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The executive mayor of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille, was in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro to visit communities in the Northern Areas and in Uitenhage.
She arrived to a rousing welcome by a dancing and singing crowd on Saturday morning at the Chatty Community Hall in Bethelsdorp.
De Lille was also introduced to a group of former ANC members who joined the DA on Friday.
In her speech to hundreds of DA members bussed in from different parts of Port Elizabeth, De Lille implored them to go out and campaign for people to vote in the upcoming May election.
"The reality is that we live in a democracy. And, the only way to bring change is through the vote. You have to go out and make sure that everyone in your street, your community votes for the DA," she said.
De Lille told the crowd that the DA wants the Eastern Cape to be more like the Western Cape where there's no corruption and there no potholes in the streets.
She also made a poignant plea to communities to speak out against gangsterism and drugs, saying that "there must be something wrong when we turn a blind eye to drug dealing."
"We need to get the druglords and dealers off our streets," said De Lille.
She said the City of Cape Town recently introduced a helpline for people in ganglands to call when they need to speak to someone. "We started a campaing to speak directly to the mothers, sisters and families to tell them that there is help available."
De Lille called on the DA in Nelson Mandela to establish such a helpline.
She also sent out a warning to the ANC that the DA is targetting to take over Nelson Mandela Bay in the 2016 local government elections.
