Why should I vote the DA?

[HideInLight]

DA needs to win in order for the ANC to clean itself. No political party in my opinion should lead for more than 8 years because then they believe they are untouchable and rot to the core. ANC eventually needs to split, if we were to have a real democracy.

People need to start voting purely based on performance, the DA unfortunately is the only viable alternative atm. The ANC needs to be in second place, even if just for 4-8 years.

Then hopefully we will have 4 political parties at least that have power, competing with each other via service delivery and performance.

 

[saksakgp]

http://www.news24.com/Columnists/Khaya-Dlanga/Why-black-folk-dont-vote-DA-20110524

 

[Freaksta]

I think the short of it is that people really don't mind who you vote for as long as your reasons for voting for them are sound.

I'd also suggest that voting for someone because of what they did yesterday isn't good enough. It's what happens tomorrow that matters.

Mostly agree with this, I may be making a huge assumption here but most people are not against the ANC running the country, they are against a party who cannot be held accountable, who squanders the tax payers money, who doesn't get rid of widespread corruption, who is controlled by corrupt and incompetent people..

I would gladly vote for a competent ANC, the fact is the ANC has a stronghold they almost know they are going to win for the next X years, this needs to change so that they can be held accountable, so it is in there best interests to run a good and mostly clean party!

The comfort of majority allows people to become lazy, to do as they want etc..

 

[noxibox]

I stand by the view point that the longer a political party remains in power - the more that party becomes lazy, corrupt etc etc. The only way to combat this is with threat of them losing and being thrown out.

DA is currently the closest thing to opposition to the ANC, and this is why I vote DA.

And with that said, I will also change my vote from DA to a 3rd party (or even the ANC after a bit) if the DA do ever win 2 consecutive elections.

In fact the DA has already shown the kind of nasty nonsense they'd get up to if they had control of the country. No way they can be trusted with total power.

First of all, I hate all politicians. I believe the are all almost the same to me.
With all the electioneering going on, I thought of creating a thread.

I believe all political parties's supporters are ambassadors to their respective parties they are affiliated with.
So I want DA supporters to convince me why I should vote for the DA

I know almost every DA supporter thinks that if you are an ANC supporter you are a fool, have an IQ of a shoe size, bla bla ...

The simple answer is that political parties, no matter what they say, are in it for themselves, for the power, so it is critical to keep their wings clipped. The DA are the party closest to being in a position to reign in the ANC's excesses. It would be equally foolish to trust the DA with total control of the country. I do think people who continue to help the ANC have too much power are fools. What I don't agree with is this idea that South African blacks, or African blacks generally, are unusual in continuing to vote for an obviously wastrel party. Voters in developed countries do it every election.

There are no good political parties in South Africa. At least I can't remember hearing of one. But that's not unique to South Africa. The politicians in countries like the US and UK are also backward and thoroughly corrupt, each party as bad as the last.

 

[Sinbad]

Before voting again, every person in SA should be forced to read and understand Animal Farm. It talks EXACTLY to what is happening with the ANC and South Africa

 

[ponder]

How many ANC members are there in parliament with criminal records for fraud etc? Plenty.

What happens with ANC members caught with their hands in the cookie jar? Nothing, they get promoted or reassigned.

There are tender irregularities on a almost daily basis, it's like hearing about another murder, nobody gives a fsck. The voters seem to accept this as the norm and a entitlement.

There is ZERO accountability!

How many DA MPs have criminal records? I "think" none.

What happened to the DA members caught out for maladministration? I have not heard of many cases but the two I did hear about got fired.

The ANC made one big whoohaa about some DA tender which they appointed the public protector to investigate and nothing came of that except the mentioning of a procedural error or something, no corruption.

Are you gonna vote for someone doing their job (although whitish) or are you gonna ignore all the maladministration, corruption , thievery, incompetence, criticism of the media, drafting of secrecy bills to protect themselves from scrutiny, constantly threatening business with nationalisation, not even coming across as knowing the difference between government and a political part, constantly ignoring the constitution and go with a party simply because you feel you owe them something. You decide.

The ANC also has way to much power, this is not healthy in any democracy.

 

[noxibox]

Might I add that the DA is also more transparent. Seems to me that they don't hide where the money is going and when errors occur they admit to them, find out who is responsible and deal with it.

Only because they're playing to win more power. I wouldn't count on it remaining so if they had thought they had an unassailable majority for years on end.

What I am picking up from this thread is that most people voting for the DA have absolutely no allegiance to them. If they fsuk up we take our vote somewhere else. This is how a democracy should work. ANC supporters on the other hand seem to feel they owe it to the ANC to vote for them even if they fsuk up.

Some people do clearly support the DA no matter what. Happens everywhere though. As for the ANC voters, firstly for many of them the improvements have been great even if they don't look like much to me, secondly they mistrust the DA as a white party (valid or not, that was long the perception and it will take a considerable amount of time for that to fade). And let's face it people who keep going on about black leadership and referring to the rest of Africa don't really trust black people to lead. That sort would still be saying there must be failure around the corner even if the ANC were doing a better job.

DA needs to win in order for the ANC to clean itself. No political party in my opinion should lead for more than 8 years because then they believe they are untouchable and rot to the core.

Even 8 years is too long for one party to be in charge.

People need to start voting purely based on performance

If I were to only vote on performance I'd not vote at all.

 

[ClintZA]

As for the ANC voters, firstly for many of them the improvements have been great even if they don't look like much to me, secondly they mistrust the DA as a white party (valid or not, that was long the perception and it will take a considerable amount of time for that to fade).

So they're racists then?

And let's face it people who keep going on about black leadership and referring to the rest of Africa don't really trust black people to lead.

I have no problem with someone like Lindiwe Mazibuko and as far as I am aware she is black... although apparently not black enough according to the ANC.

 

[Fudzy]

I have no problem with someone like Lindiwe Mazibuko and as far as I am aware she is black... although apparently not black enough according to the ANC.

I don't think she has any connection with the majority of the ANC voters. Wealthy, educated parents. Went to a posh private school etc.

 

[ClintZA]

I don't think she has any connection with the majority of the ANC voters. Wealthy, educated parents. Went to a posh private school etc.

So educated being the big difference then as the current ANC leaders create the impression of having great wealth? So ANC supporters like their leaders uneducated? Wow.

 

[Fudzy]

So educated being the big difference then as the current ANC leaders create the impression of having great wealth? So ANC supporters like their leaders uneducated? Wow.

Well I don't think the majority of ANC supporters are/were as fortunate to come from the same background.

 

[noxibox]

How many ANC members are there in parliament with criminal records for fraud etc? Plenty.

What happens with ANC members caught with their hands in the cookie jar? Nothing, they get promoted or reassigned.

There are tender irregularities on a almost daily basis, it's like hearing about another murder, nobody gives a fsck. The voters seem to accept this as the norm and a entitlement.

There is ZERO accountability!

How many DA MPs have criminal records? I "think" none.

Frankly I don't care whether anyone of them has criminal records. The only real difference between the ANC corruption and that of governments in developed countries is that the ANC's is incredibly ham-fisted. Those guys overseas really know how to do the crooked deals and make it look legitimate or just hide it completely.

What happened to the DA members caught out for maladministration? I have not heard of many cases but the two I did hear about got fired.

Perhaps, but that's no guarantee they'd do the same if they had power and thought they couldn't lose it. Besides when a DA member openly stated he didn't care if his plans were illegal nothing was done. He should at least have been publicly disciplined, although being fired and permanently thrown out of the party would be my choice. If an ANC minister had made the same statements Zille would have been all over them, but I saw no headline where she publicly reprimanded her minister.

Are you gonna vote for someone doing their job (although whitish) or are you gonna ignore all the maladministration, corruption , thievery, incompetence, criticism of the media, drafting of secrecy bills to protect themselves from scrutiny, constantly threatening business with nationalisation, not even coming across as knowing the difference between government and a political part, constantly ignoring the constitution and go with a party simply because you feel you owe them something. You decide.

Well I can attack the DA on several of those fronts too. They certainly have no regard for the constitution other than the extent to which it allows them to attack the ANC.

They seem to be saying vote for the DA because the DA "might" do a better job than the ANC. Which may well be true... the logic that if the ANC gets its vote support depleted to the 50%s might not work if we take the exampple of their rule in the WC. They ruled in a coalition there because they failed to win outrigh - but instead of putting in the best accountable people to showcase that they are the party to vote for, they proceeded to install useless ANC aparatchik after another in the end handing the city and then the province back to DA.

The ANC installed a coloured premier in the WC in hopes of winning the coloured vote by virtue of just showing a coloured face. They didn't provide better services to coloured people.

But the ANC did those things while essentially controlling the rest of the country. They might have behaved differently if they'd been struggling everywhere to get themselves a majority. The only good thing the DA has demonstrated is that they seem to be less wasteful.

 

[be.plato]

Why do you vote for the DA? They clearly don't represent your right wing ideologies.

Right wing ideologies? I vote DA cause it helps to create an opposition.

 

[ponder]

Frankly I don't care whether anyone of them has criminal records.

I thought as much.



http://oudtshoornonline.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/how-the-anc-rewards-corruption/

The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal makes for a powerful point of comparison. 25 public representatives involved either resigned, retired or announced they would not stand again, including the Speaker of the House of Commons, on the back of a very similar set of circumstances, often involving fraud on a far smaller scale. That is, when they weren’t convicted or suspended.

Similar to our Travelgate but the outcome much different.

 

[noxibox]

I don't think she has any connection with the majority of the ANC voters. Wealthy, educated parents. Went to a posh private school etc.

That and she looks like a token appointment. She may well have been chosen because she is qualified, but it still looks from the outside like a token black to get the party better PR. Maybe the DA truly can't find more qualified black people, or maybe they're not looking hard enough, or perhaps they're not putting any effort into grooming young black members to take on leadership positions. But generally political parties don't get into power by being upstanding, hardworking and honest with a clear vision and ideology. Instead they do so by pandering to groups they think control enough votes to get them into power. Then make a mess for a few years, followed by more pandering to get back into power. Probably the most fundamental weakness of democracy is having only career vote-seekers as an option.

 

[Sinbad]

Can't win then. White candidate = old school racist, black candidate = token?

 

[atomcrusher]

So I want DA supporters to convince me why I should vote for the DA

Because the mass, & populist, alternative is too ghastly to contemplate

 

[noxibox]

United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal

They were forced out because their parties knew that not doing it would lose them votes. Nonetheless some did stand again, some went on to other political jobs. Not really a sign of total government integrity. The UK government will hide corruption if they can get away with it. They'll cover for their friends in private business. They'll send contracts their way too. The idea that they'd demonstrate integrity if they had complete power is laughable.

 

[saksakgp]

Lindiwe is a token. In 2007 she was a student, two years later she's one of the three faces of the DA election campaign, two years later she's parliamentary leader of the opposition. Where's the merit in such quick ascension in office? Is she really the best? No, she's a token.

 

[Mila]

You shouldn't need convincing you moral compass should be a good indicator.