WHERE WE GOVERNTurning finances around in TshwaneIn its first year in government in the City of Tshwane, the DA-led administration received an unqualified audit. It managed to create a stable financial environment by tightening controls over the supply chain management process, reducing unauthorised expenditure by 63%, and extricating the City from unlawful and wasteful contracts such as the PEU contract. In its first year the DA-led administration also managed to almost double the cash and cash equivalents held by the City, from R1.1 billion to R2.1 billion. The ANC-administration had left the city with a large deficit in the 2015/16 financial year – the DA-led administration managed not only to eradicate this deficit but also to end its first financial year off with a surplus of R704 million. We took immediate steps to cut down on wasteful spending, which had reached pandemic proportions under the corrupt and failing ANC. The DA-led administration: Banned the purchasing of new luxury vehicles for politicians and officials. Banned lavish banquets and inaugural parties. Put an end to the blue-light brigades that had terrorised the streets of Tshwane. Dramatically reduced the size of the Mayor’s Office, which formerly employed almost a thousand ANC members with enormously inflated salaries. WHERE WE GOVERNTurning around finances in Nelson Mandela BayUnder a DA-led government, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro received a credit rating upgrade from ratings agency Moody’s, which is all thanks to the DA’s ability to run a clean government. The ANC administration had been using the City as a piggy bank, looting hundreds of millions to support the lavish lifestyles of its officials and politicians. When the DA took over, Mayor Athol Trollip banned business and first-class travel and the purchasing of luxury vehicles. We also uncovered large- scale corruption, putting a stop to R615 million worth of irregular and wasteful contracts in the Supply Chain Management Department. In the 2018/19 financial year, before the Coalition of Corruption regained control of the purse strings, the DA-led administration passed the City’s largest ever operating budget, of R10.3 billion. The budget was one of the most pro-poor the City has ever seen, including a billion spent on water infrastructure upgrades, R2.2 billion for the assistance of poor inhabitants, R45 million to buy new land for housing developments, and the lowest basket of tariff increases the City has seen in two decades.