Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered today by the Leader of the Democratic Alliance, Geordin Hill-Lewis, at the DA Limpopo Provincial Congress in Polokwane.
Colleagues, delegates, friends,
Dumelang. Avuxeni. Ndaa. Good morning, Limpopo!
It is wonderful to be here with you in this beautiful province.
Limpopo is one of the great treasures of South Africa.
From the streets of Polokwane to the villages of Vhembe, from the farms of Waterberg to the hills of Sekhukhune, from Tzaneen and Giyani to Makhado, Musina and Thohoyandou, this province tells the story of South Africa in a special way.
It is a province of deep culture, proud communities, hard-working people, rich land, small businesses, farms, mines, tourism, churches, families and young people full of ambition.
This is the province of Mapungubwe. A place that reminds us that African civilisation, trade, excellence and leadership did not begin yesterday.
It is part of our soil. It is part of who we are.
And that is why Limpopo matters so deeply to the future of South Africa.
Because if Limpopo works, South Africa works.
If the towns of Limpopo grow, South Africa grows.
If young people in Limpopo can find work, build families, start businesses and live safely, then South Africa is moving forward.
But we must also be honest.
Too many people in Limpopo feel forgotten by government.
Too many communities have been left with broken roads, unreliable water, failing municipalities, unsafe streets and leaders who arrive with promises before elections and disappear afterwards.
Too many families work hard every day, but still feel that life is getting harder, not easier.
And worst of all, too many South Africans no longer feel safe in their own country.
South Africans cannot be free if they are not safe.
A child is not free if she cannot walk to school without fear.
A mother is not free if she worries every time her son leaves the house.
A farmer is not free if criminals can attack, steal and intimidate with no consequences.
A business owner is not free if extortionists and robbers decide whether his shop may open.
And a country is not free when criminals are more confident than law-abiding citizens.
Friends, crime is not just a policing issue.
It is a freedom issue. It is an economic issue. It is a dignity issue. It is South Africa’s national crisis.
And the DA is ready to lead the fightback.
Across South Africa, people are seeing the same pattern. Illegal guns. Violent robberies. Organised syndicates. Corrupt police officers. Weak investigations. Court delays. Prisons that fail to rehabilitate. Communities that report crime but see no justice.
Here in Limpopo, people have seen the fear caused by gun violence. People know what it means when criminals believe they can act without consequence.
And we must say clearly today: this cannot continue. South Africa needs big change to policing.
That is why the DA is relentless fighting for real, practical policing reform.
Not slogans. Not excuses. No more commissions that meet and achieve nothing.
The DA is fighting for real, achievable and urgent change.
A DA-led national government will go into the Police Ministry and, in the first 100 days, begin doing the things that can actually make a difference.
First, we will clean up SAPS.
We will start immediate lifestyle audits for senior police officers and officers in high-risk units.
If you are in policing, but your lifestyle cannot be explained by your salary, you must answer for it.
If you are wearing a police badge while working with criminals, you must be removed.
If you are protecting syndicates instead of protecting citizens, you must face consequences.
We must get the criminals out of SAPS, so SAPS can get the criminals off our streets.
Most police officers are honest, hard-working South Africans who want to do their jobs.
Many of them serve under difficult conditions.
But good police officers are being betrayed by corrupt police officers.
Good police officers are being betrayed by broken systems.
Good police officers are being betrayed by political leadership that does not give them the tools, the support, or the clean command structures they need.
Second, we will strengthen crime intelligence.
You cannot beat organised crime with guesswork.
You cannot beat gun-running, extortion, kidnapping, stock theft, illegal mining, cross-border syndicates and gang networks without intelligence-led policing.
Crime intelligence must be rebuilt so that information leads to arrests, arrests lead to prosecutions, and prosecutions lead to convictions.
Here in Limpopo, with borders, farms, mines, roads and rural communities spread across vast distances, crime intelligence matters enormously.
Our policing must be smarter, faster and better coordinated than the criminals.
Third, we will create practical cooperation agreements with capable provincial and local governments.
This is one of the biggest changes South Africa needs.
For too long, national government has acted as if it alone can fight crime, even when it is failing.
That must end.
Where a province, municipality or metro has the capacity to help, let them help.
Where local law enforcement can gather evidence, let them be supported.
Where municipal officers can take illegal firearms off the streets, make sure the criminal justice system follows through.
Where local governments know the hotspots, the gangs, the streets, the taxi ranks, the problem buildings, the routes and the repeat offenders, bring them properly into the fight.
In Cape Town, Our DA government has shown what determined local government can do.
In Cape Town, Our officers have taken illegal firearms off the streets year after year. Over four years, City officers seized more than 1 600 illegal guns.
That is what good policing looks like.
That is government doing something real.
But here is the problem: if the rest of the criminal justice chain is broken, arrests do not become convictions.
Shockingly, In Cape Town, only around 5% of those illegal firearm cases resulted in guilty verdicts.
Think about that.
Local government officers did the work. They got the guns off the streets. They made the arrests. They handed the matters over.
But the system failed to turn too many of those arrests into convictions.
We need police investigations that are professional.
We need forensic services that work.
We need prosecutors who get complete dockets.
We need courts that move.
We need prisons that protect society and rehabilitate where possible.
And we need a national government that stops pretending everything is fine.
And that is what a DA-led national government will do.
But crime is not the only reason Limpopo needs the DA.
Limpopo needs the DA because government can work. And more than that, South Africa can work.
That is the message we must take from this congress into every ward, every village, every town and every street.
The DA governs well for all.
Not for some. Not for one race. Not for one class. Not for one language. Not for one community. For all.
When we say we govern well for all, we mean clean water, not clean slogans.
We mean working roads, not political excuses.
We mean streetlights that shine, refuse that is collected, clinics that function, budgets that are spent honestly, and leaders who answer when residents call.
We mean government that people can feel in their daily lives.
Because a good government is measured by whether life gets better for all the people.
That is why local government elections matter so much.
On 4 November 2026, South Africans will vote in the local government elections.
That election will decide whether broken municipalities continue to decline, or whether they begin to recover.
It will decide whether residents get more excuses, or whether they get clean water, safer communities, reliable services, better roads and municipalities that respect them.
A country is rebuilt from the ground up.
But before we win on election day, we must win the registration campaign.
Elections are won before a single vote is counted.
They are won when new voters register.
They are won when young people realise their vote matters.
They are won when our supporters check their registration details.
They are won when people who have lost hope decide: this time, I am showing up.
So I want to say to every DA structure in Limpopo today: make registration your mission.
Go to the villages. Go to campuses. Go to churches. Go to taxi ranks. Go to farms. Go to shopping centres. Go door to door.
Help people register.
Help people check their details.
Help people understand that change does not happen when good people stay home.
If we want to win South Africa, we must register South Africa.
If we want to change government, we must first get people onto the voters’ roll.
And if we want Limpopo to move forward, then Limpopo DA structures must lead from the front.
Friends, our task is not small.
But South Africa has never been built by people who thought small.
This province knows resilience.
This province knows faith.
This province knows hard work.
This province knows what it means to rise before sunrise, travel far, work hard, send money home, build a family, serve a community and still believe in tomorrow.
That spirit is the spirit of South Africa.
And that is why I am optimistic.
Not because our problems are small. They are not.
I am optimistic because our people are strong.
I am optimistic because the DA has proof that government can work.
I am optimistic because every broken municipality can be fixed if voters choose honest, capable government.
I am optimistic because crime can be beaten if we have the courage to reform policing.
I am optimistic because decline is not inevitable.
Failure is not our destiny.
We are not a poor country. We are a country made poor by bad government.
So let this congress be more than an internal gathering.
Let it be the moment Limpopo says: we are ready.
Ready to register every voter we can reach.
Ready to fight crime with courage.
Ready to grow in every community.
Ready to govern well for all.
Ready to show South Africa that change is possible.
Friends, the future is not something we wait for.
The future is something we build.
Let us build it here in Limpopo.
Let us build it together.
And let us build a South Africa that works for all.