On behalf of the candidates of #CA1st I wish to thank you for taking a chance on us and give us your vote. Unfortunately Capetonians again chose the DA to rule the City and the number of votes we received were not enough to secure a seat.
I have been involved in many elections but this is the first one since 1994 where the whole process rankled with me. In this regard:
1. I felt the DA was allowed to get away with murder by the IEC with the kind of things they were allowed to do right till election day,
2. The IEC disenfranchised way too many Capetonians in how difficult they made it for people to vote, and
3.There are so many questions asked about vote counting & spoilt ballots (not having party agents present was clearly a disadvantage)
4.This narrative of small & big parties is something the DA was allowed to get away too easily & it scared many people.
Together with other parties we have lodged the necessary complaints/objections requesting a RE-RUN of the Cape Town elections. I guess the IEC will pull laager and our complaints will go nowhere.
I think we had a very good offering but unfortunately not enough people heard it and we entered the race too late. We also had too little resources (human & financial) to assist us. There was not enough focus or drill down on actual local government issues and solutions offered for it
We will now do a reflection and discuss the way forward and possibly contesting the elections in 2024. Should we decide to do so, you will be informed and I trust we can count on your support, (I might not play a leading role in it).
We, in fact I gave it my all, and if truth be told I enjoyed most of the campaigning and feel the late nights and early mornings were all worth it. As I continuously said, I intrinsically believe that OUR PEOPLE DESERVE BETTER, it’s a pity they remained with the devil they know.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and am thankful for the opportunity to have laid the foundation for others to follow.
All the best….. @Rod.