Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille accepted premiership of the Western Cape on Wednesday with a commitment to open, accountable and transparent government in the province.
”This is … the best way to counter corruption, which has become a cancer in our society,” she told a packed provincial Parliament in Cape Town, minutes after being sworn into office.
The next five years would see her administration ”letting the sun shine into” its activities and making accurate information more easily accessible to citizens.
Zille also called on people to take up their ”duties and responsibilities” as citizens, saying those who shirked this undermined the rights of others.
A practical example was government spending on the HIV/Aids pandemic.
”For all the good the treatment movement is doing — and it is very substantial — it is essential now to place equal emphasis on individual responsibility in fighting this pandemic.â€For every cent we spend on treating a preventable condition, other priorities — such as the needs of disabled children, for example — are short-changed.
”Personal responsibility is all the more important because our challenges are so great and our resources so limited,” she said. Speaking later at a press conference, she said the HIV/Aids pandemic had not yet peaked in the Western Cape.
”We have a lower HIV infection rate than in the other provinces, but we can’t be complacent.
”We will continue that commitment to treatment, but we will also focus on prevention, education and on changing a culture of personal responsibility, so that we’re not out there always mopping up the water, but that we’re actually getting to the tap to turn it off,” she said.
Zille said the most serious inhibitors of opportunity and rights in the province were drug abuse and teenage pregnancies. ”Police estimate that up to 80% of crime in this province is linked to substance abuse, as are the majority of fatal accidents.
”While the state does have a crucial role in changing the circumstances that give rise to these social ills, breaking the cycle is a responsibility we share with citizens who understand that personal discipline is essential if we are to enjoy the fruits of freedom,” she said.
The DA toppled the African National Congress from power in the province in last month’s election.
Zille, formerly mayor of Cape Town, will now lead a 22 member DA team in the 42-seat legislature.
Though the ANC proposed former premier Lynne Brown as its candidate at the first sitting of the new-look legislature on Wednesday, Zille took the secret vote by 24 ballots to 14. There were four spoiled papers.
‘Race a big barrier in SA politics’
Speaking at a press conference in Cape Town following her swearing in as premier, Zille said race was currently a big barrier in South African politics,
She said this, however, would start to change.
”The choice in a political democracy is between alternative political philosophies. Far too many South Africans still believe it is a racial choice.”
Zille said the DA believed that what it offered voters was the better philosophy, particularly for the poorest of the poor. ”I know that race is a big barrier in South Africa … but over the years, more and more South Africans, of all races, of all classes, will vote for competing political philosophies and not for race,” she said. — Sapa