What the DA should be telling the people of South Africa

The speech that Steenhuizen should make

If I were the leader of the Democratic Alliance, what would I tell the ANC, and more importantly, what would I tell the South African people?

I would say to them, look, I know many of you don't like us, and I can understand why, given our country's history. Some of it is also justified. However, some of it isn't. And I think you need us, and we need you. Now, let me first deal with one thing. The heritage of the DA. We are not the party of apartheid. We come from the political party of the old white South Africa that opposed apartheid consistently. And we were right to do so.

The second thing to say is, yes, most whites support us now, some of whose parents supported apartheid, and some who did it themselves. Back then, our heritage was liberal, the party of wealthy white South Africans. But here is the thing. Even though we opposed apartheid, and we were right to oppose it, there are some things which the National Party did, which we also did not appreciate, which I wish we had.

The National Party uplifted Afrikaners, in particular, when they were very poor, and they used the government - and business - to do so. And if we are truthful, at the time they were doing this, it didn't damage the economy. In fact, we had the highest growth in our history. But they were not anti-capital like the EFF and MK. They had careful plans and encouraged capital.

If we are all honest, we should also look at the graphs of the famous left-wing economist Thomas Piketty. And we would realise that from 1948 to 1993, the income share that the top 1% of South Africans took, declined consistently! From 1993 to now, it has shot right back up! The data doesn't go back that long, but from the 1960s, it's also clear that the top 10% of South Africans earned less and less of national income all the way to 1993 and then shot back up. And if we look at wealth inequality, records show that that too declined when the National Party was in power and it's gone back up since 1993. Though the effect of the decline in wealth inequality wasn't as great as with income, the National Party was obviously doing something right, even though they were doing a lot wrong.

This rise in economic inequality since 1993 is the ANC's fault, but the DA did not make a fuss about it. And we should have. But the ANC and us must put that right.

The world is currently a dangerous place, but also an interesting place. China, President Biden have shown that what the NP did was not a fluke: industrial policy can work and build an economy if applied judiciously, while the private sector is allowed to play its role. I say all this because people think that if the DA came in power, we would just seek to minimise the role of government and not spend any money. If we only stopped government spending, it would not be enough to turn our economy around. We know that.

South Africa desperately needs investment. It needs infrastructure, energy, security, education and training, for starters. What we are against is wasting money - and corruption. You need a plan on how to spend money credibly to make the economy grow. If the government can't show that it has a plan for making the country's economy grow, then how can you expect businesses to join in and invest? The EFF and others have said, business has been on an investment strike. They are right! Businesses have not been investing, but you can't blame them because the government needs to have a plan first and lead. Nobody wants to invest in something if they can't see they will make a return.

So, I think the DA, if part of the government, can help make such a plan, help the government stop corruption, and invest in those parts of the economy that need it, and as the National Party did with Afrikaners in particular, help poor South Africans. If we do that, we will also create what economists would call "demand". And if there's demand in our economy, if people have money to spend, then our businesses will thrive because they can sell things to our people.

But what about our debt, I hear you say? The DA has talked a lot about that. That is very concerning. And if we keep spending and stealing without a credible growth plan, we will face a proper crisis where we can no longer pay. If you think things can not get worse, you are wrong. But, if we have a credible plan to invest and a team that can make that plan happen, markets will like it, and our borrowing costs will be lower. We will have more room to make the investments we need to make. We still have some room to turn things around. But time is running out. This may be our last chance. If the ANC makes a coalition with the EFF or MK, our decline will accelerate.

I think the Springboks have shown we are better when we work together - and much stronger. Together, the ANC and the DA represent more than 60% of our country’s people. Like in a rugby team, we have different skills and roles to play. The DA would be sorely missing from the government. No other party has our skills to bring to bear on making a positive change for South Africa. We are ready to pull up our sleeves, be team players and help.

So, I humbly ask that the ANC and the people of South Africa choose us as their coalition partners. Together, we can start making South Africa better.

Thank you.