Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille took her election campaign to the Klein Karoo on Wednesday, urging the mainly coloured community in Dysselsdorp to help her form a new majority party in South Africa.
”We are building a new majority,” said Zille, who regularly broke out in songs such Koekie Loekie and Die DA eet nie van vloer af nie.
”In this election we will win the Western Cape, by 2014 we want to win the whole country.”
The meeting was held in a nightclub called the Fun Palace — with black walls and mirror balls — and was attended by about 300 men, women and children.
Dysselsdorp is situated about 30km from Oudtshoorn at the foot of the Kamanassie Mountains.
The crowd booed and one man punched the palm of his hand when Zille mentioned a recent case in which an ANC councillor was caught in Hermanus with about 2 400 perlemoen in an ANC branded car.
”That man thought that if he had Jacob Zuma’s face on his car then he could get away with stealing,” she said of Simphiwe Kalolo, who was suspended last Friday by the ANC’s Western Cape branch.
Zille said the National Prosecuting Authority’s dropping corruption charges against ANC president Jacob Zuma two weeks before the election smelled like political interference.
”In the Zuma case everyone sees what is going on. If you are high in the ANC you are above the law and you can do what you want. Mr Zuma spent R100-million of your money on staying out of court,” Zille said, to shouts of ”skelm, skelm”.
”But we will have the last word,” she shouted.
Zille, who spoke in Afrikaans, also took a pot shot at ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema with whom she has been exchanging jibes in the run-up to the election on April 22. She claimed Malema had been wearing a T-shirt with the words ”100% Zuma — 20% Woodwork” printed on it.
”Julius Malema failed matric horribly,” Zille said.
”Now he walks around bragging that he passed woodwork with only 20%.” One of Malema’s most recent insults was that Zille reminded him of an apartheid spy when she danced at campaign events.
Outside the nightclub an elderly woman said she had no doubt who she would vote for in the April 22 election.
”We will vote for the boere,” she said. ”They give us work. ANC haven’t given us any work.”
A woman wearing a blue DA T-shirt said many people in Dysselsdorp had not registered to vote in the election.
”This is an old apartheid town,” she said. ”There is no infrastructure here. Not much has been done in the last 15 years. People feel let down by the election process. There is a lack of interest in getting information to make an informed decision.
”For the people here just the fact Helen came is enough. Life here is a struggle.” She said Zille had picked the perfect time to make a speech because many of the people had come into town to collect their pensions and to buy groceries.
Zille has spent the past two days campaigning in the Karoo. – Sapa