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With the very real possibility of electoral defeat in key parts of the country on 8 May, the ANC has now resorted to desperate, violent, and destructive tactics that threaten to burn South Africa to the ground. From Alexandra in Johannesburg, to Tshwane, to now parts of Cape Town, the ANC is orchestrating violent protests in a desperate attempt to render DA-run cities ungovernable, and to shift attention away from its failure in government over the past 25 years.

The ANC does not care about the plight of poor South Africans. It only cares about ensuring it stays in power to steal more money that ought to be spent on bettering the lives of South Africans.  Nearly 10 million people are unemployed and this number grows every day the ANC remains in government. It has become a movement that embodies undemocratic behaviour - from burning books to burning our communities. They have run out of ideas and these violent protests are proof of this.

At a time when leadership is desperately required, the lack of action by President Cyril Ramaphosa illustrates a complete inability to lead the country. The failure by the President to call his own party to order shows that he is not in control of the ANC, but the ANC controls him. The President continues to operate in a bubble, while the likes of Mabuza, Mbabula and Magashule run the show.

Unlike the President, we will not stand by and watch while the ANC burns the country to the ground. I have therefore today written to the National Police Commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, requesting an urgent meeting to establish what plans are in place to put an end to this violence and to restore law and order in our communities. The SAPS must immediately institute a plan to halt the ANCs objective of inciting violence and turning our communities into warzones.

Moreover, I will give General Sitole my assurance that DA-run governments will assist as best they can to ensure law and order in restored, and that we can get on with the business of delivering services to the people.

While the ANC continues to place their own narrow political interests ahead of the country’s collective interest, South Africans are rejecting the party in their numbers in search of real change that will move our county forward. The ANC knows this, and these violent protests and shutdowns are the last kicks of a dying horse.

We will not be deterred, and will not allow the ANC to intimidate voters into believing that violence will ensue when the ANC is removed from government. In 2016, the people of Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay rejected the ANC, and in 2019 the people of Gauteng, the Northern Cape and the rest of South Africa will reject this ANC and vote for real change.

South Africans face a clear choice at the ballot box on 8 May – we can choose more violence and chaos from the ANC, or we can choose the DA’s agenda to build One South Africa For All.

Issued by The DA