Sunnyside by-election

Well, we say "Sunnyside" but it is actually Ward 59 in Pretoria which includes Sunnyside, Muckleneuk and Groenkloof.

Running election campaigns is never easy. There are so many people to coordinate. Yet, it must be done!

Due to unfortunate circumstances, some would say fortunate, I was chosen as the ACDP (African Christian Democratic Party) candidate for the by-election on 28 November 2007.

The posters were ready to go up on Tuesday, 20 Nov, and a team from the Sunnyside branch, together with ACDP Cllr. Richard Dinkelmann, started putting them up. Because it started raining, they could only put up about 30 of the 150 posters we earmarked for these elections in the ward. I could not make it that night due to a death in the family on the same day.

However, I was there Wednesday night and we worked till 01:00 the next morning to get the rest of the posters up. Well done to the Sunnyside branch and the other members from our Youth Foundation that helped with this arduous task.

Saturday morning (24 Nov), with the help of these same people together with ACDP members from both the Johannesburg and Ekhuruleni regions, we set out with flyers to different areas within the ward. Two ACDP councillors came to assist in this "flyer" campaign. They are Cllr. Richard Dinkelmann from the Tshwane Metro Council and Cllr. Darrell Strydom from the Johannesburg Metro. Also, the complete Provincial Council executive was present together with some members from the Provincial Executive Committee. Thanks to all, who came to help!

Cllr. Darrel Strydom and I went to Groenkloof. He went into the suburb to drop flyers into post boxes and I stayed at the Groenkloof Shopping Mall handing out flyers and engaging with some people.

The funniest reply to my standard question of "Good morning Sir/Ma'am, Do you know about the by-election on 28 November?", was "No thank you!" Some people have standard answers to anybody that approaches them in public areas... "No thank you!" It was not like my question asked them to buy anything!

Another person said that we are dividing the vote. That is one of the best defences from many DA supporters. The only thing they still think of is that the white DA party must stand against the black ANC party. Don't people realise that when it comes to these two parties, that the only real difference between these two is the colour of skin. When it comes to the real issues, there are very few differences between these parties. In fact, skin colour aside, the DA might as well join the ANC like the old NNP did some years ago. Why continue this nonsense between these two parties when in reality they are so alike? When some people see us as dividing the vote, we, as the ACDP, see it as standing for what is right, even in the face of adversity.

Others, again DA supporters, told me that our party is too small and that we needed strong opposition to the ANC. Of course, they forgot that even the DA was small at one point. For that matter, even the ANC was small at one point.

The fact remains, even with a so-called Christian background, the people of this country still think only in terms of skin colour. However, that thinking is not just something that comes from the DA side only, where its supporters want to stop the black tide. It also comes from the ANC side where they want to further the black tide only. With all its talk of equality, the ANC still holds up the beacon of apartheid. Either to castigate whites with it for the past, or denying all equal opportunity to jobs in this country. Of course, this will have to be corrected.

Of all the political parties in this country, the ACDP is truly a party representative of the demographics of this country. When one looks at the leadership of the ACDP at national level, it quickly becomes clear that it is truly representative of the demographics of the country.

However, all ACDP supporters in Ward 59 need to vote this coming Wednesday, 28 Nov 2007.