Tony Leon’s comments on the Western Cape during a Democratic Alliance rally on Thursday were ”utter rubbish”, the New National Party said on Friday.
Speaking at the DA’s final Western Cape election rally, Leon declared that since the ANC-NNP alliance had taken over, the province had developed ”the worst and the fastest-growing crime situation in the country”.
Leon said African National Congress and NNP rule in the Western Cape had been ”like the locust years — lost opportunities, bloated government and stalled delivery”.
NNP Western Cape spokesperson, Andre Gaum, said the Western Cape was a world class province and that Leon was talking rubbish.
”Mr Leon seems to have a very short memory. Under the brief spell of a DA government in the Western Cape, the DA took police officers off the streets, instead of increasing the number of police as they are now promising.
”Under DA rule the province’s economic growth rate dropped from more than 4% to 2%. Under DA rule the province was scandal-ridden and marked by political instability.”
Gaum said the present coalition government had turned ”all this around” and brought stability to the province.
”The coalition has put more police officers on the streets and the province has made an economic recovery which is envied by other provinces,” Gaum said. – Sapa