Mayibongwe Maqhina|Published
DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis said his party is aiming to retain control of the City of Cape Town with an outright majority during the November 4 local government elections.
“Our target is to win with an outright majority, but the polls are close,” he said when he unveiled an elections billboard in District Six on Monday using President Cyril Ramaphosa’s own words when he conceded in 2025 that the best run municipalities are those governed by the Democratic Alliance.
His comment came a day after the eNCA/MarkData poll predicted the DA would receive 52.6%, up from the recent poll by Ipsos that put their support in Cape Town at 46%.
The DA enjoyed 60% support in the 2021 local government elections.
Polls show differing levels of DA support
Hill-Lewis acknowledged that the results of the two polls were close.
“This is why we must call on every single DA voter, every DA supporter, that if you are thinking about voting for the DA, come out and back the DA on the 4th of November. Don't go for those smaller parties who want to throw Cape Town into a coalition of chaos. Let's get behind the DA so that we can take the City forward. We want an outright DA majority,” he said during an interview.
Speaking at the event earlier, Hill-Lewis said Ramaphosa’s statement during the “roll call” meeting with ANC councillors last year was still a moment that meant so much to him.
He said the board was meant to make sure that everyone knew that even the ANC recognises that where the DA governs, they govern best for everyone.
“When your chief opponent agrees that the evidence is indisputable, then it really is beyond debate. Where the DA governs, things move forward. Where you have chaotic coalitions, you often find that they tend to move backwards. That is the choice on offer in Cape Town in two weeks’ time and in many, many other cities and municipalities across our country,” he said to DA members and supporters.
Hill-Lewis also said he thought that hundreds of thousands of new voters who have never voted for the DA before were thinking just like Ramaphosa in seeing that his party governed better for everyone.
Hill-Lewis urges DA supporters to vote
The billboard was the first of the many to be rolled out across Cape Town.
“We decided to start with this one because on Wednesday is the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament, down the road. I love the fact that all the ministers and the president are going to drive down this road on Wednesday and look, be reminded of their own endorsements of the DA.”
He added that every South African deserved to live in a town or city where businesses can grow, investment can flow, and jobs can be created.
DA leader dismisses Ramaphosa’s criticism
He said half of all the jobs created in the metros were in Cape Town and that the City deliberately invested hugely in infrastructure, among other things.
He laughed off statements by Ramaphosa during his campaign trail over the weekend that Cape Town is a city of two tales.
“He's got a row back from that statement (that best run municipalities were governed by the DA), but we are not going to let him row back on. He's going to see it now every time he drives down the street and that anecdote meant a great deal to me,” he said.
“That statement is true and that we are working for everyone in our city. It is a wonderful thing to get an endorsement from the president. I want to say thank you to him very much.”