PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Hundreds of Bitou residents gathered at the Piesang Valley Community Hall on Thursday evening, July 21, for an address by Western Cape premier Helen Zille on the importance of making one’s mark at the polls next month.
So many locals from various communities in and around Plettenberg Bay showed up for the public meeting that several bakkie-loads of extra chairs had to be brought in to accommodate the massive crowd.
Zille addressed during her visit to Knysna and Plettenberg Bay as the DA started hitting the campaign trail in earnest over the past two weeks. Just last week party leader Mmusi Maimane also visited the Garden Route.
Zille said that the local government elections on August 3 was going to be a “tipping point” in South Africa.
“South Africans have come to realise that the fight is not about race, it is a struggle between blue, red and yellow (referring to the major political parties’ colours). It is not about race, it is about having a similar value set – belief in the Constitution, the rule of law and personal responsibility,” Zille said.
“This is going to be the most important election since our first democratic election in 1994.”
About the importance of voting Zille mentioned several examples of how every vote counted. She explained that when the DA took over Cape Town, the victory came down to three votes. “This is how important every last vote is.”
She added in Bitou the situation was similar. During the 2011 elections, Bitou had 13 seats and the DA needed seven to have outright majority. “We only got six by only 49 votes. We were then forced into a coalition with Cope, which paralysed us for three years and frustrated every attempt at trying to govern the town properly.”
Bitou was plunged into turmoil in June 2014 when Van Rhyner sided with six local ANC councillors to call for a special council meeting to serve a motion of no confidence in, among others, mayor Memory Booysen.
This followed three lengthy Western Cape High Court applications, including to stop the meeting from taking place.
This battle dragged on until the sudden resignation of one of the ANC councillors, Nolan Stuurman, which led to a by-election in September. The DA won the battle for Bitou’s Ward 7 council seat, giving the party outright majority in council for the first time since the 2011 local elections.
This also meant that the ANC councillors and Van Rhyner no longer had the majority votes to serve the motion.
Zille added that there were currently 10 parties contesting this year’s election in Bitou, but that battle was between the DA and the ANC. She warned that votes for independent councillors and smaller parties were as good as voting for the ANC.
She explained that most of these parties and candidates did not have enough support to secure a single seat in council – and therefore only “robbed” the major parties of votes which could mean the difference between a victory and a loss.
Hundreds of residents gathered at the Piesang Valley Community Hall on Thursday July 21, 2016 for a public meeting by Western Cape Premier Helen Zille. Photo: Yolande Stander
Hundreds of Bitou residents gathered at the Piesang Valley Community Hall for an address by Western Cape premier Helen Zille.
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS: YOLANDé STANDER, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD CORRESPONDENT
'We bring you the latest Plettenberg Bay, Garden Route news'
