DA leader addresses a crowd in Riverlea.
Some residents of the crime-ridden suburb of Riverlea in Johannesburg have accused the Democratic Alliance (DA) of renting a crowd to march in their area.
On Thursday, DA national leader John Steenhuisen, Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga and several senior party officials led a march against gangsterism, child murder and violent crime from the suburb in west Johannesburg, which has seen a spike in gang-related killings, to a nearby park.
Residents claimed those marching with the DA were not from the suburb and had been transported there.
Riverlea, which is in ward 68, was previously a DA stronghold but the party lost it to the Patriotic Alliance (PA) in a 2021 by-election. But the PA’s victory lasted only a few months before the ANC snatched it in November 2021 local government elections.
Riverlea resident Ilse Holland told the Mail & Guardian that residents had rejected the DA in the past because “it did not show any care” while in control of the suburb.
She said people had received WhatsApp messages in their community group on Wednesday evening asking them to join a march to Langlaagte police station against gangsterism and crime, only to realise later that it was being coordinated by the DA.
“All of a sudden we saw people coming in many taxis, we don’t know them and they are not from this community. The DA was in charge here and they did nothing for us,” she said, adding that the DA had failed to take the march to the police station because it was not supported by Rivilea residents.
“They saw that the people who stay in the area refused to join, so what were they going to say at the police station? They may have paid them and gave them food to make it look like they stay here. They came here and spoke about how good they govern in the Western Cape and how they fight crime there. They did not do it when they were in charge here,” Holland added.
Asked for comment, Steenhuisen said: “I don’t know a thing about that, you’d have to ask them.”
Speaking to the marchers in Jukskei Park, Steenhuisen said winning the elections would allow the DA to liberate Riverlea and the rest of Gauteng, as well as the country, from the clutches of the ANC.
He said the people of Riverlea were tired of violent crime and losing their children to gangsters, in addition to poor services.
“We know that the people of Riverlea are living under a crime invasion. Life is harder here in Riverlea than it is in many war zones around the country and that is because we have a government that does not care,” Steenhuisen said.
“There is no justice for the people of Riverlea because Bheki Cele and the ANC are too busy looking after themselves. They don’t care about crime because every one of those ministers has got 10 bodyguards around them.”
The DA has expressed optimism that it can unseat the ANC in the province. Pollsters and pundits have predicted that the ruling party would see its share of the votes dip below 50% in Gauteng, having managed just 50.19% in 2019.
Steenhuisen took aim at PA party leader Gayton McKenzie, who has promised to end gangsterism and crime in Riverlea. Steenhuisen said the PA had taken votes and handed them to the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters, with the end result that crime in the suburb had worsened