UIM leader Neil de Beer at the IOL Elections Panel.
The IOL Elections Panel Discussion kicked off at the Taj Hotel in Cape Town on Tuesday.
The Cape Town event is the last of its kind after panel discussions were held with political parties in KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg last week.
The event is being hosted by IOL Editor-in-Chief, Lance Witten.
During opening remarks, the leader of the United Independent Movement (UIM), Neil de Beer gave a colloquial greeting: ‘Awê’.
While De Beer has been quite frank in knowing that his party will not govern in the Western Cape, he has come out saying accountability is one of the main priorities of his party.
“I was born here. I am the veteran that had to come back and fight. The UIM will not govern. Our main responsibility is to sit back and hear what others [political parties] are promising and saying. Script it, write it down, and keep every person on record making their promises accountable until death do us part,” he told the crowd.
The crowd were all nodding in agreement to his words.
De Beer said politicians needed to be held accountable at all times and not at later stages.
“Accountability is squashed later when the deed is done. Our party will ensure the promises made are scrutinised, and hold them [political parties] to book and publicly. Jobs and justice daar begin dit (it begins there)”.
The UIM is joined by an array of political parties on the panel including the DA, ANC, MK, Bosa, IFP, NCC, GOOD, AM4C, EFF, Rise Mzansi, ActionSA and Al Jama-ah.
South Africans head to the polls on May 29.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
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