Note to Editors: Below is an extract from a speech delivered by the Leader of the Democratic Alliance, Geordin Hill-Lewis, at the party’s Rock the Registration Youth Day Rally in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal today.
Full speech can be read here:
Good morning, KZN!
Today, on Youth Day, we gather with one simple message: Register to vote. Register to win. Register to build a South Africa that works for everyone.
This Youth Day is especially important, because this year marks 50 years since the Soweto Uprising of 16 June 1976.
Fifty years ago, young South Africans stood up against injustice. They showed courage. They refused to accept a future decided for them by an unjust government.
Youth Day is a reminder that young people have changed the course of this country before. And that is the spirit we need again today.
Because our country is once again asking young South Africans a question: Are you going to sit this one out? Or are you going to shape what comes next?
The future of South Africa is being decided right now. And the first step is not complicated. You must register to vote.
Because if you are not registered, you cannot vote. And if you cannot vote, then other people will decide your future for you.
Across South Africa, something important is happening. People are beginning to see that change is possible. People are beginning to see that where the DA governs, things can get better.
In Cape Town, in Midvaal, and here in KZN in uMngeni, the DA is showing that clean government, better services and real delivery are possible.
That is why the DA is winning wards in different communities across the country.
The DA is the only party in South Africa that can go into every kind of neighbourhood in this country — and win.
We can go into suburbs and townships. We can go into rural villages and city centres. We can go into communities that speak different languages, worship in different ways, come from different histories, and face different daily struggles — and we can win support in all of them.
Why? Because the DA is on your side. We are on the side of every South African who wants a better future.
In local government especially, elections can be won or lost by a few hundred votes. Sometimes by even less.
Just a few weeks ago, in Ward 28 in Emfuleni, in Evaton West, the DA won a historic by-election by just eight votes.
Eight votes.
That is one family.
That is one group of friends.
That is one taxi full of people.
That is the difference between a community getting a DA councillor who will fight for them, or another five years of the same decline.
That is why registration matters.
Because somewhere in South Africa, the next ward will again be decided by eight votes.
And one of those eight votes could be yours.
But to vote for change, you must be registered. And to win change, we must help others register too.
That is the job. That is the campaign. That is how we win.