‘We can defeat the ANC which is now the new apartheid,’ says Helen Zille in Durban

DA federal chairperson Helen Zille says winning eThekwini metro’s ward 11 by-election would put them on track to dislodge the ANC stranglehold.

Zille was in Durban on Monday to canvas party support ahead of by-elections in Newlands East. She was accompanied by the provincial top brass, including leader Francois Rodgers.

“This is a DA ward and we intend to keep it as we know what happens when the ANC is in charge,” said Zille.

Zille said her first foray with the by-elections was 55 years ago, when she joined the Progressive Party as a 15-year-old activist.

“At that time we had only one public representative. All these years later we govern the Western Cape and we have 35 mayors across seven provinces. I have seen the joy of winning by a few votes and heartache of losing by a small margin,'’ said Zille.

She chastised people who are of the view that their vote does not matter, saying that those people had not been in politics for a long time.

“They don’t understand that you can win or lose by one or two votes. That’s why we do every thing possible to communicate to them. We need you to help us make sure that everybody thinks their votes do not matter,” said Zille.

She recounted how in 2021 the DA had been 9% away from governing eThekwini and how they also suffered the same fate in 2016.

“If anybody thinks that your vote does not matter think of uMngeni where we won by 42 votes and it tells you how important every single vote is,” said Zille.

She said in the past they had never thought they would see the end to apartheid, but this became a reality.

“In this lifetime we want to see the ANC going down. If we could defeat apartheid we can defeat the ANC which is now the new apartheid,” said Zille

She accused the ANC of race classification whereby some jobs are reserved for certain races, describing it as a social engineering.

“They destroy government with this and the now want to destroy everything with this racists nonsense. We fought racist nonsense once we can fight it again. Let’s judge people by the content of the character,” said Zille.

She said the party stood for this and will continued to do so until the ANC is toppled from power. “It takes every person to unite for the DA. Turn people blue,” said Zille.

The party has punted it’s ward branch chairperson Allan Peterson, 39, as it’s candidate in the ward.

Peterson said the ward was beset with a plethora of problems which include, among others, crime which often takes form of drug abuse.

“We also have staggering unemployment figures which sit at 60%,” said Peterson.

“Bring your grannies and mother and come and vote. I have taxis and Ubers to get you to the polls,” he said.

A bullish Rodgers said the party had been buoyed by the recent by-elections in eThekwini and Msunduzi municipalities saying this pointed to the declining ANC support in the province.

He said the party planned to send a strong message to the ANC.

“They forget about us. You have a chance to change that.”

He said R322m conditional money had gone unspent and returned to the national government.

“The ANC looks at what it can eat and destroy. The DA is going to govern in this ward and the province in 2024,'’ said Rodgers.

Zille said while she had not previously crossed paths with Peterson, she had been taken by how impressionable he was as a candidate.

“Peterson is a pastor, he is loved and is of the community,” she said.

She visited the government-funded housing “flats” where she interacted with residents who mostly complained about the water and sanitation and how the flats had become too small to accommodate their families.

Resident Ella Jasson, 71, said: “When it rains our flat gets destroyed. I now keep my clothes in a box as my cupboards often get destroyed.” 

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