Cape Town must redefine the frontiers of local government

The following speech was delivered at the Cape Town Press Club by Geordin Hill-Lewis, DA City of Cape Town Mayoral Candidate.

Good afternoon, 

It is a great honour for me to speak today at this storied Cape Town institution.

Thank you for the invitation. 

It is also not lost on me that I am standing before the Cape Town Press Club – one of the oldest such institutions committed to press freedom in Africa – as perhaps the youngest mayoral candidate in Cape Town’s history.

So what motivated a millennial with a funny-sounding name, who grew-up in Edgemead, to run for mayor?

The short answer is that, during lockdown, I came to the realisation that the DA will need to do much more than ever before if we are to secure Cape Town’s future against the disintegration of the national government.

Capetonians have trusted the DA with their votes for the past fifteen years. And in this – the moment of our city’s greatest need – we dare not let them down.

From crime to unemployment and the collapse of infrastructure, there is no shortage of reasons for South Africans to be extremely concerned about the future of their families and their communities.

But where others see only decline, my lockdown reflections also revealed that this particular moment in our political history is ripe with unprecedented potential to put South Africa’s constitutional democracy on a far more sustainable path.

That path is the road to the devolution of power away from the national government to competent local authorities.

It is by seizing the opportunities provided by the collapse of national government services that we can secure Cape Town’s future and enable our home town to take its rightful place among the great cities of the world.

But to turn this vision into reality, Cape Town needs to be bolder and more audacious than we’ve ever been, by doing more than we’ve ever done.

So, what exactly does it mean when I say that the DA in Cape Town is ready to do more than ever before?

I see two categories of challenges where we have no choice but to be much bolder to secure Cape Town’s future.

The first category includes areas of delivery over which the city already has significant say.

This is the category generally referred to as “basic services” – things like providing functional sewerage systems, removing refuse, and repairing potholes and streetlights. 

These services are critical to empowering all residents to live a life of dignity, and providing them is the primary mandate of local government in South Africa.

Providing quality basic services is, of course, premised on running a clean government that does not steal the resources meant to deliver those services.

On all of these fronts, Cape Town towers head and shoulders above the rest, with years of clean audits and reams of statistics to it up. 

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to cite just four of these:

  • 99.2% of Capetonians have their refuse removed at least once a week;
  • Access to electricity has improved from 91.7% to 93.5% since 2012;
  • 91.8% of residents have access to sanitation; and
  • Cape Town spends R2.9 billion a year on free basic services to the poorest residents, excluding the amount spent on housing construction.

 On these and most other metrics, Cape Town does better than anywhere else in the country.

 And yet, despite all of this, there often appears to be a contradiction when we talk about basic service delivery in Cape Town.

 On the one hand, we know it to be an incontestable fact that Cape Town does the basics better than any other big city in South Africa.

 But on the other hand, we also know intuitively – just from living in this city – that there are still far too many Capetonians who do not live dignified lives.

 So how do we explain this apparent disjuncture between Cape Town’s proven delivery record and the intuition of so many of us that things ought to be much better still?

The answer lies in the standard we measure Cape Town against.

 I’m sure that each one of us in this room would agree that Cape Town has the potential to become a city of truly global renown.

 Our Mother City has always been more diverse, cosmopolitan and globally-integrated than any other part of South Africa.

Feeling connected to the world is part of Cape Town’s DNA.

It is this global outlook, and the intrinsic desire to fulfil our city’s true potential, that inspires my vision for Cape Town to take its rightful place among the great cities of the world.  

In this context, can we really be satisfied with delivering the best services in the country, when the rest of South Africa is in such steep decline?

 For me, the answer is a resounding no!

I firmly believe that we should not only measure Cape Town against the dreadful standards of South Africa!

For the Mother City to fulfil its true potential, we must measure ourselves against global rather than only domestic standards. 

This insight – that Capetonians regard their home not only as a South African city but also as a worldcity – resolves the apparent contradiction about basic services.

 Both of the following statements are thus true:

 Cape Town already delivers far better basic services to the poor and vulnerable than any other big city in South Africa.

 And we must still do much more to catch up with the global standard we rightly measure ourselves against.

 In reality, there is thus no contradiction between acknowledging that Cape Town already delivers better basic services to all residents than any other South African city, while striving to do the basics even better still.

 And it is possible to do the basics better.

 We can and we must reduce the infrastructure backlog in Cape Town by increasing investment in basic services.

 Over time, this expanded investment will improve the sewerage network, the conditions of our roads and streetlights, enhance refuse removal, and help us combat illegal dumping.

 But reprioritising the budget to spend more on infrastructure upgrades will not be enough on its own.

 We also need to improve the efficiency of our spending on basic services by reviewing contract management in Cape Town.

We must review the City’s contract management system, so that service delivery is never interrupted anywhere in Cape Town due to the expiry of contracts or non-performance by contractors.

But, in the year 2021, the DA in Cape Town also has a secret weapon up our sleeves that no other world city that developed during the previous century had at its disposal.

That secret weapon is modern digital technology.

Despite all of the empty talk about the fourth industrial revolution by the national government, the truth is that South Africa has fallen far behind the rest of the world when it comes to using technology to solve public policy problems.

South African governments remain trapped in the analogue age.

 But there is a potential upside to this backlog: given how far behind we are from the digital frontier, we can make tremendous gains in a relatively short period by embracing digital solutions.

And what better place to begin taking South African governance into the digital age than right here in Cape Town – the tech capital of Africa.

Basic service delivery in South Africa is ripe for digital disruption, starting with the way in which residents interact with our municipality.

 While Cape Town’s C3 fault reporting system was state-of-the-art when it was launched nearly fifteen years ago, it has become outdated in the fast-moving digital age.

 That is why I have pledged to upgrade the fault reporting system in Cape Town to become a mobile-first application that will allow anyone with a smartphone to log complaints directly with the municipality on a modern, user-friendly app.

And when I say anyone should be able to use this app, I mean it: we have already seen a trend towards zero-rating data use on government services, and I intend to negotiate with mobile providers to do the same for our revamped service delivery app.

The DA in Cape Town is also ready to take public participation and local democracy online, by empowering anyone with a cell phone to participate in the City’s planning and budgeting processes.

In one fell swoop, the creation of a modern, mobile-first digital communications channel between residents and the City will empower millions of Capetonians – who previously had to spend valuable money and time on travelling and standing in queues – to instantly report faults and have a say in municipal decisions that affect their communities.

Speaking of queues: it is time to eliminate those as far as possible.

Cape Town’s economy loses thousands of hours every week to people who needlessly stand in queues to make appointments or to do routine things like renew a license.

In fact, an entire cottage industry has emerged of people you can pay to go and stand in line for you at the local municipal office.

This is completely unacceptable in the year 2021.

That is why I am determined to digitise all routine processes like license renewals and appointment bookings.

While it may not be possible to entirely eliminate queues, we can significantly reduce them by embracing modern technology.

 And why stop there?

Once we’ve cultivated a culture of partnering with Cape Town’s technology sector to find new digital solutions to old analogue problems, we will be able to turn our gaze to using technology to solve other problems.

 For example: we are still building houses and roads in Cape Town using essentially the same methods and materials we used a hundred years ago.

By embracing modern methods, we may just find exciting new solutions to these age-old challenges as well.

Doing the basics better also means doing more to create jobs for the people of Cape Town.

As is the case with basic services, we all know that Cape Town already does more than any other city to empower entrepreneurs.

But in a country with an unemployment rate of nearly 35 percent and where four out of every five young people cannot find work, we must now do even more than ever before to protect Cape Town by attracting investors, empowering entrepreneurs, and getting this city working like never before.

Given all the talent and resources at our disposal, we need to do much more to ensure that Cape Town overtakes cities like Nairobi and Kigali on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index.

 The Index indicates that it currently takes 88 days and thousands of Rands to obtain a construction permit, 37 days to have building plans approved, 14 days for a business owner to get a rates clearance certificate when registering property, and up to 97 days to establish a new electricity connection.

 The persistence of this type of red tape in the year 2021 is just as outdated and unacceptable as the sight of people queuing to renew their driver’s licences.

That is why I have already pledged to turn Cape Town into the most entrepreneur-friendly city on the entire African continent.

Even more important than cutting red tape wherever it ensnares private initiative is the need to create a new culture in the city administration that empowers and helps entrepreneurs rather than merely enforcing compliance.

This same commitment to embracing the private sector must carry over into our approach to housing.

Cape Town must redefine the frontiers of local government  DA is the only party that believes in empowering poor South Africans to own their own homes.

That is why I want to see cranes going up all over vacant pieces of state-owned land in Cape Town.

 Our Mother City must become one big construction site where we build a future of shared prosperity.

This is something I know about, having previously been a partner in a small property start-up that tried to build more homes for Capetonians.

I have first-hand experience of the red tape and hurdles involved in actually getting even a small project off the ground in Cape Town.

But when we talk about the role of the private sector in alleviating the housing shortage in our city, we shouldn’t only think of formal companies.

Innovative micro-developers in places like Delft who convert their properties into rental units for people who live in backyards are just as much part of the private sector solution.

It is time for us to embrace these private entrepreneurs by empowering micro-developers and forcing the national government to release the massive plots of land it owns, so that the private sector can build thousands more homes for Capetonians.

I’d now like to turn to the second category of issues where we will do much more than ever before to secure Cape Town’s future.

 This category relates to all of those areas where the national government has miserably failed the people of Cape Town.

Under the current administrative framework, the national government is responsible for providing Cape Town with a reliable supply of electricity, safe and reliable public transport, and effective policing.

It is hard to overstate just how catastrophically it has failed to provide any of these things to the people of Cape Town.

But I would go even further. 

The evidence shows that the national government has actively and consistently undermined the efforts of DA-led Cape Town to provide these crucial services.

When DA-led Cape Town expanded the electricity network to thousands of poor households, the national government plunged them right back into darkness through load shedding.

When DA-led Cape Town worked together with the Western Cape to introduce LEAP safety officers and monitor the failures of SAPS, the national government punished the people of the Cape Flats with the lowest police-to-citizen ratio in the country.

And when DA-led Cape Town introduced the MyCiti bus service to give citizens more options for safe and reliable public transport, the national government promptly took away those options by collapsing Metrorail.

It is time for us to recognise that the national government cannot and does not want to provide reliable electricity, public transport and policing services to the people of Cape Town.

They actively work against the people of this city at every opportunity they get.

Our city therefore finds itself before a stark choice.

We can either take the conservative road that does not challenge the national government’s monopoly over electricity generation, public transport and policing, in which case Cape Town will inevitably follow the same path of decline that has been so well-trodden in other parts of the country.

Or we can stand up and boldly challenge Pretoria, effectively forcing the devolution of these crucial powers so that we can protect Cape Town against the collapse of the national government.

For me, the answer is clear: since the national government refuses to do these things for us, we must now do more of them ourselves.

If we want a thriving future for Cape Town, where every citizen has the opportunity to live a dignified life they value, we must expand the frontiers of local government power by ending load shedding, fighting for control over Metrorail, and introducing hundreds of additional law enforcement officers.

I firmly believe that, 27 years into our democracy, the boundaries of local government power have not been properly tested yet.

Where there are grey areas, we will relentlessly push the boundaries so that we can generate our ownelectricity, run our own railways, and keep our own communities safe.

But we have also seen signs that the national government is starting to capitulate, because – deep down – they know that they have completely failed to provide electricity, public transport and safety, and they have no ability to turn the ship around.

The amendment of electricity generation regulations, the plea for private investors to save our ports, and the creep towards allowing private concessions to run passenger rail are all early indications that the national government will eventually admit that decentralisation is the future.

I am absolutely convinced that the devolution of functions like electricity generation, public transport, and policing to well-run local governments will be the next frontier in South Africa’s democratic development.

And I want Cape Town to lead the march to that new frontier.

This means that, while DA-led Cape Town will always be open to working constructively with other spheres of government, we will not ask permission to secure the future of this beautiful city.

Devolutionary powers will not be given, they will have to be taken.

Where we suffer setbacks in the battles ahead, as we will, we will come back harder on our way to permanent solutions.

Where others see only decline and spend their days only complaining, I see the opportunity of a lifetime to turn Cape Town into the great world city it deserves to be.

With a relentless focus on getting even more done, we will turn this into the best place to live – and the best place to visit – in the entire southern hemisphere.

But I make no bones about it: the challenge before us is a big one.

Not only must we do the basics better than ever before so that Cape Town can catch up with the global standard when it comes to services like refuse removal, pothole repairs, and water and electricity reticulation, but we must also begin to fix that which the national government has broken.

 But I simply do not believe that the framers ever intended South Africa’s Constitution to create a straitjacket where well-run local governments are held hostage by obvious and sustained failures by the national government.

 By relentlessly expanding the frontiers of local government power, I believe that we will win the battle to protect the people of Cape Town from the collapse of the national government.

With apologies to Jannie Steytler, I know that South Africa will one day be governed according to the principles of federalism and devolution of power, because it is the only way this country can be governed.

 By voting for the DA in the upcoming local government election, Capetonians will make sure that our city leads the way towards this exciting new frontier, where well-run municipalities like Cape Town are no longer held hostage by the failures of the national government.

So, go ahead and mark the 1st of November on your calendars, because that is the day when the DA and the people of Cape Town will usher in a new phase in our country’s democratic development. Where we make even more progress towards every resident living a life of dignity, and where Cape Town takes its rightful place among the truly great cities of the world.

Thank you.

DA calls on DBE to review matric exam roster to avoid Election Day clash 

The DA calls on Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, and her department to review the matric examination timetable in order to accommodate the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE).

This is after it came to light that the start of the National Senior Certificate exams will fall on 1 November, Election Day.

This clash gives rise to several challenges for both matric learners, exam writing centres as well as the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The first concern is that some matric pupils, who are eligible to vote, may be unable to do so due to writing their matric exams. Secondly, if the start of the examinations is not postponed, the IEC, which often use school halls as voting stations on Election Day, may face challenges in this regard. And lastly, given that Election Day is declared as a public holiday, this creates further difficulties around teachers and invigilators exercising their democratic right to vote.

The DA, therefore, strongly encourages the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to alter the matric exam schedule to accommodate both matric students and the elections. This will ensure that both the exams and the voting process proceed without a hitch.

Since the beginning of the academic year, the class of 2021 has had to overcome difficult uphill battles due to Covid-19’s devastating impact. We must take all possible precautions to guarantee that there are few disturbances at the final hurdle.

By altering the exam schedule, matriculants will avoid any possible disruptions and those who are eligible to vote will not be forced to choose between writing final examinations and exercising their democratic right to vote.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

DA’s first Cape Town posters go up with a promise to unlock the city’s potential

Please find attached soundbite from the Leader of the Democratic Alliance John Steenhuisen and a soundbite from the DA Cape Town Mayoral Candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis. 

Pictures from the poster event are attached here, here and here.

Today the Democratic Alliance (DA’s) first election posters went up in the Cape Town Metro, in the Lower Main Road, Observatory.

Our message on these posters – “Cape Town works. Let’s do more” – speaks to the DA’s broader election message of a record of delivery and a promise of more. It confirms what the people of Cape Town already know – that the DA gets things done – and asks them to entrust the DA to step this up another gear over the next five years.

The past three uninterrupted terms of DA government in the Cape Town Metro have afforded us the opportunity to implement the DA’s long-term vision of a city that works for its residents, but we know there is potential to do even more.

We know where our opportunities and our challenges lie, and we’re not afraid to get stuck in and do the hard work. Cape Town may already stand head and shoulders above all other metros, but this is not good enough yet. We will do even better over the next term.

Our candidate for Mayor in the City of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis has already taken his vision for Cape Town to many different communities over the past two weeks and the reception has been extremely positive. There is a genuine belief that Cape Town’s best is yet to come, and that Geordin has the vision and the drive to take the metro to greater heights.

What today’s poster flighting also says is that the DA is ready to contest these elections, unlike almost every other significant party in the country, and particularly the ANC. While they have been fighting to get the elections postponed, struggling to finalise their lists amid the usual violence that accompanies this and battling to pay their staff salaries for months, the DA has already hit the campaign trail across the country.

Our preparations started over a year ago when we began our candidate selection process, and we are proud to have submitted a candidate in every ward in South Africa for the first time in these elections. Unsurprisingly, this was all completed well ahead of the cut-off time and our deposits paid on time, leaving us free to focus on our campaign.

One of the most important parts of this process takes place this coming weekend as South Africans get to register themselves correctly to vote in their wards on November 1. DA staff and public representatives have already spent many months assisting voters with this, and this registration weekend presents the final opportunity to ensure that you appear on the voter’s roll in the ward where you live.

I urge every South African over the age of 18 to check their registration status ahead of the weekend and to then ensure that they are eligible to express their democratic choice in seven weeks’ time. There is only one chance every five years to use the power of the vote to determine the future for your town or city, and it is critical that this choice is expressed by as many citizens as possible.

Once correctly registered, we invite voters to get to know their mayoral candidates as well as their ward candidates. Hear what they have to say about the DA’s vision and ask them questions. There is nothing more powerful in a democracy than an informed and engaged citizen.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Sisulu’s Spin Doctors fall flat

Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has this morning dispatched two spokespersons to provide “rights of reply” to the DA’s claims that her advisor claimed more than R1.76 million on travel and accommodation since May 2019.

This, in addition to the contractual salary allowance of R142k that Mr Mphumzi Mdekazi and other advisors were entitled to claim in exchange for 15 days of work each month. These contracts, in our possession, were indeed signed off directly by the Minister.

Instead of sticking to the facts, Sisulu’s henchmen sought to muddy the waters, accusing the DA of harbouring “personal grudges” against the Minister.

One of these spokespersons went on to cite “litigation by Minister Sisulu against Hon. Powell” as the source of the DA’s exposé. One can only assume that by “litigation”, this spokesperson is referring to a request by the Minister to Hon. Powell to issue an apology for previous media statements relating to her Ministerial conduct and Departmental performance. This was of course refused and no direct correspondence nor summons have since been forthcoming. Referring to a letter as “litigation” is indeed quite a stretch, and the DA will not be silenced or intimated by these public threats.

The second spokesperson – who was also unable to dispute the factual correctness of Minister Senzo Mchunu’s written reply – is an ex Sunday Times journalist whose dodgy reporting earlier this year resulted in the paper being requested by the Press Ombudsman to issue a written apology to the DA. He was later employed by Minister Sisulu as an official “spokesperson”.

Both spin doctors fell spectacularly flat when quizzed by two prominent news channels on the facts and ultimately admitted that this aide did indeed claim the amounts as stated in the Parliamentary questions reply recieved from Minister Mchunu.

Finally – the narrative being peddled by the desperate Minister’s spokespersons, that the DA somehow has a personal axe to grind, could not be further from the truth.

The only axe the DA has to grind is with the endemic levels of greed and corruption which plague this Nation under the kleptocratic leadership of the ANC.

Until such time as the public service is rid of unqualified cadres and their hyper inflated salaries and expense accounts, the DA will continue to expose each and every last one of them.

Minister Sisulu would do well to take note.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

DA requests transparency from Minister Lamola regarding Justice Department hack

The DA has written to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, regarding the hacking of the IT systems at the Department of Justice late last week.

While the Department of Justice spokesperson Steve Mahlangu claimed that there was no indication that any data had been compromised, a security expert, Anna Collard, told the media that the Department’s data could be in danger due to the nature of ransomware.

The DA is also aware of allegations that the Department’s IT service provider has not been paid for two months, thus putting sensitive personal and banking data at risk.

The justice system in South Africa is utterly reliant on a functioning IT system and with the Covid-19 lockdowns already significantly slowing down the wheels of justice in many cases, the country simply cannot afford this further vulnerability in the criminal justice system.

The DA also finds it unacceptable that Minister Lamola and his Department would allow this important IT system to become so vulnerable to compromise.

This vulnerability will also affect the recording and transcription machines utilized in courts and will have a severe impact on the enforcement of justice.

The DA therefore calls on the Minister to take South Africa into his confidence regarding the full nature of the IT systems breach, as well as his plans to ensure that it never happens again. Compromised technology should not be added to an already ailing criminal justice system.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Give us an end-date for all lockdowns and the State of Disaster

Please find attached soundbite by DA Leader, John Steenhuisen MP. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes President Ramaphosa’s announcement of a move to Lockdown Level 2. And while we welcome this easing of restrictions, we call on him to go further and commit to an end date for all lockdown restrictions as well as the State of Disaster.

The only possible reason for any further restrictions would be to allow everyone over the age of 18 the chance to get vaccinated. And since the 18–35-year-old group have had access to the vaccine since 20 August, this deadline must now be well within our sight. At the very latest, this should happen by mid-November, which would give this age cohort a full 12 weeks to get both jabs.

This deadline needs to be announced now so that businesses affected by lockdown restrictions can plan accordingly. It is not something that can be decided and announced at the last minute, as this would put even more businesses and jobs in jeopardy. If business owners know that there will be no more restrictions and curfews on the 15th of November, they can try to make plans to bridge their business over the period until then.

If President Ramaphosa does not think this is what needs to happen, he must give his and his government’s reasons why not. South Africans have made extraordinary sacrifices in order to comply with restrictions and regulations that are seldom explained or justified. The president needs to take citizens into his confidence and let them know precisely why these sacrifices must continue.

Specifically, he must set out the criteria his cabinet requires to be met for the State of Disaster to be lifted so that everyone can know whether these are rational and fair decisions. I asked him this very question – whether there are specific conditions which must be satisfied before the State of Disaster can be lifted and, if so, what they are – almost four weeks ago on 17 August in a written parliamentary question and I am yet to receive his reply.

That is not good enough, particularly when government’s decisions around lockdowns and economic restrictions already have so little credibility. It is also not good enough for the president to say “as soon as everyone has been vaccinated” when speaking of our return to normality, as we will never get to a point where everyone has had the jab.

Furthermore, until such time as all restrictions are finally lifted, it is crucial that we start applying a regional model for these restrictions based on the healthcare capacity of the region. Infection trends and vaccination rates differ greatly across different parts of the country and there is no single, neat wave that applies to the entire country, or even entire provinces.

Coupled with this, some areas have sufficient hospital capacity to no longer warrant restrictions. It is extremely selfish to subject South Africans to more unnecessary economic hardship when the local conditions do not justify this.

Citizens cannot be held to ransom by the whims of a group of people obsessed with central command and control of the economy – people who have never run a business themselves, never created a single job and whose own jobs and salaries are never at stake no matter how badly they get their Covid response wrong.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

More heads must roll over R118 m. New York land debacle

The DA notes the dismissal of the Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Kgabo Mohoai, following the fruitless and wasteful expenditure for the New York Pilot Project scandal. The DA now demands that the CFO, Caiphus Ramashau, and other senior officials who were closely linked to the New York Pilot Project scandal, face the same fate as Mohoai, and is dismissed.

At the centre of this debacle is the highly controversial R118 million irregular expenditure on the New York Pilot Project. It has been 5 years since the DIRCO squandered these millions in public money on a dilapidated building for the South African Diplomatic Missions in Manhattan, New York City.

We further demand the recall of the then minister of DIRCO, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, and Ambassador Jerry Matjila for their role in the scandal where a piece of land was bought for new offices that did not exist.
Mohoai has been used as a sacrificial scapegoat, only to protect other senior officials and politicians who are closely connected to the political elite in the ANC.

The outcome of the investigation was leaked to the media two weeks ago, and when Minister Naledi Pandor was confronted in the Portfolio Committee, she misled the committee by saying the matter was not finalised. This after I read out the article stating that Mohoai was found “guilty of gross negligence, gross dereliction of duty and breach of legal obligation and grossly irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure” in the notorious land “deal”. The very same verdict was released by Minister Pandor on Friday.

During his investigation, Mohoai stated, that he was acting on instructions from the then Minister, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, that the original “deal” was approved by his predecessor, Jerry Matjila, prior to his appointment as ambassador to New York and that the then Minister, Nkoana-Mashabane, and CFO, Caiphus Ramashau, motivated for the deal to go ahead.

The DA consequently demands that President Cyril Ramaphosa suspends Minister Nkoana-Mashabane, under whose watch this New York Pilot Project and its shenanigans were initiated as she failed to exercise her executive oversight. We also demand that Ambassador Matjila, who was the Director-General during that period, should be recalled.

The outcome of the investigation reinforces the DA’s opinion that the intentions of the Minister suspending Director-General Mohoai was a mere smokescreen to protect other senior officials closely linked with senior politicians.
And, in a twist of fate, the current Portfolio Committee chair, Hon T. Mahambahahle, was removed and replaced by the ANC’s disgraced former North West Premier, Supra Mahumaphelo. Clearly, the pressure that the DA has been placing in exposing the corruption of the New York scandal, has resulted in high ranking politicians making drastic decisions to protect themselves.

The DA will be writing to President Ramaphosa, demanding the recall and suspension of Minister Nkoana-Mashabane and Ambassador Matjila.

After the recent riots, South Africa cannot afford any further embarrassment due to this scandal. If the President is serious about rooting out corruption, then he must place the interest of South Africa ahead of his corrupt comrades.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Mpho Phalatse is the Mayor Joburg has been waiting for

Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered by DA Federal Leader John Steenhuisen at the Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate Launch in Braamfontein.

Fellow Democrats

Joburg is ready to step into a bright new era.

This incredible city – the economic and, many would argue, cultural heartbeat of South Africa – just needs one thing to unlock its brilliant potential. And that is a fit-for-purpose government headed up by committed and ethical leadership.

A government that knows how to look after the needs of its residents – and particularly its most vulnerable citizens – but also how to fling open its doors of business to investors so that the city becomes a place buzzing with industry once more.

Historically, Johannesburg has always been a destination for people seeking opportunities. Throughout its history it has drawn people in from across the country, and the continent, with a promise of a better, exciting future. The city where anything is possible.

But I think we all know Johannesburg has lost some of that shine. Where it once was the beating economic heart of Africa, it has slipped back over the years and other cities have taken its place.

We can see visible signs of this regression all around us – potholes not filled, street lights not working, pavements not mowed, refuse not regularly collected.

These visible signs point to a bigger underlying problem – a government that doesn’t take seriously the contract it signed with the people.

When you don’t take care of the small, everyday things, chances are you’re not looking after the big things either. Safety, water provision, electricity, housing – the things that make a city both liveable and investable.

If you want businesses, investors and entrepreneurs to consider bringing their ideas and their money here, then you have to give them reasons to believe. You have to give them confidence that their risk will pay off.

They have to know that their services will not be interrupted, that the roads and infrastructure around them will be maintained, that their business will be safe and that the local government will do what it can to help them succeed, and not be an obstacle to their success.

Governments that understand this make it their top priority to put all the basic building blocks in place that will attract and support enterprise, and create jobs.

But opening the doors to business represents just one part of the challenge. The other part of a government’s responsibility is towards vulnerable people who require the safety net of a caring government.

This is particularly true in a large and growing metro like Johannesburg.

This kind of environment, with its rapid urbanisation and huge social challenges, requires a particular mindset in government – both business-friendly and empathetic. And that is why today’s mayoral campaign launch here in Johannesburg has me so excited.

I believe, in Mpho Phalatse, Johannesburg has a mayoral candidate that ticks every box.

As a medical doctor, she is undoubtedly smart and accomplished and will run an efficient, hands-on administration here. But she has also proven, through her various roles in public health over the years as well as her time as MMC for Health and Social Development in the metro, that she has the heart to run a caring and humane administration.

All she and her DA colleagues need is enough of your votes. And by enough, I mean a clear mandate that doesn’t put the government at the mercy of those who don’t share this vision of a prosperous and caring city.

We came close last time round in 2016, but because we didn’t have the majority we needed, we had to rely on the support of a party with which we fundamentally disagree on many issues.

But even more importantly, this was a party that did not share the DA’s core values of non-racialism, respect for the Rule of Law, the building of a capable state, and the power of a social market economy to create jobs and opportunities.

We relied on this party’s support to remain in government, and because they knew this, they acted as if they were in charge.

They started making demands that were not aligned with the DA’s idea of good governance, and in some instances the previous DA-led administration gave in to those demands.

In doing so, our party compromised some of its core values, and this reflected in the type of government we were able to offer the people of this city.

I am here to tell you that we’ve learnt a massive lesson from that chapter, and that lesson is this: We will never again take shortcuts and make compromises that jeopardize our party’s values just for the sake of remaining in government.

We would rather be a strong, principled opposition than a compromised, ineffective government. Because the only thing worse than losing an election is winning an election and governing badly.

That is why our fight, over the next seven weeks, is to convince as many Johannesburg residents as we can to give us the strongest possible mandate to govern and bring the DA difference to Johannesburg. And to then judge us by our results after five uninterrupted years.

Five years where we don’t have to constantly battle someone else’s hands on the steering wheel. Five years, after which we can say: This was our best shot at bringing the DA difference.

Democrats, it is not only here in Johannesburg that we learnt valuable lessons about governing in tricky coalitions and partnerships. In Nelson Mandela Bay, after the last elections, we also discovered how important it is to be given a strong mandate to implement your vision.

Our majority there in the coalition government was so slim and so vulnerable that it was always going to be the target of a take-over by the corrupt who used to be in government there.

And so, after two incredibly productive years, the DA-led coalition there was ousted by the coalition of corruption, and every gain made during those two years was reversed.

Today, NMB is back where it was before the DA took over in 2016, and we’re going to have to work hard to fix this again if we get voted back into office there.

Contrast this with what happened in the City of Cape Town after the 2006 elections. There we also entered into a shaky seven-party coalition for our first term, but in the next election the DA managed to win an outright majority, and then an even bigger majority in 2016.

What this meant for the city was three terms, back-to-back, under a DA government. And that is when you start to see the big progress – the long-term plans to unleash the long-term vision.

Today, the City of Cape Town stands head and shoulders above any other metro in the country, on every single criteria, whether it’s clean audits, service delivery stats or the ease of doing business in the city.

Importantly, it is also seen this way by businesses, and this is reflected in both the amount of new investments in the city and the metro’s unemployment rate.

Similarly, here in Gauteng, Midvaal has now had two full terms of uninterrupted DA government, and it now stands as a beacon of good governance and service delivery excellence compared to its ANC-run neighbours.

When you look at the whole country, the DA governs less than 10% of municipalities, but the five best run municipalities all have DA governments.

On the other hand, all the failing municipalities that are under severe financial distress are run by the ANC.

There are so many of them that you can’t even single them out and place them under provincial administration. The only cure for these municipalities is a change of government.

South Africans unhappy with the way their cities and towns are run need to discover the power to fire and hire that comes with every vote.

If you want a city that works, you need to hire a government that works. It’s that simple.

And that is why we have chosen, as our campaign slogan for these 2021 Local Government Elections, a claim that no other party in South Africa can make: The DA gets things done.

When it comes to governing a town or city, that is the only thing that matters. Do things work? Are services delivered? Are broken things fixed?

We have clearly demonstrated, wherever the DA governs, that more things get done.

Now this doesn’t mean we are satisfied with our progress. We know that there are many things we can and must do better, and our governments spend every waking hour trying to improve the lives of citizens.

But objectively, the DA in government is in a different league to every other party. And that is what we want to bring to Johannesburg on the 1st of November.

This city deserves no less than the best. The almost 6 million people who call this metro home deserve no less than the best.

And in Mayor Mpho Phalatse, I believe they will get the best.

Spend the next seven weeks getting to know her. She’s going to be hitting the streets every day, bringing her offer to Joburg’s many communities. Hear what she has to say and see if this aligns with your idea of a Johannesburg that works.

And if it does, give her and a DA government the mandate it needs to turn this city around.

I believe Mpho is the Mayor Johannesburg has been waiting for.

I believe she has what it takes to lead a government here that will restore Johannesburg to its rightful place as the brightest light in Africa.

Thank you.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Sisulu’s Water and Sanitation National Rapid Response Task Team spends R3,73 million on travel and laundry

The DA calls on the Minister of Human Settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi and the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu to immediately disband the two National Rapid Response Task Teams (NRRTT’s) that were established by the previous Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu.

Members of the two controversial NRRTT’s were personally appointed by the previous Minister – many without even having submitted CV’s – and include the likes of ex Fees Must Fall leader, Chumane Maxwele; ex PAC leader, ka Plaatjie; and ex COPE Regional leader, Mbulelo Ncedana.

It has long been suspected that that Minister Sisulu may have used state resources to staff herself a political war room disguised as a “rapid response team”. These concerns persist in the absence of any concrete evidence of what governance related outcomes these units have achieved in the past two years.

Despite on-going calls to disband these units, as well as formal referrals to both the Public Service Commission and the Public Protector by the DA, these Units have continued to cost the tax-payer more than R16 million each year on salaries alone.

A recent DA Parliamentary question has now revealed that between March 2019 and the State of Disaster, the Water and Sanitation NRRTT alone has billed the almost bankrupt Department over R3.7 million in travel and accommodation expenses.

This comes in addition to information revealed by the DA yesterday that Sisulu’s top aide, Mphumzi Mdekazi has single handedly claimed more than R1,76 million in travel expenses since May 2019.

It’s inconceivable that a gang of politically appointed fat cats has been permitted to spend millions of rands of taxpayers money on lavish travel, accommodation and personal laundry services.

Below are some the examples of the expenses that were incurred by the National Rapid Response Task Team from 1 March and during National State of Disaster period: 

Name of official Category Cost
Mr Zolile Burnsncamashe Accommodation/ domestic air travel/ Car hire and transfers R 306 296
Mr Mzwakhe Masoue Accommodation/ domestic air travel/ Car hire and transfers  R 468 446
Mr Maxwele Chumani Accommodation/ domestic air travel/ Car hire and transfers R 335 875
Mr Likhaya Ngqezana Accommodation/ domestic air travel/ Car hire and transfers R 543 363
Mr Simphiwe Ngxakeni Accommodation/ domestic air travel/ Car hire and laundry R 386 727
Ms Suliwe Shilwayi Accommodation/ domestic air travel/ Car hire and transfers R 488 736

See full break down here

The DA will again write to Ministers Senzo and Kubayi, requesting their assistance in disbanding these units once and for all. We will furthermore refer all related travel claims to the Auditor General for full investigation.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

DA files papers to have Zuma’s medical parole reviewed

Please find attached soundbite by DA Federal Leader, John Steenhuisen MP, pictures here, here, here and here and a video here.

I have today applied to the Gauteng High Court to review and set aside Correctional Services Commissioner Arthur Fraser’s decision to place Former President Jacob Zuma on medical parole.

I believe the decision is unlawful for at least two reasons.

First, it was taken against the recommendation of the Medical Parole Advisory Board not to grant medical parole to Mr. Zuma.

Second, it was taken for an ulterior purpose not permitted by section 79 of the Correctional Services Act and Regulations (which govern the granting of medical parole), and not rationally connected to the purpose of medical parole or the information before the Commissioner.

Mr. Zuma was imprisoned for contempt of court so serious that it constituted a near-existential threat to the authority of the judicial system. In the words of the Court:

“Indeed, if we do not intervene immediately to send a clear message to the public that this conduct stands to be rebuked in the strongest of terms, there is a real and imminent risk that a mockery will be made of this Court and the judicial process in the eyes of the public. The vigour with which Mr. Zuma is peddling his disdain of this Court and the judicial process carries the further risk that he will inspire or incite others to similarly defy this Court, the judicial process and the rule of law.”

Fraser’s parole decision harms the court in exactly the same way that Mr. Zuma’s contempt of court did. It again makes a mockery of the judicial process, sending the message to every South African that, as long as you are powerful and politically connected, you need not fear punishment for breaking the law. If you are sent to prison for your crimes, you will be let out well before the end of your sentence on “medical parole”.

It is a terrible indictment on President Ramaphosa that he not only failed to speak out against this egregious decision, but that he openly welcomed it.

Worse still, he facilitated it by deploying the deeply compromised Arthur Fraser to the position of Commissioner of Correctional Services in the first place.

President Ramaphosa transferred Arthur Fraser from his position as Director-General of the State Security Agency to the post of National Commissioner of Correctional Services in 2018, knowing full well the many crimes Fraser stood accused of, including the parallel intelligence network he set up to serve Mr. Zuma’s personal interests.

The ulterior purpose of placing Mr. Zuma on medical parole is, of course, a desperate attempt to placate the Zuma faction of the ANC ahead of the election.

Ramaphosa continues to put the interests of the ANC ahead of the interests of South Africa, even if it risks destroying the rule of law, the very foundation of our democracy.

The Democratic Alliance will use every means at our disposal to protect the Constitution and the rule of law from destruction by the ANC. And we will use every means at our disposal to fight the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment, which enabled this abuse of power.

Since 1998, we have warned South Africa that cadre deployment will destroy South Africa. Back then, we were derided as alarmist. Now, the evidence lies all around us.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.