The Democratic Alliance’s 82% victory in the Umdoni Ward 10 by-election that took place on November 30, leaves no doubt about whom the voters trust.
It bodes well for the looming national and provincial elections in 2024, and our objective to install a new energetic and capable government in KwaZulu-Natal.
The party has engaged with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and reached agreement to work together to remove the ANC from power and begin the process of restoring our infrastructure and economy. KZN’s citizens will not survive another term under the destructive and negligent practices that characterise our municipalities.
The DA already governs the uMngeni Municipality to good effect. The list of improved services, economic growth initiatives and the restored infrastructure, are a clear demonstration of what good governance can do for citizens in KZN.
Here in Umdoni the failed services include refuse collection, landfill site operations, storm water and roads maintenance, public open space maintenance, facilities maintenance, public lighting maintenance, building control, law enforcement, traffic management, almost everything. The DA Caucus has sustained its fight for budget and services and some work is currently taking place, but there is still a long way to go to catch up. Our new councillor for ward 10, Alan Cutten will continue the tradition of working closely with and for communities in the ward.
As citizens begin to understand the importance of their votes and the relevance it has to the economy, the services they receive, and their quality of life, the ANC becomes increasingly desperate in its endeavours to cling to power. Added to the usual strategy of food parcels and last-minute promises, is their new strategy of creating mayhem outside voting stations, with the obvious intention of dissuading voters from going to vote. It was done at St Francis and Pennington and it had an effect. Saps were initially reluctant to act and Umdoni traffic officials were unable to respond because they do not have any working vehicles. Some voters who braved the intimidation had to be escorted to the voting station.
Earlier this year in Umzinto in ward 13, they used the same dirty trick with hundreds of drunk, chanting, marauding people jamming up the road at the entrance, egged on by ear splitting music from their sound truck. That crowd only dispersed at four the next morning and many voters would not risk running the gauntlet through the volatile mob.
The disrespect towards voters and for law and order was palpable and on full display. The IEC has no jurisdiction outside the voting boundary and the Saps knows this. The parties that create the mayhem act with impunity until the level of complaints to Saps prompts their intervention. It is an unhealthy scenario and will eventually end in disaster if it is allowed to continue.
We thank the voters who came out to cast their vote, thus participating in the single most important action that a citizen can perform. Voting is about a better future and using the power that democracy grants us, to change what is bad and wrong about the present.
EDWIN BAPTIE, MPL
DA Ugu Constituency Head
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