Cape Town - DA leader John Steenhuisen has called for the voters to use this weekend as their last chance to register for the local government elections on November 1.
On Saturday, Steenhuisen said the voters should make the effort to ensure that they were correctly registered.
“Please remember, if you don’t register this weekend, you won't be able to vote for the party that gets things done,” he said from the party’s call centre in Athlone before visiting voting stations around the city.
Speaking to the media in Langa, Steenhuisen said “the blue machine” has kicked into top gear in getting the voters to register and make sure that they were properly registered.
Asked about lack of service delivery and overflowing drains in parts of the city, he said that was what happens in metropolitan governments all over the country.
“It’s a huge number of people who have moved to metropolitan areas and it puts a lot of pressure on services. The city has got to invest in infrastructure,” he said.
“It is one of key commitments that (mayoral candidate) Geordin (Hill-Lewis) has made. He has to make sure that they spend the money on infrastructure, making sure those basics are in place,” he added.
However, Steenhuisen said, there were constraints in terms of the budget. “There are constraints in terms of what the city can do in one year.
“It takes time to roll out infrastructure,” he said when asked about the lack of urgency to improve deplorable conditions in some parts of the city.
Steenhuisen noted that in every independent and government survey, the quality of life care in the City of Cape Town was better than elsewhere in the country.
He said they had acknowledged that there was a lot more work to be done.
“There is much more infrastructure that needs to be laid. There is more growth to be attracted. That is what the DA is committed to doing over the next five years,” Steenhuisen said.
He also said his party would like to take as many wards as possible in the upcoming elections.
Steenhuisen did not foresee any coalition government in the City of Cape Town after the upcoming polls.
“I don’t think we are going to need a coalition in Cape Town ... I think we are going to head for outright win again. That is a good thing,” he said.
The official opposition in the city, the ANC, will have another opportunity to register all proportional representation councillors by Tuesday after it missed the August 23 deadline.
IOL