Freedom Front Plus’s hard work, policies translate into seats

The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) is patting itself on the back over a good showing in eight of the nine provinces, the exception being KwaZulu-Natal.

By yesterday afternoon, as the elections ballot count hit 90%, the FF+ had increased its tally, both nationally and provincially, and was fourth or fifth in the eight provinces, with 14 million votes downloaded on the results leader board.

The party, led by Pieter Groenewald, overtook both the United Democratic Movement and National Freedom Party to take the fifth-most seats in the National Assembly.

FF+ Gauteng member of parliament and spokesperson Philip van Staden was adamant the party’s success was due to its hard work on the ground and adoption of policies that would attract investment and grow the economy.

He also attributed the good performance to the party stealing votes from the Democratic Alliance (DA).

“We took a good chunk of DA support and that of other parties.

“The DA used white voters but made a big mistake with affirmative action and silly statements by its leader, Mmusi Maimane, who said that there was no such thing as white poverty.

“Of course there is a lot of poverty among white people, what does he mean?” Van Staden said.

The FF+, he said, decided to go back to grassroots and campaign hard prior to the election – and the good results were the proof the strategy worked.

Also, its manifesto appealed to many people within its constituency and beyond, including coloureds, Indians and many blacks.

Van Staden said: “South Africa needs solutions; we are a party that will bring solutions to its problems in education, healthcare, lack of infrastructure and the economy.

“We believe there is a lot of instability in South Africa that cause investors to go away,” Van Staden said.

He said the recipe for economic growth was to implement policies that would attract investment and create jobs.

The party did not believe in affirmative action but in giving jobs to the best and deserving men and women, regardless of their skin colour.

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