Cape Town — The Democratic Alliance (DA) has accused the African National Congress (ANC) of “emotionally blackmailing voters” by dangling its status as a former liberation movement.
The DA said the ruling party’s strategy for the upcoming elections has been to reflect on its three decades in charge of the country and its role in expanding services to people and areas that were neglected by the apartheid government, EWN reported.
During his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa followed a similar theme, saying the democratic government had made huge strides in correcting injustices of the past.
“What SA needs is a reprioritisation of its national budget that cuts the fat from cabinet perks and redirects money towards better social grants, fixes our electricity crisis, and embraces policies that fast track job creation.” – @jsteenhuisen
📹| Watch the DA #SONA24 reaction pic.twitter.com/dNllz7fkJi
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) February 8, 2024
DA’s chief whip in Parliament, Siviwe Gwarube, said that Ramaphosa focused on past success because his administration did not have any current success, labelling it ’emotional blackmail’.
“‘We’ve been in government for 30 years, we brought you freedom so it’s about time that inspite of our failings that you award us with your votes’. As I said, it is emotional blackmail, a government must deliver for its people and when it fails to do so, it must be voted out.”
Among the issues the Da highlighted the ANC fell short in included lack fo job opportunities, high rates of corruption, crime spiralling out of control, and millions of children and families suffering from poverty, DA’s Joh Steenhuisen said.
The ANC cannot pretend to be the vanguard of the poor, nor the international community’s moral compass when we now have the highest youth unemployment in the world at just over 60%, and where millions more South Africans suffer without electricity, clean drinking water, or adequate housing while ANC politicians re-enrich themselves with every tender under the guise of empowerment and redress,” Steenhuisen said.
The DA is hosting their Manifesto Launch media briefing on Friday 9 February.
🎥 Join us today at 11h00, for the DA’s Manifesto Launch media briefing. This historic event will see thousands of South Africans march to Union Buildings.
Watch the briefing LIVE on DA’s YouTube or Facebook pages: https://t.co/0QqJaQxWsY#DAmanifesto pic.twitter.com/BLjJFTWqAe
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) February 9, 2024
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
