Punish the ruling party at the polls - Holomisa

Port Elizabeth – United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa has urged voters in Nelson Mandela Bay to punish the ruling party at the polls.

"Clearly, the ruling party is no longer a bankable project. We can no longer trust them with our monies and our livelihoods. They have squandered their chances and must be heavily punished on the 3rd of August," he said at his party's manifesto launch in the area. 

He said Nelson Mandela Bay residents were being ignored, gangs had found a home in the area and the ANC was imploding.

"In fact, people are dying through the barrel of a gun day-in-and-day-out, making South Africa a dangerous place to trust with economic investment."

Reports of deaths of comrades due to inter-party shenanigans were not surprising anymore, he said.

Should the UDM be voted into power in 2019, a new Electoral Act and party funding legislation would be introduced to increase accountability, he promised.

"South Africans must be in the position to elect their own president and not have him or her foisted on them by a ruling party."

It was clear that the situation was dire in Nelson Mandela Bay, he told supporters.

"Infrastructure is collapsing, living conditions are hazardous with refuse decorating the streets and open spaces... In areas like Ward 40 [Groco], there is virtually nothing… no water, no electricity, no houses, no toilets and no roads." 

He urged voters to remember that they would be stuck with whoever they voted for for five years.

"The United Democratic Movement says and believes that with this plan we can all find solutions to the challenges facing the people of Nelson Mandela Bay and South Africa in general."

Holomisa urged the audience to follow in the example of ward 30 in Nelson Mandela Bay, which the party won during by-elections in 2015.

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