In his letter, DA trips on its own sword (Saturday Dispatch: 1 September) Mr Mathew Blatchford states that very little has been accomplished by the ‘Trollip gang’, but he fails to substantiate his fantasies.  Blatchford is so far left, he left out the facts.

Just two years in, and the DA-led government in Nelson Mandel Bay has made a huge difference, having achieved numerous successes including:

• The City is now financially liquid with over R2 billion in the bank and recently received a AAA credit rating, best rating in the country;
• Installed the first ever metro police force, with 135 fully trained officers who have attended to over 25 000 crime fighting interactions;
• Boasts the best Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) spending performances in the country, and was awarded an extra R178 million as a result;
• Has successfully exposed and stopped corruption on contracts to the tune of R615 million;
• eradicated 9 046 (60%) bucket toilets;
• resurfaced 55 820 square metres of road and managed to triple the number of annual jobs created by the EPWP (Expanded Public Works Program);
• The Thusong Centre in Motherwell was completed and opened within a year
• 646 new streetlights were installed;
• The Shot-spotter technology installed in Helenvale also proved to be a great success and, within 90 days of its installation, gunshots were reduced by 90%; and
• IPTS busses are on the road, and the highly secured Clearly Park Bus Depot has been completed.
• The latest budget heralds the lowest basket of tariff increases in 20 years.

This is not ‘self-promotion, bluster or balderdash’ but cold, hard, independently verifiable facts.

Mr Blatchford goes on to argue that the DA lost the elections in 2016. If anyone lost, it was the ANC. The people of the Bay fired them after two decades of brazen corruption.

The illegal coup has ushered in a coalition of corruption between the ANC, UDM and EFF. The book How to steal a city very clearly spells how the coffers were looted.

For the same reason that the DA is the biggest party in Nelson Mandela Bay, it is also winning campuses at universities, like Fort Hare, where Mr Blatchford hails from. The tide has turned and change is coming to this province.

It is really not that hard to understand.

Bobby Stevenson. Leader of the DA in the Eastern Cape Legislature.

A shortened version of the above appeared in the Saturday Dispatch on the 8th of September 2018