The DA has singled out unemployment as the biggest problem in South Africa which it says was created by the ANC through poor policies and mismanagement of the economy.
The party also accused the ruling party of creating an impression that the current high levels of joblessness were created by a “force of nature” and tabled its economic offer ahead of the much-anticipated general elections scheduled for May 29.
Leader of the official opposition John Steenhuisen led the presentation of the policy offer alongside the party’s first deputy chairperson of the DA Federal Council Ashol Sarupen, Dion George, the party’s federal finance chairperson and the party’s head of policy Mat Cuthbert.
The DA, which is the governing, is hoping to capitalize on what is perceived to be a weakened ANC on election day and takeover the country through a coalition and is urging South Africans to punish the liberation for what he calls of unemployment.
“This unemployment crisis, created by the ANC, is a crime against the people of South Africa. The DA is here today to tell the people of our country that it does not have to be this way. South Africa can be rescued from the unemployment crisis that has robbed millions of citizens of the brighter future we all dreamed of in 1994.
“We do not have to accept the scale of joblessness in South Africa, because it is not a natural phenomenon. It is not normal,” said Steenhuisen during the media briefing held at the party’s head office in Johannesburg.
The DA leader also suggested South Africans for keeping the ANC in power throughout the country’s three decades of democracy.
“And it is because of the deliberate choices of the ANC, that over 30 million citizens now live in desperate poverty. However, the fact that the lack of jobs in this country is a man-made crisis, also means that the South African people have the power to fix this crisis. It is because of human choices that we sit with one of the highest unemployment rates in the world today. Which means that, through different choices, we have the power to turn the situation around,” he said.
The DA is part of a pre-election pact known as the Multi-Party Charter which is aimed at setting up a coalition government in the event that the ANC drops below fifty percent in the upcoming election. However despite asserting to be growing the official opposition lost support in the 2021 local government elections and has also been defeated in a series of by-elections by Gayton Mckensie’s Patriotic Alliance. The ANC has meanwhile mounted a spirited campaign to stay in power unleashing among others former President Thabo Mbeki to woe voters.