THE African National Congress (ANC) belongs in the past.
This is according to the leader of the newly formed political party Change Starts Now, Roger Jardine.
He told a gathering at the Constitution Hill, Joburg, on Thursday, 18 January, that people must vote the ANC out of power if they want to see change.
“We have found in our engagements that the majority of South Africans no longer believe in the ANC, a party with a heroic past but with a very dismal present."
Jardine said there was speculation that the ANC may receive as little as 40% in the upcoming elections.
“What we have found is that the majority of people across all areas in our country share this view and only 1/3 of South Africans actually trust this party to govern,” he said.
Jardine said Eskom affected the daily lives of the Mzansi people, and they must agree with him it has become the poster child for load shedding.
He said load shedding has caused more than 600 000 permanent job losses.
ALSO READ: Taximen meeting ends in death!
“I don't need to remind anyone that this crisis, a crisis invented by the ANC has haunted our country and our economy and constrained our ability to create much-needed jobs for 17 years."
Jardine said the ruling party has been promising to end the crisis without success.
“Our choice in this election is clear. We can choose more of this misery, or we can choose change, with the promise of tightly managing our country's return to a load shedding free society."
Jardine said to answer the question of who will replace the ANC, it would be the like-minded South Africans.
He said if he were to get a chance to speak to President Cyril Ramaphosa, he would tell him that the ANC, which was a “party of selfless struggle has become the party of self-enrichment."
“And it happened under your watch,” he said.
Jardine said Ramaphosa was the absent father of the nation.
He said to end load shedding, his party will increase rooftop solar and storage for households, factories and businesses.
Jardine said Change Starts Now will reduce the rate of preventable breakdowns in power stations and stabilise energy production.
“We must ensure that public and private sector work together to enable speedy grid connections for new commercial scale engines installations."
He said his party will also focus on fixing the economy and creating more jobs.
“We pledge to work to build a government that works for the people and our plan is straightforward. We will collaborate with business and other partners to create new jobs, especially for the youth. We will fix broken public and economic infrastructure, including Eskom and Transnet and the water crisis seems to never end. We will end corruption in public institutions, particularly in police and prisons. And we will ensure accountability and protect constitutional rights," said Jardine.
