The DA's Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane.
"There is no such thing as a dirty vote. There is only a dirty government," said Maimane said in a speech prepared for delivery in Soweto.
He was referring to an incident, last month, when Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane apparently told protesters in Bekkersdal, who did not want her to address them, that the ANC did not need their "dirty votes".
Maimane said he used to vote for the ANC because "back then, the ANC embodied hope and change".
However, he said that the ANC was now a liberation movement that had "left its people behind". Maimane listed a number of ways he believed Gauteng could be uplifted. For example, he said that e-tolls had to be stopped.
"E-tolls will kill jobs and make people poorer." He also said small businesses and entrepreneurs needed to be supported. "There are thriving car washes, food stalls, hair salons and chisa nyama on every corner in every community I visit."
Maimane said he "pledged" that the DA would not make things go back to the way they were in apartheid.
"We will never allow South Africa to go backwards." – Sapa