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Together‚ we can build a better South Africa: Maimane

Marking ten days till the local municipal elections, DA leader Mmusi Maimane and Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate Athol Trollip came out guns blazing and prematurely predicted their win in the upcoming local municipal elections. Picture Credit: Eugene Coetzee / The Herald
Marking ten days till the local municipal elections, DA leader Mmusi Maimane and Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate Athol Trollip came out guns blazing and prematurely predicted their win in the upcoming local municipal elections. Picture Credit: Eugene Coetzee / The Herald

The work of building a better South Africa can only be done when South Africans realise that their differences do not divide them but bring them together and that during the toughest of times they are better together‚ Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane says.

In a Day of Reconciliation message‚ Maimane said that the public holiday marked a day that bound together South Africa’s diverse and complex history.

“The Day of Reconciliation reminds us that the story of South Africa and her people has many‚ often contradictory‚ chapters that tell a story of where we have been and the great things we have yet to achieve together.

“Despite our different races‚ cultures‚ religions‚ sexes and languages‚ the common vein that runs through us all is that we are South Africans‚” the DA leader said.

“While 2016 has seen a greater focus on our differences‚ I do not think that it is a true reflection of South Africa and the work that has been done in building bridges over the last 22-years. There are more among us who continuously work to ensure that our country’s motto of Unity in Diversity is not merely a phrase but a call to build a non-sexist‚ non-racial and united country for all people‚” Maimane added.

He said the programme of reconciliation was reaffirmed during the August Local Government Elections‚ “when those who used our differences to mobilise without articulating a clear message of hope and change were rejected in favour of a message that brought us together”.

Reminding South Africans of the Constitution which called upon them to “Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values‚ social justice and fundamental human rights”‚ he urged the nation to recommit itself to building unity for a better South Africa.

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