WATCH: Rise Mzansi challenges DA’s 15-year rule in Western Cape

Rise Mzansi has challenged the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) 15-year rule, aiming to bring change to the Western Cape and bridge the divide between the haves and have-nots in the province.

Thousands of Rise Mzansi supporters marched to the Western Cape Legislature on Wednesday, calling for decent services for residents in various areas across the metro.

They also called for amendments to the rates policy of the City of Cape Town, which they claim discriminates against poor black and coloured residents, who get their water and electricity cut off and have little to no waste collection services.

Watch Axolile Notywala addressing Rise Mzansi supporters

Voting for privileges

Rise Mzansi Western Cape premier candidate Axolile Notywala and national leader Songezo Zibi were joined by the Western Cape leadership collective.

With less than a week before South Africans cast their ballots in the national and provincial elections on 29 May, political parties have intensified their campaigns in a bid the win people’s votes.

Zibi told supporters that they must not vote to “protect their privilege” in the Western Cape.

“Do not vote to protect your privilege, vote to extend that privilege and that means vote the DA out, vote the ANC out and vote for new leaders.”

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Small party threat

Last month, DA leader John Steenhuisen addressing the party’s Western Cape election manifesto launch in Paarl, urged supporters to turn out in large numbers to vote for the party in the elections.

Steenhuisen said the biggest enemy of progress in the Western Cape was not a “desperate ANC” trying to hold on to power, but complacency.

He noted the presence of political opportunists within smaller parties who aimed to capitalise on this complacency.

“Instead of fighting to fix the eight ANC provinces that have been smashed to pieces, the political mercenaries in parties like the Patriotic Alliance, Rise Mzansi, GOOD and the National Coloured Congress are obsessed with trying to break the one DA province that works,” he said.

Steenhuisen said the DA had a track record of good governance in the Western Cape, which he described as “the best-run province in the country”.

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