Patriotic Alliance promises a clean start for voters

By: Sello Theletsane

The Patriotic Alliance (PA) has promised voters a clean start with municipal accounts once it wins the upcoming local government elections.

During a manifesto launch in Eldorado Park on Saturday, party President Gayton McKenzie said the party would wipe clean debts.

“When we take over, I don’t care how much people owe on rates, electricity and water. We are starting over on zero,” he said to loud cheers in the crowd.

He further added that people had been ripped off by the government and had been paying rent for years in government-owned flats, which they still don’t own.

“What type of flats are these that you cannot stop paying? Every flat that owes your debt is finishing on the first of November. You are getting your title deed. Our parents have paid for these houses, and they are still paying,” McKenzie said.

Another aspect of the Manifesto was the issue of illegal immigrants in the country. McKenzie told the thousands gathered at the sports field that all illegal foreigners would be deported the day after the elections.

“When the Patriotic Alliance takes over, I don’t care whether you are Chinese or from Mozambique; when PA takes over, you are going home. We are unapologetic, and we don’t want to see illegal foreigners in our country. As a legal immigrant, you must come with a skill we don’t have in South Africa. You can’t be a teacher or nurse, and we have enough of these skills in South Africa,” McKenzie said.

He said the party’s stance was not xenophobic but rather patriotic. He said they would start their clean up of the country in Eldorado Park.

“We are not going to deal with you on the third of November. We are dealing with you on the second of November. We are not those politicians that you bribe, and you pay, and you buy. Your time has come to an end here in South Africa,” he said.

McKenzie also took a swipe at Action SA President Herman Mashaba. He said they don’t share the same vision, and Mashaba had failed to deal with foreigners when he was the mayor of Johannesburg.

“People say Herman Mashaba, and we are talking the same language, I say we are not. Herman Mashaba was the mayor of Joburg for three years, yet more foreigners came and took more buildings. And why does he want to remove them when he had three years?”

He added that they would also be targetting businesses that have employed foreigners while South Africans remain unemployed.

“We are not only going to arrest the illegal foreigners, we are also going to arrest the business people that employ them while our children are sitting without work,” he said.

McKenzie also used the occasion to dispel the notion that PA is a coloured party. He reminded the crowd and country that his deputy, Kenny Kunene, was not coloured.

“Our deputy president, Kenny Kunene, is not a coloured. We are a rainbow nation. We even have an Albino, my brother Truman Prince. How can we be a coloured party with black and white mayoral candidates?”

Under a Patriotic Alliance government, crime will be fought in the streets. McKenzie said gone are the days of police officers certifying documents in police stations.

“We want police to meet criminals in the streets. When PA takes over, there will be no officer in blue behind the counters. They will meet criminals in the streets. Matriculants will do the admin work,” he said.

The party also says it has plans to create jobs. It says South Africa is one of the richest countries in the world, and its people need to share in that wealth. The basic maintenance of government structures would also be another way of creating lost lasting jobs for the youth of the country.