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In just three weeks, South Africans will head to the polls in one of the most consequential — and certainly the most competitive — elections in our democratic history.

That is something worth celebrating.

The vibrancy and competitiveness of this election is exactly what our constitutional democracy was designed to enable. To have citizens freely choosing who should govern them, governments being held accountable for their record, and political power changing hands peacefully through the ballot box.

We should honour that democracy by participating in it enthusiastically. That means getting out to vote on election day. But it also means making sure that our families, friends, neighbours and colleagues do the same.

Because this election will be won or lost on turnout.

And if DA voters turn out in numbers, dozens more towns and cities across South Africa could wake up with the prospect of five years of stable, competent, DA-led government. And that way more and more South Africans will experience the hope and progress that comes from stable DA governments.

In these municipalities we will then have five years to start fixing what three decades of ANC decline and more recently unstable coalitions of chaos have broken.

This election therefore presents voters with a clearer choice than we have seen in a generation.

Only the DA is big enough to lead viable non-ANC governments across South Africa.

Only the DA has a truly national footprint, with a candidate contesting every ward and a presence in every municipality.

And only the DA combines that national scale with a proven record of governing successfully where voters have given us the opportunity to do so. No other party has the record of governance that the DA has.

Momentum is building

The latest News24/SABI polling confirms the political shift that we are seeing and feeling on the ground.

The DA is now within five percentage points of the ANC nationally. We have the best net favourability rating of the parties tested. And across the metros surveyed, the DA leads everywhere except eThekwini.

In Tshwane, the DA leads the ANC by eight points.

In Johannesburg, Helen Zille leads the mayoral race.

And in Cape Town we have the only metro surveyed where residents believe their city is moving in the right direction. Think about that for a moment.

Across South Africa, people are deeply pessimistic about the direction of their municipalities and the country. But in the DA-governed City of Cape Town, people are hopeful.

And that is not an accident. It is what happens when voters choose stable government, competent administration and a relentless focus on getting the basics right.

And what is possible in Cape Town can be possible in Johannesburg, Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay, Mangaung and municipalities across our country.

South Africans do not have to accept decline as inevitable.

South Africans are rejecting the politics of anger, destruction and permanent grievance offered by the ANC, MK and EFF.

They are choosing the belief that South Africa can work. And, above all, that decline is not inevitable.

Every week on the campaign trail I meet South Africans who still believe deeply in this country's potential. They are not naïve about our problems. They see them every day.

But they refuse to believe that failure is our destiny.

They are adding their voices to the DA to see change.

That is the source of the DA's momentum.

So my message to all DA supporters three weeks out from the election is don’t hope for change. Vote for change.


Issued by DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis