There has been much levity throughout the world about Volodymyr Zelensky, a professional comedian, being elected president of Ukraine last week. After having a clown, and not very good one at that, as our president for nine years, I sincerely hope that every South African will take their vote seriously on 8 May and ensure that their votes do make a difference.
Although the DA is not perfect and does make mistakes it is, in my opinion, the best option for the country.at this point in time. They are the only political party that is offering the country a clear and workable plan for the future
Nothing that Cyril Ramaphosa, or the ANC, has said or done during the campaign has inspired my confidence that there will be any significant change after the election. He has not even been able to change the ANC election list. The list contains the names of convicted criminals, two people that the Constitutional Court has found to have lied under oath and several senior members implicated in state capture. Ramaphosa has still not, satisfactorily, explained his and his son’s association with Bosasa.
The Democratic Alliance’s campaign slogan “One South Africa for all” epitomises the DA whose leadership, membership and voters is the most diverse in the country. It is the only party that is not trying to divide or compartmentalise the voters of South Africa.
The DA’s 2019 Agenda for Change aims at building one South Africa for all through the following five points:
• Fair access to jobs
The greatest threat and challenge facing South Africa is that there are currently over 10 million unemployed people in the country. This accounts for 27.1% of the labour force that are without jobs. The youth unemployment rate at 54.7% is the highest in the world.
It is common cause that high unemployment is the primary cause of poverty and the consequent criminality.
There are many household in the country where no one has a job. The DA is committed to creating a permanent job in every home over the next five years. They will introduce a Jobs Act which will offer tax incentives for people to come and open businesses that create jobs. They intend replicating the successful Western Cape reduction in Red Tape policy throughout South Africa to promote small business development.
South Africa needs to become a country of entrepreneurs because it is in small business that jobs are created and economic growth stimulated, for this reason much of the DA’s policies are directed towards this sector.
Rebuilding the economy by maximising the sectors that are key to job creation – sectors like Manufacturing, Agriculture and Tourism are a priority for the party.
They will Introduce Voluntary National Service comprising one year of income and skills development for school-leavers to create a bridge between school and the world of work while providing youth with work experience.
• Fighting corruption
A DA government promises to eliminate corruption, to ensure that taxes are spent for the benefit of the people on the projects for which they are intended.
They will ensure that there is a mandatory prison sentence of 15 years for persons found guilty of corruption.
There will be no more cadre deployment, merit not political affiliation must be the criterion for employment in the state. Any person found guilty of the practice of ‘sex for jobs’, ‘carpet interviews’ or of ‘cash for jobs’ will be prosecuted.
• Honest and professional policing
The DA is committed to fix the police service so that it becomes honest and professional service. The police service will be a well-trained, properly equipped and highly motivated crime-fighting unit. Only the best professionals will lead it and the days of deployed cadres filling top positions will be gone for good.
The DA has also pledged to reintroduce the specialist policing units which includes a “rural safety unit” to help clamp down on farm attacks and other similar crimes. The party will also introduce an “anti-drug unit”, “anti-gangster unit”, anti-Corruption Unit” as well as a unit to combat crimes against women and children.
• Speeding up basic service delivery
The DA is committed to drastically speed up the delivery of housing, water, electricity and sanitation in every community.
Based on the performance of the DA in the municipalities that it governs there should be no problems in rolling out service delivery.
• Secure borders
While having draconian visa regulations, to the detriment of tourism, South Africa has porous borders where illegal immigrants and criminals enter the country at will and corruption prospers.
A DA government will restore order and eliminate crime and corruption at the Department of Home Affairs to control immigration and correctly record and assist legitimate refugees and asylum seekers.
They will ensure that the army is deployed to patrol the country’s borders and eliminate the free flow of people and illegal goods into South Africa.
FORECAST:
A number of people have requested me to give my forecast of the outcome of the elections, against my better judgement, I would hesitantly, venture the following forecast of the results:
This is the first time since 1994 that the electorate is volatile and the final results are not a foregone conclusion. There is even uncertainty in the formerly ANC strongholds such as North West Province and the Northern Cape. With less than a week to go before the election various organisations have released the results of their pre-election polls. There is a great variation in the results one poll putting the ANC support at 61% while another puts it at 51%.
In my opinion there will be lower percentage poll than in 2014 and will be about 70%, the lower the percentage the more it will favour the opposition parties because it would indicate that ANC supporters are not coming out to vote.
There is a clear indication that the ANC vote will decline in all provinces including the Western Cape. The EFF will probably show a significant growth in support to slightly above 10%. I expect the DA to marginally increase its votes to 23%, with a significant increase in Black African support and a marginal decrease in white support. COPE and the UDM I expect to remain at the current levels while the IFP, FF+ and the ACDP will receive a modest increase in support, Patricia de Lille’s GOOD Party will probably be represented in the National Assembly.
I am concerned of the effect of voters not understanding the strategic importance of not wasting their votes in the election for provincial legislatures. If we take the 2014 results for Mpumalanga as an example, 52903 (1.23 seats) people who voted for smaller parties do not have their views represented in the legislature, whereas the opposition could have had an additional seat had these voters voted strategically for the largest opposition party. This same scenario plays out in all the provinces.
On Wednesday all South Africans face a choice, a choice between the corrupt, old, disorderly ANC and the honest, capable, modern and orderly DA alternative The ANC has made a total mess of governing, and it is only the DA at this stage that can restore order through rules and accountability and start to turn our country around.
Please join me and vote for the only true alternative and to create one South Africa for all.
Until next time…
CLIVE HATCH
