DA leader Mmusi Maimane has set his party on a path of building a liberal African agenda.
In a wide-ranging speech at his party’s Federal Congress at the Tshwane Events Centre on Saturday, Maimane said that “we need to build liberalism in Africa, for Africa”.
“This week we opened our new campaign headquarters in Gauteng, and we named it Nkululeko House, Freedom House. Because that is who we are at our core.
“This freedom for the people of our country and the people of our continent can only be achieved through liberal values. Values that put the individual first.”
Maimane said when other parties obsess about power, the DA will be obsessing about freedom. “The freedom of every South African to be who they want to be, and to be the best they can be,” he said.
The DA leader said that as African liberals, “we have chosen a hard road”.
“We have chosen to stand up to dictators and bullies of all stripes, even when it is politically incorrect to do so”.
“We have chosen to defend the free expression of ideas, even for people with whom we disagree and whose views make us angry.,” he said.
Maimane said that the DA has chosen to promote constitutional democracy “at a time when some people are using the constitution as a scapegoat for our society’s problems”.
“We have chosen to fight for the principle of equality before the law, at a time when powerful people think that they are above the law,” he said.
Maimaine said that “we must carve out a new agenda for African liberalism”.
“As African liberals, we understand that communities, customs and tradition play an important role in shaping individuals. We recognise the spirit of Ubuntu – that I am who I am through other people,” the DA leader said.
“As liberals in Africa, we are not colour-blind. We understand that the racial domination and dispossession of apartheid and colonialism destroyed people’s freedom. We want to fix this injustice without reducing every person to their race”.
“As African liberals, we know that poverty is the greatest threat to individual freedom because civil liberties mean nothing if there is no food on the table. A hungry person cannot claim freedom,” he added.
“This is why we believe in social welfare and a growing economy that lifts people out of poverty,” Maimane said.
The DA leader warned his party members that the stronger the party gets, the more “our opponents will lie and deceive.”
“We will fight those lies with our values. And we will fight those lies with the proof that, where we govern, our policies work,” he said.
Maimane questioned the promise of a “new dawn” saying that what’s needed is total change.
“We need to dismantle the corrupt system that continues to oppress poor people in this country. How can we speak of a new dawn when our cabinet is still crammed full of corrupt ministers, and when our Deputy President has a cloud of allegations hanging over his head,” he questioned.
Maimane questioned one could speak of a new dawn when the same government that shot and killed 34 unarmed mine workers and left 144 mental health care patients to die agonising deaths is still in office?
“How can we speak of a new dawn when our children are still dying in pit toilets at schools across the country. How can we speak of a new dawn when our farmers continue to be brutally murdered?”
Maimane said their mission is to unite “the people of this great country”.
“Ours is a mission to build an economy and a society that is shared by all. Ours is a mission to break down the walls that keep so many of our people trapped in a prison of poverty,” he said.
“Ours is a mission to bring change,” said Maimane.
