Northern Cape, DA's 'next frontier'

[DreamKing]

Northern Cape, DA's 'next frontier'
2011-04-06 19:01

Johannesburg - The DA wants to win as many municipalities in the Northern Cape as it can in the upcoming local elections, with a view to winning the province in the 2014 national election, DA leader Helen Zille said on Wednesday.

"We want to win as many municipalities in this province as we can on May 18, including the Hantam municipality," Zille said in an address prepared for delivery in Calvinia on Wednesday evening.

"And it is a winnable municipality, the ANC got less than 40% of the vote here in the last election. With our combined strength, we have every chance of winning the election here on May 18."

"For the DA, winning is never an end in itself. It is a means to an end. And that end is the opportunity to improve people's lives. We want to win in places like Calvinia because we want a chance to show what we can do in government.

"There is so much we can do to improve the lives of people here."

She said a major problem in the area was unemployment, with nearly two in five people out of a job in the Hantam municipal area.

Political favours

Criticising the ANC, she said people who benefited from the municipality's expanded public works programmes were people with ANC connections and she charged that people who were given job opportunities did not come from the area.

"Expanded public works programmes under the DA are open to everybody. They are designed to empower people, not to win political favours," she said.

"Expanded public works programmes are important, but they do not create permanent jobs. To do this, your municipality must create the conditions for local businesses to grow so that they create jobs."

Zille said the DA's mayoral candidate for the municipality, Abré Fritz, had 15 years experience in rural economic development and would make job creation a priority.

"And he wants to work with emerging farmers to help them expand their businesses. If he is elected, he will set up mentorship programmes in business administration, book-keeping and the drawing up of business plans. He wants to link emerging farmers with markets overseas so that they can export their products all over the world," she said.

She said the people in the area "may not see results straight away" but within five years, they would "notice a difference".
- SAPA

 

[Bizkit87]

lets hope they get [already] Western Cape, Northern Cape, and then Gauteng...

those 3 provinces, if they are run well, people will have to wake up and get passed this 'DA is for white people' notion.

 

[dlk001]

lets hope they get [already] Western Cape, Northern Cape, and then Gauteng...

those 3 provinces, if they are run well, people will have to wake up and get passed this 'DA is for white people' notion.

That is likely to happen when people from Khayelitsha, Langa and other Townships start singing DA praises in huge numbers.

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[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Northern Cape is going to be a hard one for the DA as it has been one of the few provinces where under ANC leadership, the majority have seen an improvement in their lives. These are also communities that admire corruption and abuse of powers. They would rather have potholed streets and admire their mayor in his new Audio Q7, than have paved streets and a mayor in an ATOS.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

One of the challenges in unemployment for the Northern Cape is that the unemployed do not want to work. Read an interesting study by the Northern Cape government a few years back that found that Pofadder had the largest unemployment in the Northern Cape. It was not due to lack of opportunities, it was lack of wanting to find work. The other two towns in that district have the lowest unemployment in the country, one town even had 0% unemployment, Agenys.

 

[blunomore]

One of the challenges in unemployment for the Northern Cape is that the unemployed do not want to work. Read an interesting study by the Northern Cape government a few years back that found that Pofadder had the largest unemployment in the Northern Cape. It was not due to lack of opportunities, it was lack of wanting to find work. The other two towns in that district have the lowest unemployment in the country, one town even had 0% unemployment, Agenys.

We did a road trip through the famous Pofadder about 3 years ago and made a point to stop and have lunch in Pofadder - t'was nice - toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches for 2 people, plus cokes, all for R20!!

Any reason given why people did not WANT to be employed?

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

We did a road trip through the famous Pofadder about 3 years ago and made a point to stop and have lunch in Pofadder - t'was nice - toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches for 2 people, plus cokes, all for R20!!

Any reason given why people did not WANT to be employed?

If you stopped at Pofadder Toyota, the one with the OX Wagons on display, that is my family in laws place.

The local Pofadder residents are all the people in the region who do not want to work else they will be either living and working on the mines or the farms. The general community is just lazy. With the limited employment opportunities there is still always work but the locals are just not bothered. All the whites there have jobs not because of favoritism, but because they want to work.

I nearly moved to the town but lack of ADSL prevented me.

 

[DigitalSoldier]

That is likely to happen when people from Khayelitsha, Langa and other Townships start singing DA praises in huge numbers.

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Didn't the DA win a by-election recently in Khayelitsha ?

 

[Creag]

lets hope they get [already] Western Cape, Northern Cape, and then Gauteng...

those 3 provinces, if they are run well, people will have to wake up and get passed this 'DA is for white people' notion.

I wish them well. God alone knows how desperately this country needs its municipalities to function.

That is likely to happen when people from Khayelitsha, Langa and other Townships start singing DA praises in huge numbers.

Sent from my HTC Desire using MyBroadband Android App

While I agree, but there is also an element of brainwashing too

 

[Tassidar]

You don't have to live without water - Helen Zille

In 1997, it was reported that it would cost R5 million to upgrade the pipeline that supplies water to Springbok from Henkries on the Orange River. Ten years later, in 2007, the pipeline still wasn't upgraded. But the cost of doing so had escalated to R120 million.

This year, the Municipal Manager said that it would cost R500 million to upgrade the pipeline - 100 times more than it would have cost in 1997. According to the national government's Blue Drop report which assesses how municipalities manage the quality of their drinking water, the Nama Khoi municipality's rating dropped from 70% in 2009 to 25% in 2010. The national government says that the steep decline in water quality is because of, and I quote, "inadequate preparation" by the municipality.

This is what happens when a municipality fails to get the basics right. What begins as a minor problem that is easy and inexpensive to fix, develops into a full-blown crisis. And it is a water crisis here in Springbok.

http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politi...b/en/page71654?oid=230134&sn=Detail&pid=71616

 

[Turtle]

From what I hear, DA is set to do surprisingly well in many parts of the country. Must be from word of mouth spreading that Western Cape is simply the best run province.