Democratic Alliance (DA) Chief Whip John Steenhuisen has called on party members to come out in their numbers for the 3 August 2016 local government elections, a day which he said would serve as a "referendum" on the direction South Africa should take.

He was addressing the party faithful at the Royal Showgrounds in Pietermaritzburg on Monday evening.

“Lend us your hands, hearts and mostly lend your vote. August 3, is a referendum on the direction that South Africa should take,” said Steenhuisen to the applause of DA supporters.

He slammed the African National Congress-led Msunduzi Municipality, saying Pietermaritzburg had become "an eyesore" with refuse uncollected for days in some instances.

Steenhuisen said Mergan Chetty – the DA mayoral candidate for Msunduzi Municipality (Pietermaritzburg) was the ideal candidate to lead the KwaZulu-Natal province’s capital city to higher levels.

“What we have seen is the end result of the ANC’s cadre deployment of individuals who are not suitable for the positions,” said Steenhuisen.

He added that the DA had targeted certain municipalities for "a takeover", while also looking at trimming the ANC’s majority in all of South Africa.

The DA chief whip said it was important for party members to volunteer their time ahead of and during the election day in order to monitor whether voting takes place in a free and fair manner.

“We are worried about the presence of South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) members in polling stations, that is why we need you to volunteer your time,” Steenhuisen urged.

Sadtu is part of Cosatu – the Congress of South African Trade Unions – which is one of the tripartite alliance partners with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party.

Chetty accused the ANC of prioritising the awarding of tenders to the politically connected ahead of service delivery and promised sweeping changes at city hall if the DA was put in power.

He told supporters that unqualified staff members would be replaced by competent individuals.

Chetty said the Msunduzi Municipality has been crippled by factions in the ruling ANC party and this was reflected in shoddy appointments at senior management.

“Where have you seen three city managers in a space of six months?” quizzed Chetty. This was in reference to the changes that have taken place since Mxolisi Nkosi was suspended as city manager amid allegations of maladministration.

Since then Boniwe Zulu, Dr. Ray Ngcobo and now Dumisani Hadebe have all acted in the position of city manager; something which Chetty charged resulted to instability.

Steenhuisen said the DA was not worried about other opposition parties in the coming elections because none of them had a record of governing like his party had done in Cape Town and the rest of the Western Cape.