A SOLID election campaign was what it took for the DA to win the hearts and souls of the people of Tshwane.
Motheo Mtimkulu, spokesperson for the DA's mayor-in-waiting Solly Msimanga, said this was how the party took last Wednesday's local government election in the capital.
The DA got 43.11 percent of the vote, effectively dethroning the ANC which had held the majority before the election, but trailed with 41.22 percent.
Back in September last year, Msimanga was already on the ground, preaching the message of change, Mtimkulu told the Cape Times' sister newspaper, the Pretoria News.
He said at the heart of Msimanga’s campaign was a message that talked to the bread-and-butter issues such as jobs, water, houses and electricity.
To outperform the ANC, Mtimkulu said the DA ran a strong campaign with a key message that it could change the lives of the people for the better.
The DA also capitalised on the ANC internal political battles which saw Tshwane people revolting against the decision of the national executive to parachute in mayoral candidate Thoko Didiza as the face of its election campaign when rivalry between the mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa and his rival Mapiti Matsena could not be resolved.
“How the tables have turned for the ANC demonstrates the point that the ANC is disrespecting the electorate,” Mtimkulu said.
According to Mtimkulu, the DA’s success in getting more votes than the ANC in the capital city was a sign that the party had paved the way to winning Gauteng from the ANC in the 2019 national and provincial elections.
Mtimkulu said that while the DA’s “vote for change” election campaign was in full swing, the ANC had tried without success to reduce it to a race issue.
Regarding the comment by ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe that attributed the ANC’s dismal showing to poor turnout of black people at voting stations, he said that statement proved the demise of the ANC.
Mtimkulu said that the DA’s internal projections showed that most people from the townships had voted in favour of the opposition.
He likened Mantashe’s utterance to remarks previously made by President Jacob Zuma on the “clever blacks” who would question the ANC-led government decisions.
Although the DA triumphed, it had not achieved the threshold required to govern the city without entering into a coalition with one or more of the other parties that won seats.
Professor Tinyiko Maluleka of the University of Pretoria said: “Technically, you can have a minority administration, but that would mean that every little decision you make, you must lobby for support from other parties.”