.

DA governments have zero tolerance for corruption. And everywhere we govern we will root corruption out ruthlessly.

We will make procurement transparent.

We will fix billing systems. The right people.

The right priorities. Results you can see. Second: services you can rely on.

Today, I am announcing a rule that will apply wherever the DA governs: every rand collected for water will be protected for water.

And every rand collected for electricity will be protected for electricity.

Your money will no longer be treated as a political slush fund. It must be used to repair pipes, maintain substations and replace cables.

It must not disappear into inflated salaries, political projects or corrupt contracts.

We will use technology to identify leaks, illegal connections and failing infrastructure before they become disasters.

And we will partner with communities and responsible businesses to restore parks, libraries, clinics, pools and sports facilities.

Clean, safe public spaces should not belong only to wealthy neighbourhoods.

Every child deserves somewhere safe to play. Third: a community in which you can get ahead.

A working municipality is not only about fixing what is broken.

It must help people build something better. When cities and towns work, people work.

When cities and towns work, investment flows, businesses grow, and more jobs are created.

We will cut red tape for businesses and entrepreneurs.

We will simplify permits for informal traders and create safe, serviced trading spaces where they can earn a living.

We will also bring crime-fighting closer to the people.

Local governments understand their communities.

They know the dangerous streets, the extortion hotspots and the neglected spaces where criminals take control.

We will fight for greater policing powers for capable municipalities.

When criminals are arrested, proper evidence must reach the prosecutors so that arrests can lead to convictions.

This means capable municipal police forces must have the power to investigate crime.

And when you walk home at night, you must know that your government is on your side—not the criminal’s.

Proof We know these things can be done, because DA governments are already doing them.

This week, I stood on a beautiful new sports field in Savannah City, delivered by the DA government in Midvaal.

Children were playing on a new beautiful soccer pitch.

Next to it were netball courts and a massive indoor sports hall.

And from that one field, I could see three different municipalities.

In front of me was Johannesburg—the most broken metro in South Africa.

To the left was Emfuleni, one of the worst-governed municipalities in the country.

And beneath my feet was Midvaal, one of the best.

From one soccer pitch, you could see the consequences of bad government and the possibilities of good government, side by side.

We are not guessing about how to fix municipalities. We have done it.

We are doing it. And we will do it where you live.

And just a short distance away, in Ward 28 in Emfuleni, residents recently voted for change.

The DA won that ward by eight votes. Eight votes.

That is how close the choice can be between another five years of decline and a councillor who gets up every morning to serve the community.

Never let anyone tell you that your vote does not matter.

In Midvaal, Kouga, Swartland, Saldanha Bay, Cape Town and municipalities across the country, South Africans can see what happens when clean government, capable people and disciplined financial management come together.

These places are not perfect. No government is. But they prove that decline is a political choice. And fixing it is a political choice too.

This is not an idea for one language, one race or one kind of community.

An honest municipality matters in every village, town and city in South Africa. Recently I met a businessman here in Joburg.

He came over to me in a restaurant, and what he said to me really meant so much.

He said, “my mother and sister live in Gugulethu in Cape Town, and I am so grateful, I can see all the improvements you are making there.”

That meant a lot to me, because we’ve worked hard to improve the roads and the sewers in Gugs, and we will keep working in every community until we deliver the dignity and improved quality of life that we want every single South African to enjoy.

You see a DA government does not ask who you voted for before it fixes your street. We govern for everyone.

That is our promise. Working for all is not an abstract idea. It is a practical programme for every municipality.

A professional, corruption-free municipality, where the best person gets the job.

That is Working for All. Where water flows because water revenue is put back into the pipes, pumps and reservoirs.

That is Working for All. The lights staying on because electricity revenue is reinvested in the grid and capable municipalities can buy and sell their own power.

That is Working for All. Safer communities because policing is brought closer to the people.

That is Working for All. More jobs because we cut red tape, help informal traders, and connect people to opportunity. That is Working for All.

This is how we get South Africa Working for All. So, in this election, don’t waste your vote on parties who have destroyed every municipality they’ve touched.

On November 4th. Vote for your taps to run. Vote for your streetlights to shine.

Vote for your bins to be emptied. Vote for the criminal to be caught and convicted.

Vote for honest, capable people who are on your side.

We will fix what is broken. We will restore hope.

We love our country, and we will build a South Africa that works, for everyone.