Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Leader, Athol Trollip is confident that the DA will do much better in this year’s elections than the predictions of leading political analists indicate.
Trollip shared his views about the South African political arena and the upcoming elections with a group of invited guests at a breakfast networking session at Pietersburg Club last Thursday and highlighted that the DA nominated Premier’s candidates in all nine provinces, indicating its readiness to govern.
Trollip urged citizens to register and cast their votes during the elections. “Be interested in politics, because politics are interested in you. It determines who your leaders will be, what taxes you are going to pay and the level of services you are going to enjoy,” Trollip said.
Trollip shared experiences from his political life and his term of office as Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality and reiterated that the borders between politicians and the administration should be maintained. Politicians are there to hold administrators to account on behalf of the community. “If a politician tells you to do something wrong and you refuse, I will support you but if he tells you to do something right and you refuse, I will stand against you,” he said.
Trollip said that the DA will maintain a firm stand against corruption and that the party is concerned about a number of issues which include crime, rural poverty, alienation without compensation and mouth-and-foot disease that is now threatening the local economy. He also highlighted that a high crime rate and political instability are the two major issues influencing investments from the global community and locals as well.
Trollip raised his concerns about the influx of illegal migrants and poor border control. “They crowd our limited facilities and most of them do not contribute to the economy,” he reckoned.
Asked about coalitions, Trollip firmly stated that it was not wise to go into coalitions with people who do not share your beliefs and values, obviously referring to his replacement as Executive Mayor in August last year after a vote of no confidence in his leadership was carried.
Story & photo: BARRY VILJOEN
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