Cape Town - Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader and Western Cape premier candidate, Gayton McKenzie, said he is willing to work with the Democratic Alliance (DA) should the need arise.
The notion, however, has been rejected by DA Western Cape leader, Tertuis Simmers.
McKenzie was addressing the media yesterday in Cape Town, where he announced five parties that have opted not to contest the upcoming general elections; instead, these parties will campaign in favour of the PA.
The parties are Advieskantoor, led by Leon Campher; the Gemeenskap Party, led by Goliath Lottering; the Karoo Democratic Force, led by Noël Constable; the Oudtshoorn Gemeenskap Inisiatief, led by Colin Sylvester; and Witzenberg Aksie, led by Gert Laban.
McKenzie said the PA emerged as a unifier in the Western Cape, and threatened the dominance of both the ANC nationally and the DA in the province, with numerous coalition governments on the cards.
He said the DA government has neglected the people of the Cape Flats, Langa, and Khayelitsha, as he criticised the DA extensively.
However, he said he is willing to work with the DA in the upcoming elections.
“We all have a wish to get more than 50%. In our meetings, we said we wished we could get more than 50%. Now, what happens if we don’t get 50%? You must now sit down and say, ‘What is important to us?’
“And if we get that from the ANC, so be it. If we get that from the DA, so be it. We are the only party that said we will work with anybody.
“For as long as the rights of our people are respected, we make promises to our constituents, and if we attain those promises through the DA, we will take them.”
Despite McKenzie’s willingness to work with the blue party, Simmers said he didn’t trust the PA. “In contrast, where the PA governs, their track record is one of corruption and service delivery failure. It doesn’t matter who they are in coalition with; the outcome is always the same.
“Ultimately, all Gayton McKenzie is doing is expanding the ANC/EFF/PA coalition of corruption in the Western Cape. One thing is clear: a vote for the PA is a vote for the ANC.
“In fact, we’re surprised that they weren’t sitting at the table today with Gayton McKenzie,” said Simmers.
Asked why the Karoo Democratic Force decided to campaign for the PA, Constable said the PA stood for what they did.
“We don’t have a problem voting for McKenzie. But we are not losing our identity. We are keeping our identity, and we know that we don’t have the resources that the PA and McKenzie have. It is no use for me to go into a national provincial election knowing that I don’t have the funding, not even to register,” said Constable.
Cape Argus