Register to Win

Note to editors: This is the speech delivered by DA Leader Helen Zille at the Register to Win Rally, held in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town today.

Today we launch our national ‘Register to Win' campaign.

This campaign is about more than getting people to register to vote. It is an invitation to every person to change South Africa for the better. 

As I look across this amphitheatre, I see the blue wave building up, from the place where the two oceans meet, to sweep across South Africa, bringing the chance of a better life for all.

From here, if we register enough people to vote next year, we can win.

We can win in the Western Cape, we can win in Gauteng, and we can lay the groundwork for the victories we need in future elections so that we can bring DA government to the whole of South Africa.

This is the second time that Mitchells Plain has been the arena of a major campaign launch that has changed South Africa's history. 

30 years ago, the UDF was launched in Rocklands as a united front of civic organisations, trade unions, student and sport organisations to fight apartheid. I was there and I am sure many of you were there, filled with hope of a new dawn. It was indeed a turning point that told the world that we would win the battle against apartheid -- and we did.

Today South Africa is a better country compared to what it was in 1983. Apartheid is gone, although we still live with its legacy of poverty and inequality. We are guided by a constitution and everyone has the right to vote. Major strides have been made since 1994 in providing basic services and housing. 

But we have to be honest with ourselves. The hope and optimism of the Mandela years has gone.

We have come far, but we could have been so much further. And we can still get there if we use our vote as a starting point. When we vote, we choose a government. Your vote gives you the power to hire or fire your government. This is the most important power there is in a democracy. So every voter must realise: Without a caring, clean government, it is impossible to achieve a better life for all.

This is why registering to vote is so important.  Because it is a simple rule: you can't vote if you are not registered.

 If everybody registers and votes in next year's election we can bring the ANC below sixty percent of the vote nationally. We can win the Western Cape with a bigger mandate to make life better for all who live here. And, for the first time, we could form a coalition government in Gauteng. That would change South Africa's history.

That is why we say ‘register to win'. Registering is the first necessary step to winning.  I cannot emphasise it enough: We can only win if we can register enough people on the registration weekend on 9th and 10th November this year.

On that weekend every single polling station will be open for you to register. 9th and 10th of November 2013 will be just as important as election day itself. If we win the registration, we can win the election.

I have to say that we still have a lot of work to do to achieve our objectives. According to the IEC, 4 million young South Africans are not registered to vote in next year's election. Four million! And many of them are potential DA voters.

You can play your role in changing South Africa for the better. Every person who offers a lift to take their neighbour to the polling station to register, or who delivers leaflets, who canvasses, or who makes phone calls to ‘get people to register' will be playing a small but crucial part in making history.

Because life changes for the better where the DA governs. It means a growing economy with more jobs, better schools, more service delivery to the poor and less corruption.

This week the national government itself released a document showing that the Western Cape, on every measure from finances to human resources, is the best run government in South Africa -- and that is including the national government.

Since 2009, we have delivered the cleanest government in the country, and we are ranked as the best for service delivery on every measure. We are also ranked the best in all aspects of management. President Zuma's own office said so, just this week, when they announced the Management Performance Assessments for the whole country.

Let's look at some of the numbers.

76% of the Western Cape Government's budget is spent on improving services, such as education and health care, in poor communities.

This is a pro-poor government and we work smartly with the DA-led City of Cape Town.

Of the R18 billion spent on service delivery in the City of Cape Town, R11 billion is spent on the poor.

So it is little surprise that the City of Cape Town is the least unequal City in South Africa. That means we have the highest level of equality in South Africa. We are making progress in reducing unemployment. Not fast enough, but we are getting there.

The most unequal city in South Africa is Johannesburg. Cape Town is the least unequal City.

We want to win Gauteng so that the people living there also have an opportunity to live a life they value.

Because there is a simple truth about South African politics: where the DA governs, things are getting better, step by step. Where the ANC governs, things are getting worse, step by step. Over time, the distance between them becomes huge. And that difference is a direct result of the way the people voted. In a democracy, the people themselves must take responsibility. They hire and fire their government. So they get the government they voted for.

What difference does good government make?

The biggest difference is this: when you have a good government that is not corrupt and spends money on the right things, people choose to invest and start businesses under that government. They have confidence. People who have good ideas and capital to start businesses can do so anywhere in the world. Why should they choose us: because we have to provide better cleaner government and reliable services.

And so the biggest reason to choose the DA, is that where the DA governs, the economy grows and more jobs are created.

In four years in power, the DA has delivered the lowest unemployment rate in South Africa.  The confidence is measured mainly by whether international investors trust us enough to put their money here, start businesses and create jobs. Look at the following: In that period we attracted 80 foreign direct investment projects to the value of R30-billion creating 6,909 new jobs.

But we have also done more than governments generally do by creating direct opportunities for young people to get into work through our Work and Skills Programme, our Capacity 1000 Project, our Artisan Development Programme, our Government Internship Programme and the extension of the EPWP. In that way the Western Cape government has itself directly created 309,000 work opportunities in our term of office.

Compare this with the ANC's performance. The difference is dramatic.

In ANC-led Gauteng, unemployment has risen by over 400, 000 people since 2009. (This is almost the same number as the work opportunities created for young people in the Western Cape).

But there is a place of hope in Gauteng that shows how important good governance is.

DA-led Midvaal in the heart of Gauteng has the lowest unemployment rate in that province.

You can see the change where the DA governs.

I have promised that that a DA-led Gauteng provincial government will introduce the same opportunities for work in that province when we become the government there. 

From day one, the DA will cut red tape to help businesses start, grow and create jobs.
We will continue to fight the introduction of e-tolls in Gauteng -- until the courts have had the final word on the matter.

And because crime wrecks lives and destroys opportunities, the DA promises to introduce legislation to hold the national police accountable for its crime-fighting record.
What about education which defines every person's life chances?

Under the DA, the average matric pass rate in our poorest schools increased from 56.9% in 2009 to 70.9% in 2012.

Children in the Western Cape today are getting a head start because they are learning critical skills in reading, mathematics and science. They are learning to solve problems and adapt in the global world.

We want to ensure that the children of Gauteng get the same start.

If the DA wins Gauteng, we will introduce the same scheme that we have in the Western Cape: every child will receive a textbook for every subject.

What about improvements in health?

The DA knows that the mark of a caring society is how we take care of the sick.

Last year, nearly 80% of the Western Cape's healthcare budget was spent on providing health services in poor wards in the city of Cape Town and municipalities in the rest of the province.

We have built a brand new state-of-the-art hospital right here in Mitchells Plain, and another one in Khayelitsha which services 500, 000 people.

But this work of change did not begin on the day I was sworn in as premier.

The battle for the Western Cape in 2009 was actually won in the 2008 registration campaign.

And the battle for the Western Cape and for Gauteng in 2014 will be won in the 2013 registration campaign. 

Unless we win the registration, we cannot be sure we will win this Province again in 2014. We can only "vote to win" where we have "registered to win". We can hold onto the Western Cape if we register to win. We can take Gauteng if we register to win.  

Going into the 2014 election we are in a stronger position because we have a track record in government, which shows that where the DA governs, things get better. But people mustn't take that for granted. If you want things to keep getting better we have to keep registering and keep voting DA.

Our dynamic, young DA premier candidate for Gauteng, Mmusi Maimane, has the drive, determination and dedication to turn Gauteng around.

And every vote across South Africa will count.

Things cannot get better for South Africa as a whole until we can bring down the ANC's share of the vote dramatically. Only then will the ANC government start to fear the voters. And only when it is frightened of the voters, will it stop being corrupt. Governments become corrupt and steal the peoples' money because the voters allow them to do so.

We are in a war against corruption in SA: and every war needs foot soldiers. The key job of the DA's foot soldiers is to make sure that every DA voter is registered.

And I want to make a direct appeal to all the young people of South Africa.

Your role in our democracy does not end with your vote.

It begins with your vote. That is the power you start with, that makes much else possible.

Freedom is just the starting point. But it only changes your life if you use it. Your vote is the start, not the end of your journey. And the end of that journey should be to leave South Africa a better country for your children and grandchildren.

So we say: each one register one! We are our brothers and sisters keepers. We must make sure that they are all registered to vote. 

So that, when election day comes in 2014, you can use your power to own your future, and to keep the DA on the road to improving the life chances of every South African. 

With your help, we can change South Africa.

We can bring DA government to Gauteng, with all the advantages that brings, particularly for the poor who need jobs and education.

But it starts on the 9th and 10th of November. On that weekend, every voting station in South Africa will be open for registration.

If you have never voted before, or if you have moved since the last election, make sure you register on the 9th and 10th of November.

Be part of our movement to build our beloved country. The DA is growing in every province, in every community. We are winning in more and more places where previously we didn't stand a chance. We are the only party that has grown in every single national election because we take registration so seriously.

Next year is the next big step on our way to becoming the Government of South Africa so that we can serve our people better and build one nation with one future. 

Let us register to win.

Let us win to serve.

Let us serve to change South Africa.

Issued by the DA, September 14 2013

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