The following remarks were delivered by the DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at the University of Fort Hare, East London Campus, where he was addressing students ahead of the SRC Elections scheduled to take place on Thursday, 21 April 2016. The Leader was joined by DA Eastern Cape Provincial Leader, Athol Trollip MPL, Provincial Chairperson, Veliswa Mvenya MPL, DA Eastern Cape Provincial Executive Council Member, Nqaba Bhanga MP, DA Youth Interim Leader, Yusuf Cassim MP, and UFH SRC President, Busisiwe Mashiqa:
My fellow young South Africans,
Our country stands before a crossroads. In just three months’ time we go to the polls to vote in the most important municipal election of our 22 year-old democracy.
Never before have so many South Africans from all walks of life said: We are ready for a new government.
Never before has the outrage from ordinary South Africans, from business, from students, from religious bodies, from NGOs and from opposition parties been so strong and so united.
Never before has the ANC ship taken on so much water and looked so vulnerable.
South Africa is ready for change. South Africans demand change. But that change won’t just happen by itself. We – each of us – must make it happen.
On 3 August, every single person who is unhappy with what this ANC government has done to our country must use their vote to fire them.
That’s how a democracy works – no one else can do this for you. You have the power and you must use it.
But before we get to the Local Government Election in August, you have your own election to take care of here in East London and in Alice.
And your SRC election at Fort Hare is, in many ways, a mirror of what’s happening, and what will continue to happen, in our country.
The rise of DASO and the fall of SASCO in what was once the ANC heartland is a sign of the big shifts taking place across South Africa.
We said it when DASO won the SRC elections at the Alice Campus, and we said it when DASO won the SRC elections at NMMU last year: change is coming to the Eastern Cape.
This is the dawn of a new era in student politics in this province, and it is the dawn of a new era for our country.
Both SASCO and the ANC are done. DASO is the future on our campuses, and the DA is the future of our country.
On Saturday, just 300km down the road, the ANC tried to show us that they are still a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Cape.
They told us they were going to fill a stadium. Numbers like 100 000 were thrown around. But of course that didn’t happen. Not even close.
Since then we’ve heard all sorts of excuses for their manifesto launch flop, from buses running late, to sabotage conspiracies to Port Elizabeth’s golden beaches stealing supporters from their rally.
But we all know the real reason they rattled around in that stadium: they have run out of support in Nelson Mandela Bay.
In fact, they are fast running out of support in the entire Eastern Cape, which is why they had to bus their supporters in from thousands of kilometres away.
While the ANC was busy figuring out why their stadium was so empty, I was addressing a gathering of people in Bloemfontein. We were at the Waaihoek Wesleyan Church where the ANC was formed 104 years ago.
And I told the people there that the ANC we once knew no longer existed. I told them that what passes for the ANC today has nothing in common with the ANC that once produced leaders like Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu.
The ANC of today has chosen wealth over the constitution. They have chosen power over service delivery. And they have chosen a corrupt president over the millions of people they were elected to serve.
We cannot let them continue. It is our duty, as citizens who love our country, to remove them from office and elect a government that has its priorities straight.
A government that has a plan to get this country working again.
A government that unites people around shared values and a common goal, instead of dividing people by race and turning us on each other.
A government that looks ahead, towards the future, instead of living in the past off its fast-fading history.
A government that believes in quality leadership, that doesn’t tolerate corruption and that respects and protects public money.
There is a massive gap between what a DA government offers this country and what an ANC government has proven to be capable of.
And this is what I meant when I said your SRC elections here at Fort Hare mirror what’s happening in our country.
The gulf between DASO and SASCO is widening every day, because one of these organisations looks towards the future while one is stuck in the past.
One of them uses the SRC platform to improve living and studying conditions on campus, while one sees it as merely a tool for building a political career.
Only one of these organisations cares about the many real issues that students on this campus must battle every day.
Only one of them has a track record of success, whether it’s improving living conditions in residences, campaigning for the installation of computers or the roll-out of Wi-fi on campus.
Only one of them wants to make the University of Fort Hare a better place.
And only one of them has put forward a candidate for SRC President who is capable of leading such a diverse and important body of students in 2016.
In Busisiwe Mashiqa, you have an SRC President candidate that ticks all the boxes: Hard-working, principled, caring and well-respected.
Because, like the DA at national, provincial and local level, DASO also believes in putting forward only the best possible person for the job.
The moment you compromise on who you pick – the moment you start rewarding loyal cadres and playing faction politics – you’ve already lost.
DASO has the right people, and it has the right plan for Fort Hare.
Read this manifesto, and then compare it to anything SASCO has to offer. There is a world of difference.
From increasing financial aid to improving living conditions, to ensuring academic excellence, there is only one organisation on this campus that not only talks the talk, but also walks the walk.
But there is still much work to be done here. And the most important job belongs to each of you. You must vote DASO into governing this SRC.
You must mobilise every possible DASO vote on Thursday, because we will need every last one of them.
The way the SRC constitution is written, even winning a clear majority of the votes doesn’t guarantee governing the SRC.
This is what happened last year when DASO won more than 50% of the votes, but still only managed to secure 2 of the 5 seats on the Institutional SRC.
They were then blocked on every major initiative – from increased meal allowances to a bailout fund – by a SASCO-PASMA alliance.
We cannot let that happen again. And the only way to ensure that it doesn’t, is by increasing our majority. That’s why we cannot waste a single vote on Thursday, and particularly here on the East London campus.
If we want to carry on transforming both the Fort Hare campuses into world-class, 21st century spaces of learning, then we need to turn this place blue on Thursday.
What starts here in East London and in Alice will spread and grow throughout the country.
And when we go to the polls on 3 August to elect new local governments, we will do the same.
We will turn our towns and our cities blue. We will bring an end to an era of corruption and waste, and we will usher in a new era of hope and of growth.
I’m counting on each of you to start this process here in two days’ time.
I thank you!
Alan Straton
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