DA says it ‘will knock’ small guys in the Western Cape

The battle for the control of the Western Cape – which had been monopolised by Democratic Alliance (DA) since it took over from the ANC in 2009 – is on and heating up.

Small political parties in the province are gunning for “Giant of the West” – the DA – and are confident they will knock it out.

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The National Coloured Congress, Patriotic Alliance (PA) People’s Movement for Change (PMC) and Good are all working on areas that were historically DA strongholds in the coloured communities, and are posing the biggest threat to its survival.

Contemplating a coalition

A coalition of the smaller parties was being contemplated after the 29 May elections.

“The DA know they have done nothing for the majority of the people of the Western Cape, they only serve a tiny minority,” PA president Gayton McKenzie said.

But a confident DA federal leader John Steenhuisen is adamant his party would come tops come 29 May elections.

“All these parties are clearly taking a chance; I don’t know what they are basing these on because it can’t be any rational or reasonable polling or something like that? They are trying to gain relevance out of this,” he said.

He said the DA had a track record of good governance in the Western Cape, which he described as “the best-run province in the country”.

The party created 380 000 new jobs last year and the province had “the most well function public health system” in the country.

“The Western Cape is beating load shedding, it is keeping people safe through the deployment of police officers outside of the Saps (SA Police Service) to deal with gangs and gangsters and drugs,” Steenhuisen said.

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“People know the reason that Western Cape is the best run province in the country is because they voted for the DA.”

He said the Western Cape electorate was not going to allow the small parties to split the votes to give a chance to the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to take over, that’s why they’d come out in even bigger numbers to return the DA to power.

Despite Steenhuisen’s confidence, the DA is still besieged from all sides. In white areas, the party is facing the Freedom Front Plus, which had been stealing its constituency since the 2019 elections and the 2021 local polls.

The townships and some affluent urban centres are targeted by Songezo Zibi’s Rise Mzansi, Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA and United Independent Movement.

Although these parties threaten the DA, they all pursue a liberal agenda and were, like the DA, are linked to big business funders. The black townships remain the domain of the ANC, and now the EFF want a share of the poor voters in the shanty towns.

The pro-Israel stance was ‘miscalculated’

Earlier PMC leader, Marius Fransman said the DA miscalculated when it took a pro-Israeli stance on the Gaza issue. He said the DA would suffer the consequences of its support for Israel.

“The DA underestimates the anger of the Muslims, and disgruntled coloured and black voters it neglected in the Western Cape,” he said.

He expected the DA to fall below 50% in the 29 May general elections and a coalition of smaller parties including his PMC would take over Western Cape.

Fransman said the anti-DA sentiments was growing in the Western Cape, and estimated the Muslims constituted about 30% of the population, with most in the Bo-Kaap and outlying urban outskirts. “The DA is in deep trouble in the Western Cape.

Many people are moving away from it and its support has been dropping since 2014,” Fransman said.

On whether the DA had miscalculated its support for Israel, Steenhuisen described Fransman’s claim as “nonsense” and the election results would prove him wrong.