Speech was delivered by Mmusi Maimane MP,
after being announced as the newly elected DA Federal Leader.
Video of Announcement
Friends, colleagues, fellow
Democrats, Bagaetsho, Dumelang.
It is wonderful to be here in the
Eastern Cape, my ancestral home. Ndizalwa yintombi yakwaMaduna, OoGubevu,
OoJiyane, OoTiba kumandla waseCofimvaba
The great South African novelist
Nadine Gordimer once said: “A truly living human being cannot remain
neutral.”
I guess that’s why, when I look
around this hall, I see so many people who are truly alive.
All of us are animated by the idea
of building a better tomorrow. All of us carry the belief that, out of the
ashes of apartheid, a prosperous and united South Africa can emerge.
Sometimes we disagree with each
other because we care so much about the future we want to build. And that is
okay.
It is healthy for us to engage in
robust debate. But, equally, there is no room in this party for those who seek
to divide, or those who mobilise on race.
We must challenge each other’s ideas
in a constructive manner. For this is how we learn from each other and grow
stronger.
In this campaign, we have had
debates on television, on radio and on the pages of newspapers.
We have crisscrossed the country to
put forward our ideas and challenge the ideas of our opponents.
In the process, we have shown South
Africa what it means to be a truly democratic party, united in its diversity.
Our party remains strong, even when
we disagree with each other, because it is built on a rock solid foundation of
shared values.
That’s what makes us different from
other parties. We contest elections, and when they are over, we work together
to fight our real enemies. Our real enemies are poverty, unemployment and
inequality.
And so I want to say to all of you,
whether or not you voted for me, let us unite today behind our shared values.
We are guided by our values. It is
our values that unite us. And I want to tell you today: it is our values that
will lead us to victory.
That is because we stand together
with many South Africans who share the same set of values as us.
The people who share our values
cannot be defined by race or by class. They do not live in a particular part of
the country.
The people who share our values are
the millions of people, from all backgrounds, who want to work hard, to provide
for their families and to live in peace.
Our values can be summed up in these
three words:
Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity.
In a free society every individual
has the freedom to make their own choices about the life they want to live.
That is why we completely reject discrimination on the basis of race, gender
and sexual orientation.
In a free society every person has
the power to improve their lives, because freedom means nothing without
opportunities. Every citizen must be given a chance to be the best they can be.
I know the difference that
opportunity can make to a person’s life.
Like many people living in Gauteng,
my parents were migrant labourers who had come to eGoli in search of a better
life.
My mother was raised in the Eastern
Cape with her parents and 6 siblings. My father, landless and jobless, came
from the former Bophuthatswana in the 1960s to settle in Kagiso on the West
Rand.
My parents worked hard to give us
the opportunities they never had. I went to a state school in Roodeport and did
well enough to get into university.
I was lucky to be given these
opportunities. And my parents were loving and supportive. They gave me the
confidence to seize each opportunity that came my way.
They are here with me today. Mme le
Papa, Ke A leboga.
My parents have not always agreed
with my political choices, but I know they are proud that I am in a party that
opens up opportunities. A party that has today elected the child of a cashier
as its Leader.
Not everybody I grew up with has had
the same opportunities as me.
I have a cousin who, like me, grew
up in Dobsonville. He was raised by a single mother who did her best to provide
for the family on her very small income.
My cousin went to a school where the
teachers often arrived late and sometimes not at all. Most of the kids never
had textbooks, and there were no after-school activities to keep the kids off
the streets.
My cousin dropped out and never
managed to get his matric.
He has been without work now for
several years. As a consequence, he has been lured into a life of drug abuse
and criminality. At the age of just twenty-five, he is unemployed. Worse than
this, he is unemployable.
This is the tragic story of too many
young South Africans. The hope and promise of 1994 has no meaning for them.
It is a fact that most young black
South Africans continue to be denied access to opportunity, just as their
parents were during apartheid.
This is what we must change if we
are to succeed as a nation. As Democrats, we will work tirelessly to create a
fairer society.
A fair society is a more equal
society. It is a society where every child, whether they are born in Soweto or
Sandton, has the same chance of making a success of their lives.
A fair society is also a non-racial
society. And I want to make it absolutely clear today that non-racialism does
not mean being colour-blind.
We cannot pretend that apartheid
never happened. We cannot ignore the fact that apartheid was a system that
defined us by the colour of our skin.
It was a system that could put a
pencil through your hair. A system that dictated where you could live, where
you could work and who you could marry.
These experiences shaped me, just
like they shaped so many young black people of my generation. And that is why I
simply don’t agree with those who say they don’t see colour. Because, if you
don’t see that I’m black, then you don’t see me.
This doesn’t mean our skin colour
must define us forever. The system of racial classification devised by Hendrik
Verwoerd was evil and deplorable, and we cannot stay trapped in that way of
thinking.
We must triumph over the evil of
apartheid by building a new bridge into a new future. We must not remain
victims of our yesterday, we must believe in tomorrow.
We can transcend race. But this can
only happen if every South African acknowledges the injustices of apartheid;
and it can only happen if we all recognise that the racial inequality of the
past remains with us today.
And so we will stand firm on our commitment
to implement policies that redress the legacy of the past.
We will stay resolutely committed to
a system of social security to protect people from extreme poverty.
Where we govern, we will continue to
deliver high quality basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation.
We will focus on education because
too many children still receive an inferior education, and we know that a good
education is the foundation of a successful life.
And, above all, we will push for
measures to grow our economy and create jobs.
Democrats, South Africans
Unemployment in South Africa stands
at 36%. Of those who are unemployed, 66% are young people, just like my
cousin.
Democrats, we simply cannot go on
like this. As a party we are quick to get angry about the sustained attack on
our constitution and our institutions. But we must be equally angry at the
insider-outsider economic policies that have trapped too many of our people in
poverty for far too long.
We must structure the economy so
that young people have opportunities to start small businesses, an economy
where we leverage state owned enterprises as skills incubators by offering
apprenticeships.
We must move vigorously to roll out
a youth wage subsidy that will encourage private enterprises to absorb young
school leavers. This is essential so that they can access skills and knowledge
to build successful careers.
We need a job-creating labour regime
where trade unions protect their members, but not at the expense of keeping
unemployed people locked out of the economy.
On Friday I visited Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan University here in Port Elizabeth. I met young people there who
burn with ambition to create a better tomorrow for themselves. Like the
students of Fort Hare, they are dreaming of a different future, and they are
making a different choice.
They dream of a society where the
children of domestic workers can go to university and emerge as teachers,
lawyers and doctors. They want freedom that they can use.
Freedom, fairness and opportunity.
These are our values.
They are the values that will guide
us to victory because so many South Africans share them.
These values will underscore the
message of hope we will take to the nation in the coming years.
We will show South Africa that, when
Nelson Mandela died, his dream of a rainbow nation did not die with him.
So let me quote the words of
American writer Maya Angelou, who passed away shortly after our beloved Madiba.
She said:
“The thing to do, it seems to me, is
to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud. Somebody
who may not look like you. Who may not call God the same name you call God - if
they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But
be a blessing to somebody.”
Democrats, we need to be a blessing
to everybody.
We need to be able to connect with
every South African who shares our values but does not yet vote for us.
We need to overcome racial,
cultural, religious and economic barriers and build one nation, with one
future.
This was the journey that Tony Leon
began in 1994. When he took over the DP, it was a tiny suburban party. But he
managed to broaden the DA’s appeal to new voters, increasing the party’s
support from 1.7% to 12% in just ten years.
When Helen Zille was elected just
eight years ago, she promised to take this project to a whole level. It is
worth recalling today what she said in her acceptance speech back in 2007:
“We must convince all South Africans
that our party is truly a home for all the people. And to do that, we cannot
merely tell them, we must show them. We must not only welcome new
members, but create opportunities for new leaders to emerge, so that our party
looks and feels like the nation we want to lead.”
You just have to look around this
hall to see that Helen achieved her objective. Her resolute commitment to
diversify the party’s leadership, membership and support base was one of the
reasons we were able to double our votes in her eight years as leader – from
1.9 million to just over 4 million.
Helen Zille. Siyabulela!
Democrats, the next part of the DA
story still needs to be written.
I want it to be the story of how the
DA challenged for power at a national level and won.
I want it to be the story of a party
that was victorious because it stayed true to its values.
I want it to be the story of how a
non-racial party built a political home for all South Africans.
‘n Samelewing waar jou toekoms nie
bepaal word deur die kleur van jou vel nie.
Democrats, it is not going to be
easy.
It will be difficult because our
goal is to win support from voters of all races, at the very moment that racial
mobilisation is on the rise.
Those who mobilise on race have no
interest in building our nation. Their goal is to break down the constitutional
democracy that so many great South Africans painstakingly built.
As the legendary Sophiatown poet,
Don Materra once wrote:
Bulldozers have power.
They can take apart in a few minutes
all that has been built up over the
years
and raised over generations
and generations of children
The power of destroying
the pain of being destroyed,
Dust ...
Democrats, we need to make sure that
our message of hope is more powerful than their message of hate.
While they are tearing down statues,
we will be building schools and creating jobs.
While they illegally invade land, we
will be implementing successful land reform programmes.
While they trade on the divisions of
the past, we will position the DA as the party of tomorrow.
While they play on people’s fears,
we will connect with voters on the basis of shared values.
We must defend the Constitution of
the Republic at all costs.
We must ensure that everyone is
equal before the law.
We must continue to pursue our legal
battles against the powerful and the corrupt.
So President Zuma, if you are
watching, please note: we are still coming for you.
Make no mistake Mr President, you
will have the day in court you have been asking for.
You see, Democrats, nobody is above
the law. And, equally so, no political party has the divine right to rule this
country.
So when we talk of a second
transition, we refer to the process of political power shifting from one party
to another peacefully through the ballot box.
Democrats, we can make historic
gains in the local elections next year.
We will retain the City of Cape Town.
We can win power in Tshwane, our
nation’s capital.
We can even win power in
Johannesburg, our country’s economic heartland.
And, we can win power right here in
Nelson Mandela Bay.
Democrats, the future is bright if
we all work together as a team. And I know that we will emerge from this
Congress strong and united.
I am deeply humbled by the
opportunity to serve as your leader. I will do my best for all of you. And I
know that the entire leadership team elected today will do the same, as will our
leaders in governments across South Africa. We will serve the people, not the
other way around.
In closing, I would like to thank my
incredible campaign team. Honourable Members, you ran a truly brilliant and
positive campaign. You made history, and to you, I pay tribute.
And, finally, to my gorgeous wife,
who has to put up with this crazy life I have chosen. Thank you for supporting
me during tough times. And thank you for being a wonderful mother to our
children KG and Daniel. You are a true champion. Together, let’s pursue the
dream of a truly liberated South Africa.
Democrats, I want to leave you with
one final thought.
When we leave Port Elizabeth today,
every step we take will be one step closer to the Union Buildings.
We must and we will win power in our
lifetime. We will be the next government of this beautiful country.
Because change is coming!
Morena Boloka Setchaba sa heso
God seën Afrika
Nkosi sikelel' iafrika
Let us live and strive for freedom,
in South Africa our land.
Amandla!
