Johannesburg - The launch of DA leader in the Gauteng legislature Jack Bloom’s campaign as a candidate for Gauteng premier ahead of next year’s general election is going to be a “razzmatazz affair”.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s launch, Bloom said on Sunday the DA had opened its nomination campaign for the position of premier last week and he had decided to stand.
The DA’s nominations for the position close on Wednesday, and the selection will take place on August 9.
An excited and optimistic Bloom said he believed the DA could win Gauteng and govern effectively for everyone.
“I see my role as an enthusing activist from the DA who can to go out and win,” he said.
Bloom said DA membership had soared in the province, adding that research showed the party could win.
“I’m exited about it, I’m raring to go. It’s going to be a lovely affair. It’s going to be a razzmatazz affair. I want to show the party what I can do to win the province,” Bloom said.
He was first elected to the Gauteng legislature in 1994.
“I have the skills and the experience to run this province well. I have lived in Gauteng all my life and seen it develop.”
Bloom, whose political career spans 22 years, said he was “very serious about the campaign”.
He was expected to formally submit his nomination form on Monday morning and to unveil his “exciting six-minute video”. The video is about his political career and what he can do in the province.
The launch was to take place at Constitution Hill.
After the “major campaign launch”, the video would then be made available on YouTube.
The event was also to include the unveiling of Bloom’s campaign slogan.
The DA leader said he had visited and spent a night in 23 informal settlements in Gauteng. For the past two years, Bloom said, he had run a campaign called “Don’t forget the forgotten”.
“The reception has always been wonderful,” Bloom said.
He wouldn’t be drawn into revealing who was sponsoring his campaign and how much he had spent on it.
Meanwhile, world-renowned political strategist Stan Greenberg said he believed the DA had a chance of winning Gauteng in the 2014 elections.
He had reached this conclusion after conducting an extensive poll into voter sentiment.
Explaining his decision to work with the DA, Greenberg said: “People are desperate for leaders who want to make their lives better and focus on jobs for people, not just jobs for the leaders.
“The DA is the only inclusive organisation that can really challenge the ANC and become the progressive alternative. I have watched the process of change in the party and, sometime last year, I approached the DA to talk about working together.”
DA national spokesman Mmusi Maimane also said he believed the DA could win Gauteng.
“This is based on research. It’s not something that is thumbsucked. I have always maintained that it’s possible,” he said.
The Star