ANC offers peace flag to DA 'so we can solve Western Cape's issues together'
The ANC has pleaded with Western Cape premier Alan Winde not to waste his energy on fighting for control of the police and railways.
Responding on Tuesday to Winde’s state of the province address, opposition leader Cameron Dugmore said the two projects were, respectively, a “non-starter” and a “sideshow”.
The “ill-conceived call” for a provincial police force “will simply delay and distract us from the real task of working together”, said Dugmore.
When it came to public transport, “we need to work together as all spheres of government to fix Metrorail. A party-political posture for a provincial rail service is a sideshow.”
Dugmore held out an olive branch to Winde, saying the ANC was keen to work with him in the spirit of the “new dawn”.
He said: “There are many international examples of how nations, in order to resolve fundamental challenges facing them in a war or post-war situation or to overcome natural disasters, have formed united fronts to confront a common enemy.
“As OR Tambo said, we should never reject ideas because they come from those we regard as the enemy or the opposition. Given the scale of challenges we face, we in fact do not have a choice. We have to work together.
“We know that local elections are looming. We know that there is a real temptation to conduct ourselves in a way which always places party interests first. The time has arrived for a new approach in the Western Cape."
Dugmore took issue with the DA claim that the Western Cape was short of police officers, saying the real issue was with their deployment “to the areas most ravaged by crime, violence, substance abuse and gangsterism”.
He said the ANC wanted to contribute by offering “direct access to our president and the national cabinet and ... the active support and mobilisation of our communities on the ground”.
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