DA leader Helen Zille said on Saturday she believes that her party has what it takes to govern the Eastern Cape.

"Our mission is to show every South African in deeds, not just words, that life is better where the DA governs. This is why we won the Western Cape in this last election," Zille told delegates at the Eastern Cape Provincial Congress in Graaff-Reinet.

Currently the only DA-run municipality is Baviaans, which Zille said was "an exception rather than a rule" when it came to good governance and service delivery.

"The best contrast between open, opportunity and closed, crony government is the case of the Kouga Municipality. In 2000, when the DA took over, the municipality was bankrupt and struggling to deliver basic services. By 2002, the DA had turned the municipality around. Its finances were sound and services were delivered like clockwork," she said.

She added that when the ANC took over the Kouga municipality again, it was bankrupt within two years.

,p> "Here in the Eastern Cape, as elsewhere, our best ammunition in the lead-up to the 2011 election will be our delivery record. Everybody must get the message that life is better where the DA governs," she said.