Deputy Speaker, the results of the by-elections held across South Africa yesterday show that the DA continues to win new support from South Africans who had not previously voted for it.
The DA experienced significant growth in every by-election it has contested in 2013. It has retained its wards in eThekwini and Mossel Bay and has grown its support in Drakenstein, Merafong and Tlokwe. The results in Merafong and Tlokwe are particularly noteworthy. In Merafong, the DA received 24,37% of the votes, which is up from 10,63% in 2011.
This growth is good news for the DA's campaign to win Gauteng in 2014. More and more voters in Gauteng are choosing the DA to create jobs, stamp out corruption and deliver services to all - things that the ANC is incapable of doing. In the hotly contested Tlokwe by-election, the significant increase in the DA support is an endorsement of our performance in government in Tlokwe over the last ten weeks. The DA won 35,57% of the votes, despite the ANC's intensive vote-buying and disgusting Zanu-PF-style intimidation campaign. These results bode well for the DA for the 2014 national election. We will continue to work hard to win new votes by offering the real alternative for the citizens of this country. I thank you. [Applause.]