DA GAUTENG premier candidate Solly Msimanga concedes his party is not making a “perfect” attempt to win Gauteng but blames it on the ANC ahead of the May 29 elections.
On his campaign trail yesterday at Liliesleaf Farm, where a number of ANC leaders were arrested in 1963, Msimanga, spoke about the governing party’s failures during the last three decades, saying it was befitting because his party had made a difference as an opposition party.
His party chose the location to highlight the promises that former ANC leaders made at the dawn of democracy that had not been fulfilled.
Msimanga lashed out at the governing party, accusing ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula of “murmuring in the corners” while disappointing the country.
He said that the DA as the official opposition, following the last elections, had tried, although they were not perfect.
“It’s not a perfect attempt, but there is an attempt that is coming through … because if it wasn’t for us we would have been sitting with the likes in regard to Eskom …
“We would not be having the state capture commission … We are the ones who started asking questions about what was happening. We heard Fikile Mbalula murmuring in the corners.”
Msimanga said he expected more load shedding following the May 29cpolls.
He outlined what he called broken promises by the ANC since it had come into power in 1994.
“The ANC has continued to break promises since it came to power in 1994.”
A confident Msimanga said, in front of a handful of supporters of the party that they had been an effective opposition.
He called out all ANC Gauteng premiers since the dawn of democracy, including Mbazima Shilowa, Nomvula Mokonyane, Paul Mashatile, and the current Premier Panyaza Lesufi.
“In 2023, Lesufi made grand promises to make crime an apex priority through a five-year Gauteng policing plan and increasing resources to police stations.
“Between October and December last year, more than 1 700 people were murdered in Gauteng. Furthermore, Gauteng only has 143 police stations responsible for the safety of more than 16 million people. Some police stations close at night and are badly maintained, understaffed, and under-resourced,” Msimanga said.
“Premier Lesufi has continued where his predecessor left off, promising massive housing developments that his administration is incapable of completing, making them vulnerable to vandalism and hijackings by the so-called construction mafias. The less said about the provincial housing backlog, which stands at more than 1.2 million, the better.”
He said Mashatile was still at the helm. But his recent visit to a Gauteng hospital like Tembisa showed that the promise had not been fulfilled.
Attempts to speak to ANC national spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri, were not successful after Msimanga spoke.
But earlier, she had reportedly said that the party had been busy campaigning.
Mbalula did not answer his phone nor respond to messages regarding Msimanga’s assertions about how the ANC had failed the state.
The Star