'Our support is growing': Confident DA 'canvasses for prayers' in KZN

With just two months to go before the elections, the DA in KwaZulu-Natal says its premier candidate Chris Pappas, partnerships and party lists bode well for wooing the electorate.

DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers was speaking during his visit to Newholmes Christian Fellowship church in Northdale — a party stronghold — on Friday.

“We are quite happy with what we have got on the ground. For the first time we have two provincial campaigns. One is that of the premier run by uMngeni mayor Chris Pappas and then there is provincial leaders’ campaign,” he said.

The party also announced its list of candidates hoping to serve in the provincial legislature after the elections.

“I will be going from branch to branch through the province and Chris will also be going to different towns and having town hall meetings throughout,” said Rodgers.

He said they had tried to make inroads in their non-traditional areas where voters had often opted for their political adversaries.

“Chris is an attraction to people. Him speaking isiZulu gives them an immediate connection. He is the right candidate and sure-footed for the position.

“Our lists are the most diverse we have had and we have tried to maintain experience and have also brought in young talent, fused experience, gender balances and all communities are represented.”

Rodgers downplayed how the party had in the last provincial elections been overtaken by the IFP, which was now the official opposition in the provincial legislature.

“What happened, going back, was that the NFP could not register with the IEC. I think a lot of the NFP members went back to the IFP. Interestingly enough, our polling puts us ahead of the IFP by 3%.”

The party would later sign a pact with the IFP, he said, adding that the prospect of a coalition government was inevitable.

“Time will tell but there is going to be no clear winner in these elections. We support the IFP in the service delivery pact. We won’t wait till the 30th [May to sign a pact].”

With regard to people who had left the ANC to join the MK party, Rodgers said he wasn't fazed.

“I am not going to lose sleep over Jacob Zuma’s party. It should in fact be the ANC and the EFF who are worried. According to our polling the EFF is the biggest loser in this scenario. If anything, our support in the Zulu-speaking electorate is growing.”

Weighing in on the spiralling crime gripping the province, he said this was worsened by the nationalisation of the police ministry. 

“The crime here is very different. If we can provincialise our crime strategy and implement task forces to deal with specific crimes, that will be different. Also, effective and continuous training is much-needed. We also need to ensure that they have the necessary equipment.”

On the death of the party’s chief whip in uMngeni municipality, Nhlalayenza Ndlovu, who was shot at his Mpophomeni home last year, he said the party had wasted no time in enlisting specialists forensic investigators to get to the bottom of the heinous crime yet no arrests had been made.

“We are living with crime, corruption, poverty and drugs — and yet our government seems to be failing when dealing with this issue. I am not coming to canvass you for your votes; what I am coming to canvass you for is your prayers,” Rodgers told church members.

“Without your prayers we would not be able to deal with poverty inequality and crime and all the other challenges facing our society.”

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