Johannesburg - The DA launched has its mayoral campaign in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro on Saturday, with its candidate, Athol Trollip, invoking the words of slain American civil rights stalwart Martin Luther King.
Titled “Change is coming to Nelson Mandela Bay”, the DA promises to “stop corruption, start delivery, turn the tide on the crime wave engulfing our society” and to “create jobs that will bring dignity and independence”.
Trollip said that should he be elected mayor in next year’s municipal elections, he would oversee improvements to the city’s road network and work towards economic development that would lead to a “thriving and prosperous metro”.
“From KwaNobuhle to KwaZakhele, Missionvale to Mill Park, and from Uitenhage and Despatch to Colchester, we can be a metro that is safe, a city that is clean, where the government works for the people, where opportunities are created for our children to get ahead in life,” he said.
“Where the streets aren’t paved, we will pave them. Where the streetlights are inadequate, we will deliver them. Where communities are unsafe, we will protect them. Where there is illegal dumping, we will remove it.”
Addressing the issue of his race, Trollip said: “I stand here today as a white South African asking for the votes of all South Africans, of all races.
“Given the history of our country, some of you might ask: ‘How can we trust him?’ Some might argue that it would betray the legacy of the Struggle to vote for me, and the party I represent.
“Well, let me say that those people who share those views are still living in our tragic past – a past where every South African was judged on the colour of their skin and not by the content of their character.
“I believe we owe it to our children to forge the kind of society Madiba dreamed of – a society where it matters what is in the hearts of people and what they do to make the world a better place. This is the kind of society the DA is striving to create in Nelson Mandela Bay and in South Africa. A society where a child born in New Brighton can have the same opportunities as a child born in Summerstrand.”
Labour Bureau