John Steenhuisen: DA ready to take over ANC municipalities

The DA is gunning for the removal of the ANC from running municipalities across the country, says party leader John Steenhuisen.

He was speaking during the virtual launch of his party’s local government election manifesto on Saturday.

Referring to ANC-managed municipalities, he said his recent campaigning around the country had revealed a very bleak picture.

“I know how badly things are going in many municipalities… In recent months, I have visited towns across the country and I have spoken to hundreds of people. The stories they shared with me paint a very beak picture indeed,” Steenhuisen said

He said the DA was ready to take over from the ANC so that it could implement promises contained in its election manifesto.

“We want you to visualize the potential of your town once we have evicted the ANC and replaced it with a DA government,” he said.

Steenhuisen said the collapse of local government was so widespread that “it is no longer feasible to place the non-functioning municipalities under administration because [there are] simply just too many of them”.

Hundreds of municipalities could no longer collect revenue from residents for municipal services, such as water and electricity.

“Ours is the country where the biggest employers in town have to beg the local government for years to improve the provision of clean water [and] maintain the roads… so that business can remain viable.

“And when this doesn’t happen; when these businesses have actually had to close down and relocate elsewhere, the very same government turns round and begs them to stay,” he said

He cited the example of dairy firm Clover, which was forced to relocate from Lichtenburg in the North West due to poor municipal services

“We cannot accept the demise of these local economies as some level of fate. These are the things that can be changed,” Steenhuisen said.

He said the contrast between municipalities governed by the DA and managed by the ANC was “staggering”.

-Pretoria News

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