ROB HERSOV & HANIFF HOOSEN (DA) | Durban Is the Frontline of South Africa’s Fight

Hanif.

Hanif Hussein, welcome to Cape Town.

Thank you so much for having me.

What are you doing in Cape Town?

Well, I've come especially to talk to you.

Have you really? It's a pleasure.

Yeah. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Well, that's a proper honor.

Yeah.

Most people try and avoid me. They don't travel to me.

I love what you do. I follow your content. It's amazing. Thank you.

I love what you're doing.

Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

So you're running for mayor of Itaquine.

Yes.

Which is Durban, really.

That's correct.

But why don't you just tell our viewers a little bit of what area does it cover? It's quite a big metro.

It's quite big. Yeah, actually, it's the second time I'm running for mayor. I ran on the first occasion some years ago, but we haven't given up. So I'm doing it again. And this time I'm much more confident. So the municipality runs from Tongaat in the north of Durban, all the way down to Amkhomas in the south. And Hillcrest in the west. So it's that beautiful triangle.

So it's just short of Maritzburg on the west?

That's correct.

It's short of Sheffield Beach in the north?

Yeah.

Does it include Amanzimtoti in the south?

Yes, yes.

It does. So what's the population?

About 4.5 million. That's quite a big city. The most beautiful city in the country, I do believe. I mean, I love it.

The best beaches.

The best beaches. The best opportunities.

So tell us, what are the opportunities?

Well, I tell you—

You've got a fantastic airport, by the way.

We've got a fantastic airport. We've got the most beautiful and warm coastline that you'll find anywhere in the country. You can't find anything better than that. I mean, when you get off that plane in Durban in summer—

That wonderful air.

You just know you're in Durban. And that's the thing that brings people to Durban. But sadly, things have changed over the years, but I'm hopeful we're going to get it right.

You've got a great airport.

Got a great airport.

You've got a semi-functioning port.

Yeah, that's a problem.

That is a problem.

The efficiency there is a massive problem.

And Howard, if you described industry in your district, mayoral district.

Yes.

What are the prominent industries, businesses there that people should say, aha?

Look, there's huge opportunities for industrial areas and industrial zones. The problem is that a number of them have been moving out of Durban for a long time.

So which are the big corporates that are there? There's Aspen.

Aspen is there. There's quite a lot.

Johnson Workwear.

Johnson Workwear is also there.

He's a Michaelhouse old boy.

Yeah, and he's been doing some good work for the city and for people in the city, which is great. Of course, there were refineries also operating down on the south.

Grinrod.

Grinrod's been there. So There's huge opportunities still, but many of the businesses have actually moved out of the city because of what's going on.

And what is going on? So why would they leave? Where would they go?

Well, firstly, I think, you know, we've been through some tough times in eThekwini. Floods have been crazy. We've had rioting also in that area. But I think the cost of operating businesses in Durban is becoming much more expensive. The rates are extremely high. The cost of utilities, electricity, water, and sanitation is also becoming very high. And businesses are not getting the requisite support from the municipality. And that's an important thing. You know, you want to cut red tape and you want to roll out the red carpet for businesses if you want them to invest in a city. That's unfortunately not happening in our city. I mean, I met a number of business chambers and associations in the city over the last 3 or 4 weeks, and they all tell me the same story. It's almost impossible to get work done in the city. To get plans passed in the city can take you up to 2 or 3 years sometimes. So we don't have a culture of rolling out the red carpet for business, but yet we can complain about the high rate of unemployment. I mean, businesses are the guys who are going to generate that employment. So if you want to increase your employment, you want to open your doors for business, but we don't have that culture, unfortunately, from our city government there in Durban.

So let's backtrack to 1994 to today. Give us a little history of who has run Durban, Katwini, and who and where, where are the politics shifting? Because we've had MK arrive on the scene. So give us a little flavour of what's happened over the last 31 years.

So I've been a councillor there for the last, well, in very early years of my life, I've served on the executive committee for a number of years and the ANC was in control of the municipality at the time.

Dominant control.

Dominant control.

Well over 50%.

I think almost more than 60%. And to be honest, Rob, at that stage, things were pretty much good. I mean, there were some problems here and there, but overall, I think the ANC was doing a pretty good job in the beginning. And I can say this with absolute conviction because I was there and I seen it. There was a genuine willingness to try and make things work. But I think over the last 20 years, the city has taken a completely different direction. And more and more politicians were starting to get involved with building their own profiles and their own futures and their own wealth. And of course, the knock-on effect—

We all know what you mean.

Yeah. The knock-on effect was people on the ground were seeing the changes and the difference. And so the ANC over that period of time, especially over the last 20 years, have declined drastically. So where we are at the moment, let's take the last election result. If the last election result was converted to a local government election, The ANC in Etiweni only received 14%.

Wow.

So the ANC is on their way out, and that's a consequence of their own behaviour.

That's extrapolating the national—

Yeah.

So you reckon if you stripped out the national vote at 14%?

That's correct. In other words, take the last election result, convert it to a local government election. In Durban alone, in Etiweni, ANC only got 14%.

And MK came from nothing to what?

Well, the MK did not contest at local government level as yet. They have won seats there.

Correct.

But if I can paint a picture of roughly where our support is currently, we are the largest political party in terms of electoral support. And that's just based on polling that's been published by a number of sources. At what percentage do you think? At least 37%. So, and it hovers between 37% and 44% in different polls. So without a shadow of doubt, the ANC is on their way out in Etheqweni municipality. The DA is going to be the largest political party. We have to work hard enough to get us over the 51% line. And the MK is right on our heels at the moment.

Are they going to contest every single municipal seat?

They will. But they're supported. Obviously, a lot of people have moved away from the ANC towards the MK. So essentially what has happened is that people have just changed the colour of their t-shirts. And that's what the MK is. The MK has become the new ANC, if I could put it to you that way, in Durban. It's the same people.

And what was the voter turnout at the last municipals? Was 2021, was it?

2021. Yeah, generally the voter turnout was much— was lower than the national elections.

Below 50%?

I don't remember exactly the number, but the voter turnout is generally lower on a local government election, generally. Especially for the ANC side, yeah.

And the general voter turnout? You know, I get a sense that people are focusing at the municipal level in the upcoming— people are saying it's November, early November 2026.

Yes.

Or February 2027. But the sense is that with Gauteng, Nelson Mandela Bay, eKuruleni, Tswane, and obviously your important municipality, the swing is going to be based on service delivery. Massively, and DA competence.

Yes.

Do you have as much chance of winning as Helen does in Gauteng, for example, or Selezo in Swane?

Absolutely, Rob, and I'll tell you why. And there's some evidence to show that as well. Firstly, I think that there is a mood in the country overall that people have just had enough of the direction in which South Africa is moving. I think they've had enough of corruption, and I think more and more South Africans are starting to wake up to the reality that local government is actually about service delivery more than politics. And that's great, because I think it took us a long time for people to understand the value of local government. And recently we had a by-election in Durban. It was a ward where about 57% of that ward was Black middle class, an almost impossible ward for us to win back, but we won it with overwhelming majority.

When was that?

This was about 3 or 4 months ago.

Months ago, yeah.

Very recently.

That was a huge swing.

And that's huge. And throughout the campaign since we launched, I mean, I've been overwhelmed by the number of Black South Africans who come and say, we know, we're tired of actually being lied to. They actually do say to me that for 30-odd years, we've been promised a better life, but all we got was better lies.

And that's strong language. And that's strong language.

And that's honest language. And so if you look at Umgeni municipality as well, for example, Chris Papas, you know, Rob, when we took over that municipality, by the way, we won it by 42 votes. Imagine 42 votes.

I'm a big fan of Chris's, even though he went to Hilton's.

He's a wonderful guy.

He's a rock star.

He's an excellent young man and very committed. And we love him.

He won by 40?

He won by 42 votes. So if 43 people stayed home, we would have not got what we've got there now. I'll tell you what we got. When he took over that municipality, it was completely bankrupt, completely dysfunctional. And Rob, in 4 years, we were able to turn that municipality around. And it's now the best performing municipality in KZN. But that's about—

That's such a clear message.

It's a clear message. And I think—

Other than DA.

It's a message that we keep wanting to send to South Africans in that local government's not just about politics. It's really about service delivery.

And the people of Mgeni, have they swung now even more behind DA?

Oh, for sure.

So he's gone from the 46 majority to way more?

Way more. And I have people from Mgeni posting comments on our social media pages for our campaign saying, if you guys want what we got here, get behind the DA. And that's great because people are sharing their own lived experiences of what life is like under a DA government, right? And it's not impossible to achieve. All you do is employ the right people, don't steal the people's money, put every single rand to work for the benefit of people, run a municipality like a business. If you apply those business principles, you just can't go wrong. But when you start tinkering with all sorts of ideological debates, that's where the problem comes in. I'll give you an example. A few days ago I did a video about a statue on the Durban beachfront. 22 million rand spent on a statue. But Rob, we have a crisis in the city. Our water infrastructure is collapsing. 60% of the water is getting wasted. We have a sewer crisis in the city where sewer is just flowing into the rivers and into the oceans. The tourists have disappeared. We have 600 informal settlements, the largest number of informal settlements is in the city that I want to lead. And yet you have city leadership who sees it fit to spend R22 million on a statue. Now, I know it's important for us to recognize our history, and I completely agree.

But there are priorities.

But there are priorities. We have to fix what's broken first, because what people wanted since 1994 is a genuine, meaningful, real change. You're not going to bring that change by investing in statues. You've got to bring that change by investing in infrastructure. That amount of money can build so many houses for people living in informal settlements. And it's expanding, it's getting worse. There's— so there isn't a sense of hope that our current government has a plan to turn the situation around.

That's pretty clear.

And that's worrying. So people have a choice in this election. If they want to change the direction that our city is moving in, we're going to have to vote for the change that we want to see.

And I think the message is getting across pretty clearly that the DA needs 51% to really get the job done, because wasting votes on tiny little parties who then have become kingmakers to get the DA from a 46, 47, 48 across to the 51 is going to hamper the opportunity to fix the Metro. You have some of those smaller parties in your Metro.

I'm so glad you raised this issue. In the last local government election, The ANC did not get 50%. They were short by about 10 or 12 seats or something. It was the small parties that actually voted with the ANC and put them back into power. So we've wasted another 5 years of our lives under this current government. And so people must know that their votes for those individual one-seat parties is what actually contributed to the mess that we're in. And here's a great example of that. 4 years ago, the Auditor General highlighted R700 million irregular expenditure in the Itikwini municipality. In one year? 4 years ago.

Okay, but in that year?

In that year.

So you've got 4 years hence, what is the irregular spending?

4 years later, it's now grown to R4 billion of irregular expenditure.

Stolen. Lost.

Waste. Combination of waste, corruption, mismanagement, not spending the money where it's supposed to be spent.

And so take 22 million on a statue, take 4 billion rand. Can you fix Durban with 4 billion and 22 million rand?

There's more, Rob.

Can you make a massive— I know there's more.

Massive, massive difference.

But can you make a massive difference? Huge difference. What would you do in your first year? Quick wins. Tell me the quick wins for your—

The very first thing that we have to do is is to get the management of that finances right and redirect the money where it's meant to go.

Okay.

The second most important thing is to get the water and sewer infrastructure fixed. That's critically important.

Funny enough, Helen's the same thing in Gauteng. It's water and sewage above all else.

Rob, it's a national problem. And it's a significant indication of how ANC governments have run municipalities across the country. And I mean, I don't like to speak about the ANC But it keeps coming up because people have had enough of them. But if you look at the performance of municipalities across the country, only 13% of the municipalities actually have a decent, clean track record. And the majority of them are DA-run, which is why Cyril said what he said. He was telling the truth.

Cyril, well done for once. You told the truth.

He told the truth. And I think that that is brave of him. And the truth of the matter is that if you look at what's common amongst all DA-run municipalities, We employ the best people for the job. We do not steal people's money. We invest every single rand for what it's meant to be. And that is local government service delivery. Fix the water infrastructure, fix the sewer infrastructure, get the roads working again, create jobs for the community, build houses. That's what's supposed to be done. That's what local government is all about, actually. It's not about policy issues.

It's not ideology.

It's not politics. It's about put the money to work. And you'll see how a city will grow. I mean, Cape Town's a fabulous example.

It really is.

I was there the day that Helen was elected by a coalition of about 6 or 8 parties. And look how far we've come in this area. We're way ahead than many other municipalities all over South Africa. And just imagine if voters gave the DA a chance in the Tegwene municipality, what we could do there in 6 years, in 5 years.

And do you have your team ready to go. I use the example of Donald Trump, his 4 years on the naughty step when Biden was in charge. He had 4 years to plan, organize, pull his team together so that on day 1, he had his hundreds of executive orders. He knew what he was doing. Yes. You're ready to go, aren't you? You've got your team ready to go.

We're ready to go. We're ready to go.

So you hit the ground running on day 1?

On day 1, we're ready to go. And Because we're so confident of the win, we're actually planning for that day. So we're reaching out to a number of people. And fortunately, you know, Rob, how many retired people who left the municipality because they've had enough have reached out to us to say, we want to help. We want to help.

That's strong.

And so there is a good mood in the city that they know help is on the way. And people are getting behind the DA in this election in numbers that I don't think we're going to see before, we've ever seen before. So that's a great thing, but more and more people have to get involved. I mean, it's still not enough. Let me give you an example. In the Indian community, for example, roughly only 50% of the people are actually registered to vote. And of that 50%, roughly only 50% of them turn out to vote.

Oh, so how big is the Indian population?

It's huge. At least about 800,000 people.

Okay, so you're saying, so let's say 600,000, 400,000 adults. Of whom 200,000 registered, of whom only 100,000 are turning up to vote. That is extraordinary. And I'm curious on this one because the Indian community have really been stalwarts of the early ANC.

Yes.

I mean, right up there, extraordinary contributors to ANC, pre-liberation and post. Have the Indian population at last given up on the ANC or they still—

They have given up.

Have they, in toto?

They've given up.

So they're no more Praveen Gordons anymore?

No, I don't think people like the old Praveen Gordons and the stalwarts command any level of support or influence in the Indian community anymore because people have just had enough of the corruption and the crime. It's gone through the roof. And so any attempt to try and convince the Indian community that the ANC is the way to go will just fall on deaf ears.

And the 2021 riots must have— I mean, the Indians were right up front in standing bravely Right up front. And supporting their neighbors and protecting people's businesses. I'm so proud of you, you know, the Indian community for doing that.

There were a number of communities who did whatever they can to protect it. And it was a difficult time for us in KZN at the time.

You were in the front. I mean, your community were in the front line, weren't they?

We were in the front line all the time. And but we're in the front line every day. Yes. Because we're trying to bring change to that city. Which has so much potential. And it's just so sad that we have a government there that's actually investing in their own futures, handing out cash to their friends through tenders and all sorts of mismanagement issues.

It's like a going-out-of-business sale, quickly selling as much as they can, taking and stealing as much as they can, and only ANC allowed into the shop.

I'm afraid it is. I am afraid that that's exactly what's going on. I'm afraid that they will walk out with the furniture eventually on the last day.

You know, when I look at it, it's, you've got a lot of work to do because take Nelson Mandela Bay, Gqeberha, Port Elizabeth.

Yeah.

The infrastructure is kind of just hanging on. It's fixable relatively easily with the right management. You're starting from close to the worst. Broken, you know, potholes, sewage, water, electricity. Well, you've really got— going to have your hands full.

It's—

you need 51%.

100%. I completely agree with you, 100%. If we can get ourselves over the line, it's going to help us to bring that change much faster. If we get to 45%, for example, it means we're going to have to go cap in hand to someone, to some other political party as part of a coalition agreement. And that's where things slow down. It takes even longer to get things turning over.

So I'm saying openly, when it comes to Tshwane and Gauteng, people, you'd be crazy to still vote for Herman Mashaba and ActionSA. In the municipals, ditch that vote. Do not vote for him. Who is the equivalent in KZN that I can say don't vote anymore for that small party?

Well, we do. I'll say it. Well, MK is an issue.

MK is Looney Tunes. I mean, you'd be insane if you're voting for them.

Well, and you know, now the evidence is starting to come out that they were behind the rioting and Zuma's daughter is in court at the moment and that will play itself out. But what MK has represented over a period of time is chaos. I mean, MK has got no track record of delivery whatsoever. And if people want to vote for service delivery, it has to be the DA. It really is only one option. And, you know, this is not about making promises of what we can do. It's about showing the evidence of what's already been done. Wherever people have given the DA a chance to say, give us a chance, judge us again in 5 years, they stayed with the DA forever because we're able to turn things around. And those are the principles that we apply.

And when you're on the campaign trail, yeah, You know, will a Helen Zille, Chris Pappas, John Steenhuisen come and campaign with you? Do you get the support of the DA behind you?

There's one thing about the DA, and that we're a great family. We provide great support to each other. Helen's always very supportive of everyone in the party. Chris Pappas and I are great friends. We've been friends ever since I was the provincial chairperson and he walked into the provincial office.

Please speak Ghetto Zulu.

He speaks better Zulu. Do you speak Zulu? No, not at all, unfortunately, sadly. And I would love to get better at it.

I get criticised for not speaking decent Afrikaans. I say I lived overseas 31 years.

Yeah, but he's a great guy. I get lots of support from him. And of course, I can call on any leader of the DA to say I need your help. And they're always willing.

Are the corporate chieftains, the Nick Johnsons, the Stephen Saads, behind the DA and making an effort and rolling up their sleeves and writing checks.

We are reaching out to them.

The jobbies, the—

Yeah, you know, we have been reaching out to businesses every single day because it's going to take some money for us to be able to communicate to a new growth market about what we are about and what we can do.

I mean, this is a make or break.

It is.

Every election, people say it's make or break. This is it, the last chance saloon. I mean, I've been guilty of doing that, but if there ever was a time to swing the key metros in South Africa towards competence, organisation, proper management, and decency and honesty— DA— it is now.

Now is the time.

All of the big 5 metros that are not DA can swing DA. You have, we have, 2 full years to show DA can deliver.

If not now, when?

So your initial day 1 Put a proper management team in place.

Yes.

Day 2, fix water and sewage.

Yes.

What's day 3?

Day 3 is to clean out the corruption because we cannot continue in this trajectory for another 5 years with the people who brought us here.

And you know who they are.

We know who they are.

Yeah.

So we're not going to allow people who have stolen our money to get away with it. Good for you. That is the one promise I can make to the people of our city. If we know of people who have stolen money, criminals don't belong in government, they belong in jail. And that's exactly where they're going to go. We're not going to take that nonsense, Rob, because it has to come to an end. People deserve much better in Durban.

Jordan Hill Lewis has made a big difference here with his Metro Police.

Yes.

Loophole on having a Metro Police.

Yeah.

Because of the failure of SAPS. Will you be able to implement something like that?

We do have a Metro Police. Unfortunately, it's not as well run as what you have here in the city of Cape Town. Management is a problem.

Okay.

It was a very interesting video that was online the other day where a courier company was getting robbed and the Metro Police drives right past it, looks around, does nothing and moves on. That's the quality of police we have in the city.

Oh, don't tell me that.

We have cameras that are all over the city that's not working. So over a period of time in that city, I think our city residents have lost hope in the Metro Police's ability to actually keep our community safe. That's sad.

We lost hope in SAPS, but to lose hope in the Metro Police as well.

We need to turn that around. And there's some great men and women working in that service, amazing people who speak to me all the time and say, we've just lost hope because our senior leadership is the problem. So there are policemen and women who want to make a meaningful contribution to keeping our community safe. Let me give you an example. So police a few years ago conducted a raid on taxis who have not been paying their fines and impounded those vehicles. And so the taxi owners marched to the City Hall, put the mayor under pressure, Sandile Gumede, and she issued the instructions, as I'm told, to release those vehicles. So what does that do to the morale of the police when they work so hard to enforce the law? And then you have the politicians saying, apply a different rule in this case. And so those are the incidents that actually kill the morale of the police who actually want to do a good job, because policemen and women know that that field is a calling and they prepare to give their lives for it. But you have to have a political leadership that gives them the requisite support.

So you've now got a 12-month campaign in place. Are you full-time on this?

Full-time, every day, Monday to Sunday, 7 days a week. But it's worth fighting for, Rob.

It is worth fighting for.

It's really worth fighting for. I had to send my child to study in Dubai because there's no opportunities here. And so many other thousands of families have to do the same thing. It doesn't have to be that way.

Tell me about your family. Are you married?

I'm married. I have 2 lovely children. My son is also just married recently. Congratulations. Thank you. And my daughter is studying architecture in Dubai. And I'm waiting to bring my baby back home. So if I can reach that city. My son's not too far away from me in Morningside in Durban. Yeah. And he's—

I grew up in Morningside, Johannesburg.

And so he's in the education sector and he's teaching maths and science.

And give me a little bit of a background. You were born in Durban?

I was a Durban boy all my life.

Sharks fan?

Sharks fan all my life. Loved Durban, spent all my life there. I schooled in Durban, was a councillor there, was a member of parliament also representing KZN down here at, in parliament for almost 17 years.

And you've had mostly a political life?

Yeah, all my life. Yeah, all my entire life, been actively involved from 1994 elections nonstop, every single day.

And what does your beloved wife do?

My wife Sharon runs some online businesses. She used to be a member of parliament as well at the provincial legislature and a councillor. But the two of us decided to go on early retirement, and then the DA calls you back in service. So good for you. Back again.

How old are you?

I'm 52.

I'm 65.

You're the baby.

I'm the old man in the room. Yeah. And tell me about a little bit about you. Do you collect anything? Do you have any hobbies?

I love anything outdoor.

You're out there.

I love fishing. I love the beach. I'm on the beach every single morning. My apartment's on the beachfront. And so that's where you'll find me every single morning.

My cousin Mark Taylor lives there and he surfs every day. So I'm sure you guys are beautiful past each other.

It's, it's such a beautiful city. And I walk that beachfront every single day, dreaming of what it can look like in the future. And I can tell you that there are huge opportunities that we can maximize on. One of those things is just for us to create an investment company as an entity of the city. Driven by private sector, supported by local government, and watch how that city will turn around.

Interesting. And which, where would you focus that, the initial projects?

I mean, if you know Durban and its beach, it's our crown jewel.

Yeah. Fix the front, fix the beach front.

Fix the front line.

Yeah.

I mean, you get cities in the world who are trying to build beaches.

Exactly. You've got it.

And they've got massive development around the beaches. We have it. But we don't have the development around our beaches. And so I have that dream actually, that I want to turn that beachfront area into a gem that's going to make Durban famous.

Safe, secure, beautiful.

Safe, secure, beautiful, state-of-the-art. Then we can start getting the planes back landing in Durban again, the international flights. The tourists have disappeared because of the sewer in the oceans. So if we can get those basics right and fix stuff. Fix what's broken first. Things will start working on its own.

And the rail, I mean, that highway from Durban to Maritzburg and Joburg, it's, I mean, I drove it a couple of months ago. There were 3 or 4 lanes of which 2 to 3 lanes were trucks all the way back and forward. If you can get the trucks, fewer trucks, more train, open up the highway, I mean, it would be fantastic.

A lot of it has had to do with sabotage. Yeah, so there were people sabotaging the lines so that you could get more trucking. And I think that there is a space for both, by the way. Part of the problem is the lack of law enforcement, and that's why people were able to sabotage. And there was sabotage in the water lines as well, because that created an opportunity for the water tanker mafia to get involved. So a lot of it has got to do with not enforcing the law. Break? There isn't a culture.

Break so you can steal.

That's exactly.

ANC's motto, I think.

That's how it's been. Yeah. It's created an incentive for criminals to operate. And for as long as there's an opportunity for them to make some money, things get sabotaged. I mean, I drive around in the city where I see streetlights have been ripped off at the bottom so that people can sell the copper pipes, the copper wire. And again, it's about the lack of enforcement. And you know, people know where these things happen. But I've seen a Metro Police drive past some of these situations. They do nothing about it. So we have to turn that around and get rid of this lawlessness culture that goes on. And I'm very confident we'll be able to fix it. I think people have just had enough of the direction in which we're moving.

You know, it's people like you, extraordinary people like you.

Thank you.

You commit your lives to saving and fixing the country at a granular level. That give me hope that South Africa can make it and be what it deserves to be. And if I look at the horrific national government under apartheid and then the horrific ANC government under liberation, when are we going to get a government that we really, really want and a government we deserve? And it's people like you. So I really applaud you for what you're doing and your commitment to South Africa. And, you know, we don't want to build any statues.

Yeah.

But if there were statues, they should be of you and Helen and people like that.

I want to build houses. I want to build statues.

That's the right answer. Lovely.

We've got 600 informal settlements in the city with poor communities living in absolute squalor. I mean, can you imagine the environment those children are growing up in and what kind of a life will they end up leading? The saddest thing of this, Rob, He said, those are the people who have been promised and lied to for 30 years. What's even sadder is some of them actually still continue to believe in it, and their lives are not going to change if they're not going to vote for the change that they want to see. That's how life works, and that's what local government's about.

Well, thank you for everything you're doing, and I really, really— you're a national treasure. I applaud you. You give me hope.

It's worth the fight.