In the Northern Cape, for the DA to bring the ANC below the 50% mark the governing party would need to lose more than 14% at the polls. (Skyler Reid/M&G)
The Democratic Alliance (DA) maintains it is confident of achieving all of its 2019 election goals as it goes into the final weekend of election campaigning.
Several thousand people converged on Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto on Saturday for the party’s final election rally.
Dobsonville is the home town of DA leader Mmusi Maimane.
The official opposition has set itself four targets for the May 8 election. The first is to better it’s 2014 show by increasing its number of votes and grow the size of its caucus in the National Assembly. The second goal is to retain the Western Cape province with a clear majority. And the more ambitious goals is to bring the ANC below 50% in the Northern Cape and Gauteng.
DA campaign manager Jonathon Moakes admits the race for the Western Cape will be close but is confident his party can retain the only province governed by an opposition party with an outright majority.
“It is going to require that every single DA vote turn out to vote. We dare not be complacent, and we don’t take any votes for granted. We are positive, but as ever it depends on turnout,” Moakes said.
That may be easier said than done as the impact of former Cape Town mayor Patricia De Lille’s Good Party is yet to be felt.
And intimations from the Freedom Front Plus that is has managed to attract disgruntled DA supporters on the basis that they say that the party discriminates against minority groups like Afrikaans speakers.
But these factors could play a role in the DA losing ground, particularly in the Western Cape.
“It is marginal we haven’t seen good or miss de Lille pick up traction and a lot of people discount her on the basis that a vote for her is a vote for the ANC and the EFF. In terms of the Freedom Front Plus I think they will be very marginal,” he said.
In the Northern Cape, for the DA to bring the ANC below the 50% mark the governing party would need to lose more than 14% at the polls.
That is a tall order.
But Moakes says their election strategy is to concentrate on rural parts of the provinces. Saying residents in urban centres like Upington, Kimberley and De Aar have for a long time been disgruntled about poor service delivery.
“We have a big focus on the Northern Cape, particularly the western half, the Namaqualand, the Richtersveld. We think there’s a really good chance to bring the ANC below 50%. And there could be a very big surge of the coloured vote for the DA,” Moakes said.