DA’s Chris Pappas outlines his party’s vision for KZN

THE Democratic Alliance (DA)’s premier candidate and uMngeni mayor, Chris Pappas, together with Sakhile Mngadi, the councillor of Ward 33, met with the residents of uMbilo and surrounding areas to lay out their party’s vision for the province, particularly for Durban, pending the upcoming elections.

On February 24, residents listened with undivided attention and eagerness as Councillor Mngadi explained his reasons for the lack of service delivery in the area and why it takes him longer to find solutions to the issues raised by residents daily.

“I am well aware of all the indigence in this ward, and as much as I would like to say I will fix each and every one of [the issues], I cannot because the reality is, I am a ward councillor in an African National Congress-led municipality. As such, my demands will not be met with any urgency because I work for the opposition,” said Mngadi.

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When it was time for the uMngeni mayor to address the people, he opened up with a question for the floor. “Who here feels hopeless?” he asked, and the community, without hesitation, all put their hands up. Pappas went on to explain the significance of the upcoming elections and why people needed to understand why each vote made a difference.

“When we were contending for the city against the ANC, we were told there is a 21% vote difference between us and them. We continued working and proving to people our cause – we tried again, and we were told the difference was now 13%. This not only assured us that we were serving our communities but that we were close to securing our goal. As we reached a 9% difference between our votes, we won uMngeni by 42 votes, and 42 people changed the course of history for the next five years. From those 42 votes, we have not only proven ourselves, but we have done what we said we would do and exceeded our own expectations,” said Pappas.

The isiZulu-fluent Pappas said, “Zikhulule isikathi sifikile, which translates to ‘Free yourselves – the time has come.’

“May 29 is your time, your chance to make a difference,” said Pappas. He said it was time for the people to show up and to take the DA from the 500 000 votes it had to 1 million.

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“By putting us in the engine seat that drives this city, which is the municipality, you will be giving us a chance to future-proof our city, to remove cadres who are not delivering, to hold people accountable and also to bring this city back to what it once was 20 years again,” added Pappas.

After his speech, the residents complained about the waste collection services and how the city was not efficient in doing this. They complained of abandoned buildings in the area that harboured criminals involved in drugs and prostitution and how the road infrastructure has gone from bad to worse.

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