Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Geordin Hill-Lewis told thousands of supporters in Belhar, Cape Town, that the party would make communities safer and bring jobs if voters elect it.
He spoke at the DA’s final Western Cape campaign rally at Erica Park Sports Ground, SABC News reported. The rally came ahead of the Local Government Elections on 4 November.
“And when we make our towns safer and when we invest in the community, something amazing happens. Do you know what happens? Jobs come, jobs arrive,” Hill-Lewis said.
Hill-Lewis is the DA’s federal leader and also its candidate for mayor of Cape Town. He used the rally to set out the party’s plans for the next five years of local government.
He said safer communities would help the Western Cape attract investment. He claimed that DA-run towns and cities had created more jobs than any other place in the country over the last five years.
“Here is the basic rule that we can all follow: Where the DA governs, jobs follow,” he told the crowd.
Hill-Lewis also called for stable local government. In a post shared by the party, the DA said residents pay the price in disrupted services when governments are unstable.
DA Western Cape leader Tertuis Simmers said he was confident the party would keep its outright majority in the province. He said the party’s record in municipalities across the Western Cape would win over voters.
“Your five minutes 20 minutes in the queue determines the next five years,” Simmers said. He urged supporters to give the DA an outright majority in all municipalities in the province.
Simmers said the party had made the high cost of living in Cape Town one of its main priorities. He said the DA wanted to deal with the things that push up living costs in the city.
He said the plan was to focus on affordable housing projects that mix different uses and income groups. These would be built in Cape Town and in the province’s smaller cities.
Simmers said the Western Cape government had been rolling this out in stages over the last seven years. He said several inner city developments had already been announced.
According to Simmers, these projects aim to meet the need for social housing, which is a rental option. They also aim to make it more affordable for people who want to buy homes in the inner city.
SABC News reported that the race for control of municipalities is tightening across the country. South Africans will vote in the Local Government Elections on 4 November.
Source: this article is based on reporting by SABC News. Image: SABC News. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.