DA jobs march paints centre of Joburg blue

THOUSANDS of DA supporters marched through the central business district of Johannesburg yesterday‚ protesting against the government’s failure to address unemployment.

The DA estimated between 15 000 and 20 000 people participated in the march‚ which managed to avoid any of the confrontation and violence that has characterised similar DA marches in the centre of Johannesburg.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane‚ flanked by mayoral candidates for key metros in the forthcoming polls, addressed party supporters underneath a vandalised DA billboard on Sauer Street.

The billboard had included a live ticker of the number of unemployed people in South Africa‚ which the opposition party maintains reflects a growing jobs crisis under President Jacob Zuma.

Maimane – who told the crowd that the fact the billboard had been erected only 22 days ago and had since been vandalised was reflective of the ANC’s approach to politics – again squarely put the blame for the jobs crisis on Zuma.

Stressing issues of equal access to education, he called for change and repeated the phrase “change that brings jobs‚ change that brings freedom‚ change that brings opportunity” multiple times.

“Our freedom will only be complete when more and more people are able to find work‚” he said.

Both the DA’s mayoral candidate for Tshwane‚ Solly Msimanga‚ and newly minted DA mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba‚ emphasised the attraction of investment alongside a climate conducive to small business in their addresses to the crowd.

Nelson Mandela Bay DA mayoral candidate Athol Trollip described Zuma as a “one-man job-wrecking ball” and accused the ANC of falling back on racial issues in its attack against the opposition.