Month: March 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) CEO, Busisiwe Memela-Khambula, to request that they urgently implement effective measures to address the chaos the nation witnessed on Monday during the payment of social grants to the elderly and the disabled.

It was evident that, despite the Minister’s promise that grants would not be affected by the Covid-19 lockdown, SASSA completely failed to efficiently administer grant payments.

The DA received numerous reports of stampedes; beneficiaries not being able to receive their monies because ATMs and supermarkets ran out of cash, and of various pay-points failing to adhere to Covid-19 measures such as social distancing, and the provision of hand sanitizers.

We also heard heartbreaking stories of the elderly and persons with disabilities who had to go home empty-handed after using the last money to get to these pay-points. While some complained that they had been standing in the queue since 5 am to be told in the late afternoon that the money had run out and that they should come back the next day.

It is unacceptable that the most vulnerable groups in our society had to be subjected to this treatment, especially the elderly, who are at high risk of contracting this virus.

To avoid any further chaos in the coming days, the Minister and SASSA should urgently implement the following measures:

• The Department and SASSA must engage banks and supermarket chains in order to guarantee that ATMs and supermarkets have enough cash to payout grants;
• Pay-points (Post Offices, banks, and supermarkets) should strictly enforce social distancing;
• The Department and SASSA must ensure that all pay-points have an adequate supply of  hand sanitizers;
• The Department should work closely with its Police and Defence counterparts to ensure strict security measures to protect grant recipients against opportunists and criminals.

While Minister Zulu paraded for the cameras on Monday morning, the reality on the ground for thousands was chaos and uncertainty.

The DA sends our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the elderly persons who tragically lost their lives while queueing for their grants on Monday. May their souls rest in peace.

In light of disturbing reports from healthcare workers across the country and members of the public about the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for our frontline health personnel, it is now critical that the South African government develops local capacity for the production of critical equipment.

I have written to the Minister of Health, Zwele Mkhize, to recommend that  local manufactures need to be brought on board and given a brief on what needs to be produced and what the South Africa Bureau of Standards (SABS) will be looking for in approval of these products. This process must be led by the Health team in consultation with other ministers and industries in the Inter-ministerial task team.

Healthcare professionals are making the greatest sacrifice by serving the health system at this critical time of the outbreak of Covid-19 in South Africa. These are unprecedented times that require all sectors to work with the South African government in waging a fight against this pandemic.

In doing so, we cannot endanger our healthcare workers during this time. We need to ensure that they are sufficiently protected while treating South Africans that need medical attention.

We are aware that the shortage of PPE is a global phenomenon and South Africa may not be on top of the pecking order in obtaining these much-needed supplies. The South African government needs to urgently explore alternative ways of meeting this demand.

Following a successful application by the DA to have medical and critical supplies be subjected to zero duty upon arrival on our shores, now is the time to act urgently. The Department of Health must expand their network of international suppliers and make use of this opportunity to source these products.

The Health team must understand the extent of the shortages in each province and each district. It should be on the basis of this information, that urgent stock is sent to areas that need it the most and that need it most urgently.

Based on modeling that has been done and international trends of this pandemic, there is still be to a sharp rise in infections which will place tremendous pressure on the health system. Ensuring critical equipment will help us get through that phase.

The Minister of Health can no longer just rely on the various provinces to source their own equipment. This effort needs to be augmented from the national department of health to ensure that we do not run out entirely of PPE and endanger much-needed staff members.

The DA remains committed to supporting the efforts of the South Africans government and the health response to this pandemic. That is why we take our role seriously in bringing to the attention of the Minister and his team challenges that are unfolding in the various provinces and workable solutions to solve them urgently. We cannot afford to delay in matters like this. We need decisive action.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the announcement by the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC), an entity of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) that life saving face masks will be subjected to zero duty on imports into South Africa.

This comes after I wrote to Minister Ebrahim Patel on 19 March 2020 requesting him to do so as part of the DA’s 10 ‘urgent steps’ he needed to take. Regrettably, no response or acknowledgment has been forthcoming from him.

With the release of the DA’s “Blue Book, which was sent to the President yesterday, it appears that the Minister has now been jolted into action as this recommendation was also in the “Blue Book”.

It is a pity that it has taken this long for a critical decision like this to be made, as many more masks could have been imported into South Africa at a 20% discount which the duty would have attracted, especially considering the huge shortage that healthcare workers are experiencing.

Be that as it may, rather late than never.

The DA believes it is now time for the DTIC to look at working with businesses that may have the ability to focus their factory-lines towards making masks. This will allow South Africa to build up local capacity while urgently importing the required masks needed by our frontline healthcare workers.

To this extent, the DA will be shortly launching a ‘match-making’ service which will allow manufactures, suppliers, and distributors to find one another in this period. We will then collate this information and present this to the DTIC in the hope that we can link these role-players to create a supply chain for local production of masks.

The DA remains committed to providing solutions to government and the public at large so that we continue to work together to beat Covid-19 in South Africa.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling upon the Department of Employment and Labour to re-open the main labour centres in all nine provinces to deal with the flood of Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) claims that will be submitted as a result of the 21-day lockdown period.

On 27 March, the Department indicated that all labour centres would be closed for the duration of the lockdown, and advised members of the public to stop visiting them. Instead, employers and workers were advised to access the Department’s services – such as the downloading and submission of UIF forms – electronically.

The Department’s rationale for closing labour centres was to limit the spread of Covid-19. While understandable, the effect of this move has been to leaveUIF claimants stranded at a time when they need the Department’s help most acutely.

Many UIF claimants do not have computers to access the Department’s services online. They need to be able to access hard copies of the relevant forms and submit them manually. It should be possible for the Department to continue offering a pared-down frontline service while enforcing strict physical distancing and hygiene measures at labour centres.

A vast number of small business owners who are unable to pay their workers’ salaries during the lockdown will need to apply for the UIF’s Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Covid-19 TERS) benefit. This benefit pays towards the salary costs of employees during the temporary closure of business operations.

Currently, applicants for the Covid-19 TERS beneft cannot submit manual applications. They are served by one email address (covid19ters@labour.gov.za) and a hotline number (012 337 1997) for benefit enquiries.

Clearly this will not be sufficient to respond to the high number of enquiries and applications occasioned by the lockdown.

The Department of Employment and Labour should re-open the main labour centres in each provice and capacitate the UIF to deal with the deluge of claims coming its way.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the arrest of an EMPD officer in connection with the killing of Sibusiso Amos, a 40-year old resident of Vosloorus, following swift action from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).

This comes after Amos was allegedly shot and killed yesterday by an Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officer, and a second man, enforcing the Covid-19 lockdown.

South Africa is only four days into the Covid-19 lockdown and already the nation has witnessed harrowing incidents of police brutality and violence against the public.

I will be submitting an incident report to IPID on all instances reported to me of excessive violence and misconduct at the hands of law enforcement officials during this time.

IPID has a critically important role to play during this lockdown and must be swift, strict and unrelenting in their investigations against any criminal behaviour by law enforcement officers.

While police officials have a mandate to enforce the lockdown regulations without fear or favour, the blatant display of violence; disregard of human rights and incidents of humiliation is disgraceful and goes against the very foundations of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The DA reiterates our call for Parliament to establish an ad hoc committee to perform Executive oversight and ensure the protection of civil liberties during the lockdown as these cases of violence and abuse cannot go unabated.

The DA sends its deepest condolences to the family of Mr Amos and hopes for the speedy recovery of the children who were caught in the cross-fire.

There is new impetus for urgent structural reform. We urge the President and Finance Minister to act now on the wide-ranging structural reforms our economy urgently needs.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s admission to Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, that “We now need to move more boldly on the structural reforms programme” is welcome. For years the DA has been calling for a programme of economic structural reform to increase investment, grow the economy and create jobs.

Now this programme is needed not to grow the economy, but to save it from destruction.

Over the last decade our economy has been crippled by profligate government spending, an explosion in our national debt, and rampant corruption. Now that our economy has been downgraded to junk status by Moody’s, there seems to be some fresh realisation from the President and his team that urgent action is necessary. Better late than never.

Minister Mboweni should therefore ensure that he:

• provides a clear outline of what the economic structural reform programme will entail, with targets and timelines;
• outlines the specific interventions that the government will pursue to promote investment and growth;
• provide details on the composition of the Vul’indlela Unit that he plans to establish in the Ministry to drive the reform agenda

Minster Mboweni only has one shot at getting economic reform right. Piecemeal concessions that seek to retain the status quo and appease the ANC’s competing factions won’t cut it this time around. What we need is a concerted effort to turn South Africa’s economy away from strangling state control towards investment led growth.

South Africa path to recovery can only begin if the ANC government is ready and willing to:

• hold a firm line against trade unions who are intent on reversing the decision to cut R160 billion from the state wage bill;
• reduce the number of public sector managers who do not deliver front-line services;
• support the DA’s proposed Fiscal Responsibility Bill, which holds the key to reducing national debt and debt service costs;
• free South Africans from Eskom’s death spiral by opening the energy market to IPPs;
• disinvest from zombie state owned enterprises and immediately put a stop to further bailouts; and
• introduce far ranging reforms to ease up the labour regime and end the centralised power of bargaining councils.

That South Africa is in the middle of an economic crisis, made worse by Covid-19, is beyond doubt. What matters is whether we are willing to take the bold action needed to create the required conditions to grow the economy and create jobs.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) strongly condemns videos making the rounds on social media of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members forcing civilians, who allegedly did not abide by the lockdown regulations, to do squats and push-ups.

There are also videos emerging of SANDF members physically abusing people who allegedly did not abide by the regulations.

This behaviour is disgusting and the DA condemns it in the strongest terms.

Upon viewing these videos, the DA immediately wrote to the Military Ombudsman, General (Ret) Vusi Masondo, to request an independent investigation as the SANDF’s actions are a gross violation of the military’s mandate and of the Bill of Rights.

I also engaged the acting Chief of the Army, Major General M.J. De Goede, who confirmed that the matter had been registered for investigation. We trust that this investigation will be transparent and that the SANDF and SAPS members involved will be held fully accountable for their deplorable behaviour.

While we agree that those who do not comply with the lockdown regulations should face the consequences for their actions, in accordance to the lockdown regulations, we condemn any act which seeks to humiliate and degrade citizens. The DA has written to the Minister of Defence, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, in this regard.

South Africa is a constitutional democracy, not a military state. Despite the country being in an unprecedented period in our democratic history; the rule of law, the Bill of Rights and our Constitution must be adhered to at all times.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to Small Business Development Minister, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, requesting a clear and public pronouncement from her on the question of spaza shops being allowed to operate during the lockdown, and urging a consistent application of the regulations, in line with the rule of law.

The Minister previously said during a ministerial briefing that all spaza shops in communities would be allowed to operate during the lockdown period (as explicitly provided for in paragraph B of Annexure B, in reference to Regulation 11A, which deals with essential services). However she went on to muddy the waters by saying that “those spaza shops that will be open are strictly those that are owned by South Africans, managed and run by South Africans”.

This is a hugely problematic statement for two reasons:

• There is no provision in the regulations for differentiation between South African- and immigrant-owned spaza shops, so there is no basis in law to target micro-retailers for closure according to the nationality of the owner(s); and
• Spaza shops are usually the closest shop for residents in most communities to get basic foodstuffs and household essentials. If the idea of the lockdown is to have “as little movement as possible”, as was said by Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, then spaza shops need to be open, now more than ever, otherwise the lockdown is rendered ineffective if people have to go to shopping malls, thus travelling and congregating in larger numbers.

Furthermore, many such residents do not have a means of transport (with minibus taxi and bus operations being suspended or heavily curtailed) or the money to travel, should they find the transport to take them shopping.

I will also ask Minister Ntshavheni to communicate with her counterpart in the Police portfolio, Minister Bheki Cele, concerning police action in this regard.

We have received reports of SAPS officers being confused about whether or not to close unlicensed spaza shops (regardless of ownership) and an executive directive is needed informing the police that such spaza shops must be allowed to remain open, in aid of ensuring minimal movement by consumers during the lockdown, but must then be referred to the local municipality or Small Business Development Department to assist them to become compliant.

The DA understands that the various state organs are navigating uncharted waters during this unprecedented time but the authorities should not miss the wood for the trees and thus lose sight of the substantive issues underpinning the lockdown.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to Minister Bheki Cele requesting that existing community policing structures in rural areas assist SAPS during the lockdown.

Criminal elements in rural areas are likely to exploit the lockdown for their own nefarious purposes. While fighting the Coronavirus we must also ensure that crime prevention is at the top of our agenda.

The DA supports the intention of the SAPS instruction preventing Community Policing Forums (CPFs) and Neighbourhood Watches (NHWs) from active deployment during the lockdown. This is incredibly important in densely populated urban environments in order to limit the spread of the Coronavirus.

Rural communities, however, are sparsely populated and increasingly vulnerable to criminal elements during the lockdown while SAPS is focused on enforcing the regulations. It is important for SAPS to consider, on a case by case basis, the deployment of existing rural community policing structures to be their eyes and ears in rural areas.

These community policing structures must operate within the existing command structure and comply fully with all applicable legislation. It must be made clear to all that only SAPS, with the support of the SANDF, are responsible for enforcing the regulations.

Together we can defeat the Coronavirus and keep our communities safe.