Zuma wants to merge Western Cape with Eastern Cape to end DA’s reign

If uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party comes to power after this year’s election in May, the Eastern Cape (EC) and Western Cape (WC) could be merged into one province to stop the DA from governing “endlessly in the Western Cape”.

MK supporter and former president of South Africa Jacob Zuma revealed the plan during an MK gathering in KwaZulu-Natal this week.

Video

The address is caught in a video footage doing rounds on social media.

"There were 4 provinces in South Africa, but now there are 9, and foreigners want to claim one of them as their own." Former President Jacob Zuma

“MK Party Must win with a Majority Vote in order to reduce South Africans provinces to 4, So that Western Cape and Eastern Cape can… pic.twitter.com/HpgPrpcTVh

— News Live SA (@newslivesa) January 14, 2024

ALSO READ: ‘ANC failed black people’: Zuma.

Cut 9 provinces to four

Addressing a large crowd in Pietermaritzburg, Zuma said: “If we want to get a big majority, we need to restructure this country. What is stopping us from going back to four provinces like in the olden days so that we fuse Eastern Cape and Western to form a Cape province.”

Explaining the motive behind his plan Zuma said: “If we bring these two together into one province, that will give us the majority to prevent them [DA] from ruling endlessly there in Western Cape.”

The Democratic Alliance toppled the ANC government in the Western Cape in 2009 and has been governing ever since.  

Under the DA, Western Cape has the most employed population than any other province with unemployment figures standing at 20.2% – the lowest in the country.

The figures are based on the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QFLS) released by Statistics South Africa in November 2023.

Read: Unrealistic: Another term for Zuma is a pipe dream

Clean audits

The province also leads others with the highest number of municipalities with clean audits. Out of 38 municipalities that achieved clean audits, Western Cape leads with 28 municipalities, according to the Auditor General’s report.

There are 257 municipalities in the country.

Speaking to The Citizen on Friday, DA member of parliament and leader of the party in the Eastern Cape Andrew Whitfield slammed Zuma’s comments.

“Zuma is delusional. He was the president of SA from 2009-2018 and not once did he try to use his legitimate power to merge any provinces. This is a populist narrative, nothing more,” said Whitfield.

He added that the ANC has failed to govern the EC properly and that it would be devastating and disastrous to take the best governed province according to government statistics and try to merge it with the worst run province.

“What the Eastern Cape needs is not more territory, it needs a new government with the DA at its centre. Making provinces bigger or smaller won’t make a difference, only clean effective and honest government can do that,” Whitfield said.

Whitfield added the people of the Western Cape place their trust on the DA-led government because the party delivers on its promises and respects the voters.

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