Protecting South Africa’s Fragile Democracy

This lecture was delivered by Mmusi Maimane on Tuesday 21 June 2016 at the London School of Economics. 

Given the prevailing sentiment towards my country at the moment, let me start out by saying that I have never been more positive about the future of South Africa than I am now.

If you have ever visited South Africa, which I hope you have, you may have been to the Cradle of Humankind just north of Johannesburg, where the oldest skeletons of the human species have been found. The lesson is simple: We have been in South Africa for 3.5 million years, and we will be there for many millennia to come. Don’t misjudge us! We will thrive.

Read it on Election 2016

South Africa has an ANC problem, not a Jacob Zuma problem

The ANC is beyond redemption. In Tuesday’s impeachment debate in the National Assembly, the ANC’s parliamentary caucus voted unanimously to retain Jacob Zuma as the president despite last week’s Constitutional Court ruling that he failed to “uphold, defend and respect the Constitution” during the six-year Nkandla saga.

Read more on Election 2016

Check your voter registration details

A message from DA Leader Mmusi Maimane as to why as many DA supporters as possible must register to vote.

Fellow South African,

The FINAL chance to register for the 2016 Local Government Elections is this weekend, 9 and 10 April.
We need you to help us get as many DA supporters registered to vote as possible.

Together we can continue to make progress in Cape Town, but only if every DA supporter registers to vote and votes DA.

Please make sure that all of your friends and family register to vote this weekend.

To find out where to register, or to check their details, they can visit https://check.da.org.za.

To check if they are already registered, sms their ID number to 32810.

If they need help registering, call the DA hotline on 0861 22 55 32 or email info@da.org.za.

This weekend, all voting stations will be open between 8am and 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday. In order to vote in the 2016 Local Government Elections, it is essential that voters are registered correctly.

To register you must be:

1. A South African citizen;
2. 16 years of age or older; and
3. In possession of a valid bar-coded ID book/temporary ID/smart ID.

You will need to re-register if:

• You have moved since you last registered; or
• You were previously registered outside of the voting district that you live in.

This year’s election is neck-and-neck between the DA and the ANC. The DA once missed winning a municipality by JUST THREE VOTES! We can win in Cape Town, but only if every DA supporter registers to vote and votes DA.

I appreciate your support,

Mmusi Maimane
DA Leader 

Women’s Economic Empowerment Event

Photos of the successful and well attended WARD 57 – DAWN WOMEN’S DAY EVENT held on the 25 of July at the Double Tree Hilton in Woodstock.

For the original details, invite and photos …

Western Cape Provincial Congress

What can one say – the energy, music, excitement, and wave after blue wave of over a thousand delegates from all over the Western Cape standing up, sitting down, dancing, clapping, singing, passing motions, expressing support, shouting and cheering.  A rousing speech – read the Western Cape DA Provincial Congress address – by DA Parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane in which he announced that he had accepted the nomination as leader of the DA and hammered home a clear message – that the DA is on the move – and nowhere more than in the Western Cape under our newly elected provincial leader Patricia de Lille, deputy provincial leader Bonginkosi Madikizela and chairman Anton Bredell. We are gearing up and preparing to roll into more ANC wards come 2016.

Ward 57 was well represented by councillors Brett Herron and Paddy Chapple along with our non-public delegates. Reports, articles and analysis have been done elsewhere – see http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/politics/2015/04/18/patricia-de-lille-elected-as-the-new-leader-of-the-da-in-the-western-cape and http://citizen.co.za/365403/patricia-de-lille-new-da-wcape-leader/ and Provincial Congress Minutes.  As the photos below attest – “we have seen the future of the Western Cape, and it is going to be even more DA.”