Maimane pins hopes on e-toll row

The Democratic Alliance's candidate for Gauteng premier, Mmusi Maimane, says he stands a good chance of winning the province - so much so that he has vowed not to buy an e-tag for his campaign bus or his car.

"If I am elected premier of Gauteng I will do everything in my power to stop e-tolls," he told the few supporters who turned up for the DA's protest against the signing of the e-toll bill into law. The protest took place outside roads agency Sanral's e-tolling offices near the Modderfontein off-ramp on the N3.

Ordinarily, addressing fewer than a 100 party supporters would be considered a waste of time by politicians in a country in which the politics of populism has seen tens of thousands turn up for political rallies.

But for Maimane, showing his face is crucial. He is the DA's best bet for luring the support of the majority of black South Africans away from the ANC and its offshoots. But the party's own research has shown that he remains largely unknown - with only one in four people in Gauteng saying they know him.

This explains his "Believe Bus Tour", which he launched last weekend in Alexandra township. His Obama-esque campaign - with a campaign bus, albeit a small one, and a one-word slogan, "Believe" - will take him on a 4000km trip around Gauteng to visit informal settlements and taxi ranks.

"The more critical [part of the tour] is the 'know Mmusi Maimane campaign' ... The ANC won't give us their premier candidate, which [amounts to] asking voters for a blank cheque ... saying we will tell you who your leader will be. You will live with it. [The tour] is part of me saying engage me," he said as his bus made its way to the e-toll protest.

The DA has recorded growth in the province, getting 22% in the 2009 elections and 33% in the 2011 local government elections. Now the party has set its sights on 44% in next year's provincial elections - while believing that 51% is also possible if Maimane's campaign pays off.

This will include an elaborate advertising campaign on billboards and television after Maimane's official launch on November 2.

To win the middle-class vote, the DA has targeted the unpopular e-tolling system as a rallying point. "The ANC has spun the line that says it will rule until Jesus comes back, almost as though whatever the ANC does, we must just live with it.

"If there's something we don't like about the government we must change it, so the best way that we can run these elections is to make it about e-tolling and ask them: 'Do you want a government that will give you e-tolling or not?'" he said.

The party also knows that, to have a realistic chance of winning, it will have to gain the support of black voters. As a result, Maimane has been stressing his party's newly found commitment to black economic empowerment, social grants and land reform.

"We must accept the number one battle that South Africa faces is to say how do we undo the legacy of apartheid? The ANC has failed. They have empowered a few who are politically connected to them. We are saying let's broaden the space. Let's empower more people.

"On land reform, the ANC has dragged its heels on it. On the land audit, the government possesses land that they are not [redistributing] ... The ANC has been slow on it," said Maimane.