#believeGP A Gauteng We Can All Believe In by @MaimaneAM Mmusi Maimane - DA Candidate for Premier of Gauteng Note to editors: This is an extract from a speech delivered by DA Candidate for Premier of Gauteng, Mmusi Maimane, at a media briefing on the DA’s campaign plans for 2014, in Soweto, Gauteng, yesterday. Date: 11 August 2013 Release: Immediate I want to thank my wife Natalie and our two children, Kgalaletso and Kgosi, for supporting me in this big step in our life’s journey together. Our children are too young to know that they are the inspiration for everything we are working for – a province and a country we can all believe in. I also want to thank all of my friends and colleagues in the Democratic Alliance for their confidence in me. I’m so grateful that the Gauteng provincial and regional leadership has come today –it means the world that you are all here. I decided to run for Premier because I am part of a new generation of South Africans who believe they have the power to change their future. We will never allow Nelson Mandela’s dream of a united and prosperous South Africa to fade away. We are taking charge of our own destiny. Over 25 years ago, I grew up in this very house; Mmutle Street, Dobsonville, Soweto, with parents who embodied the true values of hard work. The Group Areas Act gave us this home in Mmutle Street, Soweto. My parents worked hard and made sacrifices so that my brothers, sisters and I could get an education, and an opportunity. I know what it is to struggle, and I can appreciate that many more still do. And I also know that if we are to beat poverty, we need to give people an opportunity to work so they can improve their lives. We need a government that is focused on creating jobs above all else. And we need a clean government that prioritises the people, not the politicians. That is the kind of government I will create in Gauteng if I am elected Premier. A clean government that creates jobs. This is supposed to be the province of gold. So why does it feel like only a few people ever get to share in Gauteng’s wealth? Why do the best opportunities always go to the same politically- connected people over and over again? We need to change the course we are on. We need to get Gauteng believing in itself again. This is what I want do in my campaign over the next seven months. I want to show people a new vision of Gauteng. A place where services are delivered, where corruption is the exception not the rule, a place where young people have the job opportunities they need to make a success of their lives. I used to be an ANC supporter. I used to believe that the party of liberation deserved my vote because of what it did to make our country free. I still think that the ANC deserves the highest praise for leading the liberation struggle. And it deserves credit for reversing some of the worst aspects of apartheid, through programmes of social grants, land reform and Black Economic Empowerment. But I no longer believe that the ANC deserves my vote. The ANC under Jacob Zuma has let us down. It has failed to do the one thing our nation needs to move forward. It has failed to create jobs. Because President Zuma cares more about the financial interests of his friends, his family and himself than creating jobs for the people. We need to change the culture of self-enrichment in government and replace it with a culture of self-belief in society. We can do it by creating jobs and getting rid of corruption. In the coming days I will begin a listening tour of the entire province. I will meet with thousands of Gauteng residents and ask them about the Gauteng they want to see, a Gauteng they can believe in. This is going to be the biggest Premier campaign this country has ever seen. I believe that together we can win this province. I believe we can rekindle the dream of 1994. I believe that we can create jobs and build a better future for Gauteng and for South Africa. It’s time for Gauteng to start believing in itself again. When people lose belief, they lose confidence in the country and in themselves. They stop investing, they retreat to their own corners, and we begin to treat each other as strangers in our own land. We must believe again. We must build a Gauteng fashioned out of the dreams and the hopes of many; not only for ourselves but for generations to come. Ke a leboga, modimo keo Thank you.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 07:21:06 +0000
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