PRETORIA ā The Democratic Alliance was hoping to increase its support from the 22% they managed in 2014, but all indications are that they are not going to be able to replicate their previous national performance. The party’s leader Mmusi Maimane said at the IEC centre that he is proud that his party managed to retain the centre ground. There are rumours that his leadership may be challenged due to the lack in growth in support for the party. – Linda van Tilburg
Iām grateful and I want to thank the people of this country. I want to especially thank all South Africans who voted for the DA. I am really, really proud of all of you. I am proud of the vision that you are standing for because exactly four years ago, I was elected leader of the DA and Iām proud of the mission weāve embarked on. Itās a mission to build one South Africa for all. It was always a mission to say we will grow into communities weāve never grown before and hold the centre of politics where Black, Indian, Coloured and White people can work together to realise the dreams of a prosperous nation. So, along with that, Iām proud that weāve maintained that mandate. Weāve gone out to build in a universe where so many in the world will hark back to racial nationalism and a form of populism, which stayed the course.
Itās an historic mission that this party has always been engaged with and itās one that I am proud to continue and will continue. We are going to be taking this party forward to grow in more communities and grow in more areas because ultimately, itās about holding the centre. Itās about making sure that citizens can work together. More than anything, I know that when we stepped into this election, we promised that in this place, South Africans need to be brave. They need to know that theyāre standing before a liberation movement and one day, this country will enter into a post-liberation movement era. That is what this project is about. Itās about breaking the back of that so that one day, we can live with a party that contests against racial nationalism at its best. And therefore, what I think this election has been about is the realignment of politics.
Love him, hate him Mmusi Maimane is an orator of note. He spoke with passion and love for South Africa and its people. He spoke for the youth and women. He articulated what the DA intends to deliver for South Africa. Viva Mmusi Maimane viva #DAfinalRally
— Thebe Phoko (@thebe_phoko) May 4, 2019
Itās about bringing together a new centre ground that the DA will occupy and will continue toā¦ Thereās been a rise in nationalism and parties that stand for that (maybe) in some ways, have been rewarded but it doesnāt mean the project is wrong. It means that you have to pursue it, regardless of what happens. And what Iām looking forward to in the next while, is building with a team of South Africans that are diverse. Where votes have been lost, weāre going to go back and work hard to get moversā¦gain more support because weāre the only alternative in this country thatās holding the centre together. I want to say that the thing I celebrate about these election results is the fact that we demonstrated that weāre a diverse race; that it doesnāt matter where weāve come from.
I just got the latest projections that say that in fact, even in a place like Soweto where the DA was accustomed to only getting 5% of votes there ā itās getting 13-14% – details that show that itās growing. To me, that tells me that we can grow in Soweto as we can in Sandton. That is a powerful mission. In a world where people are saying, āNo. I want to stick to my ownā, people are standing together in this election and Iām grateful for that. I want to say, āYes, at times citizens will become worriedā. As I said in our closing rally, āYes, it is tough for South Africans. It is a tough time. The economy is in a terrible state. Weāre growing at 0.8%. Itās why our mission of putting a job in every household has never been more important and thatās why Iām grateful that we will retain the Western Cape and here in Gauteng, we are challenging.
As you can see, no-one can guarantee that the ANC will retain itās outright majority and thatās because we must never fall prey to the lie that says that āin fact, only people who look like you, worship the same God as you, or speak the same language as you are the only ones who can protect your rightsā. The facts are: people can work together. Nobodyā¦no leader enters a race looking for a loss. No person goes into a tournament or a competition wanting toā¦ You go and you win and you go, and you work hard. Iām proud of what the DA has done. We could have succumbed to populism narratives. We could have succumbed to forgetting our values but weāve stuck to the course and weāve gone full-tilt. Even though weāve lost some votes, I can guarantee you that we held the centre.
DAās James Self tells 702 that as the party, they have to go back to the drawing board. He admits that some of DAās supporters might have voted for VF Plus and the new political party, Good. He further states that at this point, he canāt tell whether Maimane will stay or go.
— SITHOLEEXPRESS (@SthembisoMedia) May 10, 2019
As a party. We, as a party, will go back and work even harder to regain those votes and I will regain the project going forward because it is the project Iāve always been engaged with. It is a project that I will go and speak to everybody to say āletās continue this missionā. We have shown that when we govern, life does get better. Thatās why we can retain. Weāve shown that even here in Gauteng. We are competing here for the votes. Iām proud of what this partyās doing and I want to say – humbly so – that even for South Africans who say theyāll vote one way: I can promise you now. Weāre going to work hard to get those votes. Weāre going to work hard to grow from here. This is a party of all South Africans. Change is not always easy. It is hard but you must pursue it. You must pursue it with everything that you can and I will continue to do so.
What we begin now, is a project towards 2021. The elections will soon come again. Our record of government, where weāve shownā¦is in fact, showing that actually, 15 of the 20 municipalities are DA-run. We will show. We will add to the lists when weāre at Johannesburg and Tshwane. Iām actually quite excited that soon, very soon, weāre going back to Nelson Mandela Bay where ultimately, vacancies have been declared. Weāre going to contest them. Looking at the election results, weāre showing that in the wards weāre going to contest, that weāve got a significant amount of votes there. We will go back and take those seats and we will contest for that municipality in the near future so that we can continue to govern Nelson Mandela Bay and show the people.
Thatās why Iām glad to have Athol Trollip here – the chairperson of the party – and James Selfe who is the federal chairperson and Solly Malati who is our national spokesperson. Theyāre our fellow South Africans. This is about this contest in South Africa. One is where you get nationalism on one side and one where you get a party like the DA that stands for all South Africans. That is the race. And whilst this election has shown that we are realigning politics, it shows that we have a long journey. It may not have happened this time, but trust me. Give us 21/24. We will demonstrate to the people of this country that we can hold all South Africans together, make them prosper, and bring change to our nation, which our nation so desperately needs. Thank you.
