Knysna visit highlights extent of ANC/EFF/PA governance failure

25 February 2024

Today concludes the DA’s two-day oversight visit and engagement in Knysna – a town that has been tragically captured by the ANC/EFF/Patriotic Alliance (PA) coalition of corruption and is being driven to the brink of destruction.

Knysna residents are no longer guaranteed basic service delivery. Their daily challenges borders on human rights violations with intermittent water supply, sewage spills, and refuse clogging the streets.

On Saturday evening, Knysna residents attended the DA's town hall en mass to highlight the dire effects of this municipality’s failures. Their town’s decline is impacting the local economy and job creation, as well as their health and safety – a decomposing corpse was discovered in one of the drinking water sources last year. Rates and taxes have been severely hiked, and a recent clerical error meant that residents had to pay those astronomical charges twice.

It is clear that Knysna is in desperate need of DA intervention and the Western Cape government will do everything in our power to assist. I will table a motion in the Western Cape legislature to request an investigation into the coalition of corruption set on making the town a living hell for Knysna residents.

The DA encourages Knysna residents to punish the coalition of corruption with their votes in the national and provincial elections on 29 May 2024. The future of Knysna is in the hands of local residents – we implore them to let their votes be guided by their lived realities and keep the Western Cape out of the hands of parties who not only failed to deliver on their promises, but is driving their town to the brink of destruction.

Parties like the ANC, EFF, and PA promise communities the world, but the moment they govern, communities deteriorate rapidly. While the coalition of corruption and their cadres and cronies are thriving, Knysna residents are suffering. The DA can change this and rescue South Africa, but only if you vote to give us the power to do so.

Statement issued by Alan Winde - DA Western Cape Premier Candidate, 25 February 2024