WATCH | Zuma’s MK is devouring millions of ANC votes – Steenhuisen

Steenhuisen

Cape Town – The Democratic Alliance (DA) launched its election manifesto at the Union Buildings on Saturday, signaling its intention to take over the government from the African National Congress (ANC).

Party leader John Steenhuisen said that there was a chance the ANC’s support could fall below 50%.

The manifesto includes promises to create two million jobs, end power and water shortages, reduce violent crime rates, tackle corruption, lift people out of poverty, improve education, and ensure quality healthcare.

Steenhuisen expressed confidence that the DA could defeat the ANC in the upcoming election, attributing the ANC’s decline to internal issues and the influence of the MK Party led by Jacob Zuma.

“Our meeting here today is no accident. Our meeting here today is a signal of intent. The DA is launching our 2024 election manifesto from the Union Buildings to send a clear message that in this election, we are in it to win it,” Times Live quoted Steenhuisen as saying.

He added: “The ANC was already on its knees when Jacob Zuma’s MK Party entered the fray. As we speak, MK is devouring millions of ANC votes, he said.

“And the ANC only has one man to blame for its demise: Cyril Ramaphosa, who, for decades, did everything in his power to enable and protect Zuma. Ramaphosa even freed over 15,000 criminals just to keep Zuma out of prison. That is why I am proud today to launch the DA’s rescue plan for South Africa, our manifesto for the historic 2024 election.”

According to AFP, under the scorching sun, streets were flooded with a sea of the DA’s signature blue as supporters sang along to an energetic brass band as they marched behind their leader.

“I’m here today to see some change, we want to give this political party a chance because you never know it could work” said Pontsho Mona, 24, “because truly speaking the ANC has failed”.

The ANC is set to launch its own manifesto next week.

The image of the 110-year-old ANC has been fractured and stained by corruption, cronyism and a lacklustre economic record.

In a country plagued by an energy crisis and high unemployment, some 27.5 million registered South Africans will elect a new parliament which will then vote in a new president.

Some polls show the alliance currently battling with leftist party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) for second place behind the ANC.

A recent Ipsos survey put the two parties tied at between 17 and 20 percent.

Formed in 2000 as a fusion of three mostly-white parties, the DA has struggled to escape its white, middle-class image and win over black voters.

But Simon Nkabinde, a 68-year-old pensioner, told AFP he has put his faith into the DA after being “constantly lied to” by the ANC.

“I had been complaining about not having a tar road in my township since 1991 under ANC leadership but nothing happened for 30 years,” he said.

“The DA has now won our municipality and has started building us a tar road.”

The centre-right party has formed a coalition in the hope of unseating the ANC.

“My sense is that the coalition the DA has formed with smaller parties will have a zero effect in the upcoming polls” Ongama Mtimka, a politics lecturer at Nelson Mandela University told AFP.

He said that with a “rise in centrist parties voters now have a lot of options, so given the cumulative effect of the DA losing support the EFF might benefit from that.”

In the last poll in 2019 the DA came second with 20.8 percent and won 84 parliamentary seats.

The ANC currently holds 230 of the 400 seats (57.5 percent) and the EFF 44 (10.8 percent).

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Compiled by Betha Madhomu

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