We have learnt that it is how we exercise our vote that will determine if it brings to power leaders who will deliver on the pledges set out in the Bill of Rights. They include freedom from the indignity of joblessness, freedom from preventable disease and ill-health, freedom from fear and danger, freedom from homelessness, and freedom from ignorance and despair. Freedom by these lights is not a once-off event. It is something tangible which each South African should be able to experience.
We call this the open-opportunity society, a society in which freedom is measured not by words, but by the provision of real opportunities. It says that no matter who you are or where you come from, you deserve a fair chance to live a life that you value.
Ironically and inspiringly, South Africans are realising that the ideal of a better life for all might be promised by the ANC, but it is realised by the DA, especially where we govern. [Interjections.] [Applause.] The DA is turning South African politics on its head by simply governing better than the ANC.
In the Western Cape and in municipalities like the City of Cape Town, the DA is crafting a new vision of a smart and capable government. Every decision we take begins by asking: How do we enlarge the promise of freedom contained in our Constitution?
One can just take the example of the back-yarder communities in Cape Town. For the first time, citizens residing in informal and semi-formal households are being connected through portable sites so that they can receive electricity, water and sanitation services. Freedom is marching on in Cape Town.
In the Western Cape, Helen Zille has presided over delivery success across government from an unprecedented boost in matric pass rates to improved health services and safer roads. How excited we all were when the Centre of Science and Technology in Khayelitsha was ranked ninth in matric outcomes in the province last year. Ninth! That is the first time ever that a township school in the Western Cape has made the top 10 of the best performing schools. [Applause.] That is the work of freedom!
Further afield, since the DA took control of Midvaal Municipality in 2000, unemployment has tumbled down to 12% because of smart job-creation initiatives that have made Midvaal a magnet for investment. But 12% is still too high. We will not rest until we have full employment, because freedom demands it.
As the DA delivers upon its promises, more and more people are starting to exercise their freedom to choose at the ballot box. Last year nearly a quarter of South Africans placed their cross next to the DA in the local government elections.
In last week's by-elections the DA trumped the ANC in a hat trick where it was defending three seats, and we are growing in every community.