DA’s top Gauteng candidate visits Boksburg
DA premier candidate for Gauteng, Mmusi Maimane, visited Boksburg on Tuesday, January 28, and delivered a keynote address at a public meeting held at the Boksburg Old Town Hall.
During the meeting, which was attended by hundreds of people from Boksburg and surrounding areas, Maimane spoke about the DA’s plans for Gauteng.
The event began at 7pm and ran until 9pm.
In his address he spoke about a wide range of issues, including that of basic services, E-tolls, job creation, corruption, youth empowerment and other issues.
Speaking to the Advertiser, Maimane said, the DA is committed to improve the lives of all residents of Gauteng, by creating opportunities for all and perform best at delivering basic services.
As a Premier, job creation will be Maimane’s number one priority.
“We will do more to stimulate entrepreneurship and investment in the province,” says Maimane.
“We will support business and introduce apprenticeship and a provincial Youth Wage Subsidy programme.
“By helping entrepreneurs start businesses, making it much easier to do business, and growing the economy, we will stimulate job creation.”
In terms of corruption, Maimane says that the DA in Gauteng would ensure the same level of clean governance that residents of the Western Cape have come to know.
Maimane mentions that his part will do everything to stop corruption and to weed out corrupt officials.
He further states that the battle against E-tolls was not yet over, and pledged that under a DA-run Gauteng, an inter-governmental dispute would be declared against the national government with regard to this matter.
“We will fight E-tolls from inside government.
Speaking during the meeting, Maimane said, “I have seen children as young as 10 receiving E-toll accounts. “This goes to show that Sanral’s business model is not effective, and no law compels me to buy an E-tag, so I will not.”
“Under my administration, we will not see MECs being able to afford cars of R1.3-million or running around with government credit cards. Ultimately, the money being wasted is your money and my money. You and I also paid for Nkandla.”
After the initial speech, a question and answer session was held, where Maimane was tested on every angle of DA policy by members of the public.
The Advertiser also asked Maimane if the DA has a plan in place to address the problem of the thousands of people still living in inhuman environments in the informal settlements in Boksburg and surrounding areas.
In response, he said, that under his administration they will make sure that they first formalise the informal settlement and deliver all the basic services, including lights, water, toilets, roads and other human necessities.
“Under DA administration we will never make people wait long for RDPs, but will make sure that they own the land and provide them with all the basic services,” says Maimane.
Janet Semple, DA’s Boksburg constituency political head said that she was very pleased with the turnout at the meeting and the way in which Maimane handled the questions posed by the public.
“I think it is wonderful that the public could hear Mmusi speak and get to hear that the DA does have a plan for government. We truly are no longer just an opposition party, but a party of government, and our manifesto being launched in March, will be an embodiment of that philosophy.”
Maimane is currently doing a tour on the East Rand, which gives the public the opportunity to ask Maimane any questions they have regarding the DA in Gauteng, their campaign and their manifesto.
About the march to Luthuli House, Maimane told the Advertiser that his party is going ahead with its planned march on Luthuli House.
Six-thousand DA supporters are expected to march to the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters next month to take the “fight for jobs” to the ruling party.
“We are going ahead with the march on Luthuli House to highlight the failure of the ruling party to create the six million job opportunities the ANC promised people of the country.”
