Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Geordin Hill-Lewis delivered a passionate speech the party’s final election rally in eThekwini on Sunday.
Hill-Lewis was speaking ahead of the Local Government Elections set to take place on Wednesday, 4 November 2026.
Full speech
Good afternoon, KwaZulu-Natal!
It’s wonderful to be with you.
Thank you to every activist, every candidate and every resident who has helped carry this campaign into every community across this province.
I greet you this day with immense excitement in my heart.
I think you can feel that excitement too. We can all feel it.
We can see it in the streets, we can hear it from South Africans.
People are hungry for change. They are hungry for government that works for all.
And in nine days, they are going to vote for it.
The last polls before the election have just been released. They show what we know from talking to so many South Africans on the ground.
They show that the DA is on the doorstep of making history.
We are within just a few percentage points of overtaking the ANC and becoming the biggest party in South Africa.
We are the leading party in 5 of the major metros.
But most exciting of all:
There are hundreds of thousands of South Africans who are planning on voting for the DA for the first time ever.
To them I say, we will not let you down. We appreciate your trust, and we will work hard every day to make sure we deliver on it.
We know why you are deciding to vote for the DA.
You want government that is honest and that stops corruption.
You want government that brings jobs.
You want government that makes people safer.
You want government that fixes basic services and gets things working for everyone.
And in the DA, you will have a government who will get up every morning, in every town or ward or city – and one day our country – and we will work to do those four things for you.
To each of those brave South Africans, true patriots, watching us today: When you vote for the DA, you join millions of other patriots who already do, and you lead the way for millions more who still will.
You are choosing to support a party that is going to fix South Africa, starting with your town or city.
Here in Durban, it is now clear – we will either have an MKP Mayor, or a DA Mayor. There are only two parties in this fight. And only the DA is big enough to stop the beautiful city falling to the destruction of MKP. We call on Durban residents to unite behind the DA, and ensure a DA Mayor and a DA-led government here.
But there is still another big risk, friends.
When the ANC sees that the voters are abandoning them, they will get desperate. Right now, this morning, after seeing these polls, I’m sure they are getting desperate.
Make no mistake. They are not an honest organisation. They will use every dirty trick in the book to make sure they stay in office so they can keep stealing.
We are on the doorstep of history, we are right at the front door, but we must not let the ANC steal the door handles.
We must stop them. We must be very vigilant in this election.
Friends,
This province has so much going for it.
KwaZulu-Natal is South Africa’s second-largest provincial economy. When this province moves forward, the whole country benefits.
Too many residents are let down but their governments here in KZN. People who talk too much but do very little.
I want KwaZulu-Natal to be a place where families can look forward to a better life of more work and safer streets.
And this is within our reach.
And we have such a tremendous example of a municipality in KwaZulu-Natal that works for all.
And we’ve seen the work done by our DA colleagues in the provincial government of unity.
I saw for myself the wonderful work the DA has done in uMngeni. I heard residents myself talk of the progress they’ve seen.
It does not mean that every problem is fixed. But it shows that change is possible.
Across South Africa during this campaign, I have met people who still see what our country can become.
They still believe in a better future for South Africa, and they are working for it every day.
They need government to join them.
That is why it’s important to unite behind the DA, to give us the strongest mandate possible.
A government consumed by bargaining over offices has less time for the resident waiting for a repair. Constant political upheaval weakens the planning and accountability on which reliable services depend.
The answer is to give the DA the strongest possible mandate, and outright majorities wherever we can win them. So the we can stop the coalition chaos and start the delivery!
Our ambition is stable government that improves people’s lives.
And our responsibility is to serve everyone.
Let me say something clear to everyone here and all of our opponents.
This is the only party in the country that proudly serves every person because we believe in the fundamental dignity of everyone.
While people are constantly trying to attack the DA about our record, it stands and speaks for itself.
The most jobs in the country are created where the DA governs.
The most houses for the poor in the country are built where the DA governs.
The best basic services for the poor in the country are delivered where the DA governs.
There are more working street lights in Khayelitsha than there are in Sandton.
And there are more new jobs for the unemployed in Cape Town than in Durban, Tshwane, Joburg, and Ekurhuleni combined.
And it’s no better under other parties either.
In Tshwane, the city hid the truth from residents for weeks that their water was unsafe to drink. This was under the leadership of an ActionSA Mayor. Over 400 people, many of them children, fell ill drinking dangerous water.
It is disgrace and a scandal of national proportions.
So to all those other parties whose record is only disgrace and collapse, don’t come at us with your pathetic attacks on our record. Try first going to deliver one thing that works. Just one thing, and then come lecture us.
The DA works for every resident. Every one.
That is how we will earn the trust of people who have never supported us before, through the work we do.
That is how we build a country together.
Let us vote in record numbers in nine days. Let us give families back their hope and communities back their confidence.
On 4 November, vote for stability.
Vote for delivery. Vote DA! South Africa can work for everyone!