Month: September 2021

Hierdie opiniestuk deur DA MP Cilliers Brink verskyn oorspronklik op Netwerk24 op 8 September 2021.

Verlede week se uitspraak van die konstitusionele hof het soos ’n bom in die ANC se gesig ontplof. Dis nog te vroeg om te sê, maar die skade is dalk onherstelbaar.

In die laaste munisipale verkiesing in 2016 het die DA die ANC verbygesteek in Tshwane en Nelson Mandelabaai, en die ANC tot onder 50% gedruk in Johannesburg en Ekurhuleni.

Maar in 2021 kan die ANC, by verstek, wyke en hele munisipaliteite verloor omdat die party nie genoeg kandidate benoem het nie.

Dit sal afhang van die vertolking van die konstitusionele hof se uitspraak, veral die vraag of die ANC toegelaat sal word om sy kandidatelyste aan te vul.

Hoe dit ook al sy, die ANC is só deurmekaar en verdeeld dat hy kwalik sy getrouste kiesers kan begeester om in groot getalle te gaan stem.

Dit maak die politiek baie opwindend.

En so sien die Demokratiese Alliansie (DA) ’n kans om ons winste van 2016 te konsolideer en 50% plus een te kry in verskeie voormalige ANC-rade.

Maar opposisiekiesers moenie te gerus raak nie. Die ANC is verswak, maar nog nie verslaan nie. Die ANC het steeds sy tentakels in die meeste staatsinstellings en staatskaste.

Kaders en comrades word beloon met poste en tenders. Arm kiesers word óf omgekoop met kospakkies óf afgepers met die afsny van welsynstoelaes.

En dan is daar oorgenoeg kommentators en beriggewers wat meer belangstel in die splinter in die DA se oog as die balk in die ANC se oog.

Onbekwaam vang sy baas

Ondanks sy klomp voordele kon die ANC nie volledige kandidatelyste opstel en betyds indien vir vanjaar se munisipale verkiesing nie.

Die probleem het egter vroeër begin. Nog voor die derde vlaag van Covid-19 en die KZN-onluste kon die ANC nie ’n kiesersregistrasieveldtog van stapel stuur nie.

Terwyl die sukses van enige politieke party tot ’n groot mate afhang van hoeveel van sy ondersteuners hy by die stembus kan kry, het ’n mens skaars ’n ANC-plakkaat gesien wat registrasie aanmoedig.

En in ’n stadium het ANC-leiers besef dat dit hulle nie sal pas vir Suid-Afrikaners om vanjaar te stem nie.

Covid-19 was die verskoning, nie die rede nie. Soos gewoonlik was daar oorgenoeg nuttige idiote wat saamgesing het in die ANC-koor.

Die ANC het dus gereken op die krag van sy tentakels. Die grondwet sou gebuig word om die ANC te pas.

Die Verkiesingskommissie (nee, nie “onafhanklik” nie) was inskiklik. Maar die grondwetlike hof was nie.

En selfs al is daar ’n skuiwergat in die uitspraak wat die ANC sal toelaat om sy kandidatelyste aan te vul, sal die poespas binne die ANC die party steeds stemme kos.

Maar die ANC het twee baie goeie vriende in hierdie verkiesing wat hom dalk net genoeg hulp sal verleen om sy magsposisie in baie dorpe en stede te behou.

Op moedverloor se vlakte

Eerstens hoop die ANC dat opposisiekiesers nie sal stem nie omdat hulle reeds ANC-oormag aanvaar het, of gewoon nie meer glo in die moontlikheid van verandering by die stembus nie.

In plekke waar die DA in 2016 nie kon wen nie of op onbetroubare koalisies moes steun, hoop die ANC dat opposisie-kiesers moed verloor het.

“Die ANC sal altyd wen”, en “niks sal verander nie” is baiemaal selfvervullende profesieë, veral in munisipaliteite waar die meerderheid na enige kant toe kan swaai soos Potchefstroom (JB Marks), Krugersdorp (Mogale City) en Sasolburg (Metsimaholo).

Spits ook jou ore vir stellings soos “alle politieke partye is dieselfde”, veral as dit op SABC-radiostasies gemaak word. Dis ANC-verskansingspropaganda.

Versplintering

Tweedens sal die ANC reken op die versplintering van die opposisiestem. Hoe meer mededingers die ANC het, hoe minder hoef die party hom oor elk van hulle te bekommer.

’n Scenario waar Afrikaanse kiesers, Engelse kiesers, bruin kiesers, Christen-kiesers en Moslem-kiesers elk vir ’n afsonderlike party stem, is presies wat die ANC wil hê.

Die meeste randpartye groei ten koste van die DA, nie die ANC nie. In baie gevalle is hulle ook reeds ANC-koalisievennote.

Good se leier dien in pres. Cyril Ramaphosa se kabinet. Die Patriotic Alliance en Al Jama-ah hou die ANC aan bewind in Johannesburg.

Dieselfde rol word in Ekurhuleni deur Izak Berg se Independent Ratepayers Association (IRASA) gespeel. Vir sy gedienstigheid is Berg met ’n komiteevoorsitterskap beloon. Daar sal baie Berge in hierdie verkiesing wees.

Wie bly dan oor in die townships?

Vanuit die ANC se oogpunt het die versplintering van die opposisiestem egter ’n onbedoelde gevolg: net die EFF bly oor om ANC-stemme in die townships op te raap.

Die EFF is meer van ’n ANC-faksie as ’n opregte opposisie-party, en as die randpartye die DA in sy eie wyke besig hou, is dit die EFF wat in groot getalle aan swart kiesers se deure gaan klop.

Maar dit hoef nie so te wees nie. Die beste reaksie op ’n verswakte ANC is ’n versterkte DA wat opposisiekiesers kan verenig en wen.

Please find attached soundbite by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP.

The State Security Agency (SSA) has denied the DA’s request to make public the intelligence report(s) which the then State Security Minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, claimed to have handed over to law enforcement officials ahead of the violence and looting in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng in July.

DA Leader, John Steenhuisen, submitted an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to the SSA on 27 July to access the report(s) which Police Minister, Bheki Cele, categorically denied having received.

The Minister of State Security was summarily removed from that position after the violence, and to this date it has not been established which of the Ministers’ versions of events is correct.

The DA is not satisfied by the SSA’s decision to not release these reports. The decision to hide behind Section 10 of the Intelligence Services Act and Section 44 of PAIA — is cowardice and highlights the State’s desire to continue to keep the veil of secrecy around the catostrophic events in July. It is this very level of secrecy the High Level Review Panel report decried and obviously the reports would have been redacted to protect the names of operatives, sources and other sensitive information.

However, complete transparency is required in terms of who knew what and when as well as how our security cluster twiddled their thumbs as KwaZulu-Natal’s industries and livlihoods went up in flames.

The DA remains firm in our view that this information is in the public interest. South Africans must know the contents of the supposed report and any intelligence information related to the ANC-sponsored violence which wreaked havoc on communities and businesses in KZN and Gauteng.

If the State is already hiding information on the intelligence reports surrounding the violence in the two provinces, we can be almost certain that the Parliamentary inquiry into these events will merely be an attempt to whitewash the ANC’s failures.

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

Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Dr Leon Schreiber MP.

The DA today reveals new evidence which indicates that the management of Stellenbosch University (SU) secretly feels that there is “nothing wrong” with prohibiting Afrikaans students from speaking their mother language in residences and on campus.

At the same time that SU rector Wim de Villiers was trying to do damage control after the DA originally revealed the prohibition on the use of Afrikaans in residences and on campus in early March, the director of student affairs, Pieter Kloppers, was telling student leaders at the Minerva residence that there was “nothing wrong” with the prohibition on the use of Afrikaans.

The DA obtained this latest information after we submitted a request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to access a report by Deloitte into the alleged ban on Afrikaans. The report indicates that Kloppers met with members of Minerva’s house committee on 9 March 2021 after first-year students complained about being banned from speaking Afrikaans in the residence, in their rooms and even on park benches.

According to the Deloitte report, Kloppers told student leaders during this meeting that they “were not doing anything wrong” by enforcing an English-only policy. Following this admission by Kloppers, members of the committee were reportedly “upset that, despite knowing that Minerva had not done anything wrong” by banning Afrikaans, “SU had not come out to support [them].”

On the same day, first-year students were also told that, during the so-called “welcoming period,” there was “an expectation that English would be spoken, and that SU expects that English would be spoken.”

The report further reveals that student leaders at Minerva already decided on 4 March 2021 to instruct first-year students that they should “pack their bags” if they spoke “an exclusionary language.” According to the report, Afrikaans first-years were repeatedly threatened that they would be excluded “to promote inclusivity.”

It is also striking that the Deloitte report explicitly recommends that “students should be advised of the language rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, including the fact that all official languages should enjoy parity of esteem and equality.” In a statement about the Deloitte report, SU management however chose to ignore this recommendation entirely, which obviously indicates that they are not planning to implement it.

This recommendation by the Deloitte report is also in line with the DA’s demand that the SU must make it clear in their revised language policy that no person may under any circumstances be prohibited from speaking the language of their own choice. SU has thus far refused to make this commitment, which serves as further evidence that the management is not interested in protecting the language rights of non-English-speaking students.

The DA believes that the SU’s decision to ignore this evidence and recommendation further erodes the legality of the SU’s proposed new language policy because it aims to simply perpetuate the practices of the 2016 language policy – which led to a range of violations against Afrikaans-speaking students. The DA continues to prepare for possible litigation against this transparent effort by the SU to eradicate Afrikaans at the institution.

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

Vind aangeheg ‘n klankgreep deur dr. Leon Schreiber LP.

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Die Demokratiese Alliansie (DA) onthul vandag nuwe bewyse wat daarop dui dat die bestuur van die Universiteit Stellenbosch (US) agter geslote deure glo dat daar “niks verkeerd” daarmee is om Afrikaanse studente te verhoed om hul moedertaal in koshuise en op kampus te praat nie.

In weerwil van die US-rektor, Wim de Villiers, se halfhartige pogings om skadebeheer toe te pas nadat die DA die verbod op Afrikaans in koshuise en op kampus in Maart onthul het, het Pieter Kloppers, direkteur van studentesake aan die US, terselfdertyd agter geslote deure aan studenteleiers van die Minerva-dameskoshuis gesê dat daar eintlik “niks verkeerd” is met die koshuis se verbod op die gebruik van Afrikaans nie.

Die DA het deur middel van ’n aansoek ingevolge die Wet op die Bevordering van Toegang tot Inligting (algemeen bekend as “PAIA”) ’n kopie van ’n ondersoekverslag deur Deloitte bekom. Die verslag dui aan dat Kloppers op 9 Maart 2021 met die huiskomitee van Minerva vergader het nadat eerstejaarstudente gekla het dat hul verbied word om Afrikaans te praat in die koshuis, in hul kamers en selfs op parkiebanke op kampus.

Volgens die Deloitte-verslag het Kloppers tydens hierdie vergadering gesê dat die huiskomitee “niks verkeerd doen” deur ’n beleid van slegs-Engels af te dwing nie. Na aanleiding van hierdie erkenning was lede van die komitee hewig ontsteld dat die US-bestuur nie openlik hul steun aan die verbod op Afrikaans wou toesê nie “ten spyte daarvan dat hul [self] geglo het dat Minerva niks verkeerd doen nie.”

Op dieselfde dag is daar aan eerstejaars gesê dat, tydens die sogenaamde “verwelkomingstydperk,” daar ’n verwagting is dat slegs Engels gepraat sou word, en dat die US verwag dat slegs Engels gepraat sal word.

Die verslag onthul verder dat studenteleiers van Minerva reeds op 4 Maart 2021 besluit het om eerstejaarstudente in te lig dat hul uit die koshuis se verwelkomingsprogram geskop sou word “as hul ’n uitsluitende taal wil praat.” Volgens die verslag is die dreigement dat Afrikaanssprekende eerstejaars uitgesluit sou word “om inklusiwiteit te bevorder” herhaaldelik aan nuwelingstudente gemaak.

Ook opvallend is dat die Deloitte-verslag uitdruklik aanbeveel dat “studente ingelig moet word oor die taalregte soos vervat in die Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika, insluitend dat alle amptelike tale geregtig is op gelykheid en gelyke aansien.” In ’n verklaring oor die Deloitte-verslag het die US-bestuur egter verkies om hierdie aanbeveling geheel en al te ignoreer, wat daarop dui dat hul nie van plan is om dit te implementeer nie.

Hierdie aanbeveling in die Deloitte-verslag strook ook met die DA se eis dat die US dit in hul hersiene taalbeleid duidelik maak dat géén persoon onder enige omstandighede verhoed mag word om die taal van hul eie keuse te praat nie. Die US het tot dusver ook geweier om hierdie eenvoudige onderneming te maak, wat as verdere bewys dien dat die bestuur in der waarheid nie daarin belangstel om die taalregte van Afrikaanssprekendes te beskerm nie.

Die DA glo dat die US se besluit om hierdie getuienis en aanbeveling te ignoreer verder daartoe bydra dat die US se beoogde nuwe taalbeleid onwettig en irrasioneel is omdat dit eenvoudig die praktyke van die 2016-taalbeleid – waaronder ’n hele reeks vergrype teen Afrikaanse studente gepleeg is – voortsit. Die DA berei tans onverpoosd voor op moontlike regsaksie teen hierdie deursigtige plan van die US om Afrikaans tot uitsterwing te verdoem.

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

The DA will be taking legal steps to have the decision to grant medical parole to Jacob Zuma reviewed, as we believe this decision to be patently unlawful. We will, by way of an application to court, seek the record of decision that led to the granting of this parole.

If it turns out that the National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, used his discretion to override the decision of a review panel, there is a specific process he would have had to follow.

This process includes obtaining a full medical report by independent doctors over and above Jacob Zuma’s own doctors. Such a report would need to be presented to the parole board and the relevant doctors, and only then can the Commissioner use his discretion to override the decision. Our review will seek to determine whether these steps took place and in the correct order.

It is crucial that this process is not manipulated for personal or political gain, particularly following the debacle twelve years ago when Schabir Shaik was granted medical parole on equally spurious grounds.

If our suspicions are confirmed by this record of decision, it will prove once again why the ANC should not be allowed to deploy its cadres to key positions across the state.

In the case of Arthur Fraser, his murky past as Zuma’s compromised spy boss should have disqualified him immediately from his promotion to prisons boss. It is highly unlikely that this deployment by President Ramaphosa, where he could continue to do the ANC’s bidding, was a coincidence.

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

Please find an attached soundbite by Michael Cardo MP. 

• Pictures can be found here, here, here and here. 

This morning the DA laid a charge with the South African Police Service (SAPS) against the ANC over the ruling party’s alleged failure to pay Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) contributions to the state.

This follows a claim by disgruntled staffers at Luthuli House that since 2018 the ANC has been deducting UIF contributions from workers but not paying them over to the government. If true, this would constitute a criminal offence in terms of the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act of 2002 and the Tax Administration Act of 2011.

Ten days ago we wrote to the Minster of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, and asked him to clarify whether the allegations were true. As the responsible Minister he has a duty to account and to announce what action he intends taking against the ANC if it has violated the law.

The DA has to date not received a response from the Minister other than an acknowledgement of receipt from his office.

Failure by an employer to pay over UIF contributions, employees’ tax (PAYE), or skills development levies to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is a breach of the law and a criminal offence. In August 2019, the High Court in Pretoria ordered state-owned arms manufacturer Denel to pay over UIF- and PAYE deductions to SARS by the end of that month, following an application by the trade union, Solidarity.

Over the past 18 months, many employers have been battered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated lockdowns. But they have continued to meet their statutory obligations in terms of UIF and PAYE payments. It is incumbent upon all employers to pay over UIF deductions to SARS. After all, this money ultimately belongs to the workers.

As the ruling party, the ANC has a special duty to serve as an exemplar to other employers. And as the ANC is being accused of criminal behaviour by its own staff members, the matter requires urgent investigation by SAPS.

The fact that the ANC reportedly owes SARS over R80 million in outstanding PAYE contributions, and an unknown quantum in UIF contributions, reveals the depths of the ruling party’s incompetence and dysfunctionality. The ANC shows complete contempt for the institutions of state. If the party can’t administer its own payroll properly, then it is not fit to govern or to lead a modern industrial economy.

The DA has pressed these charges with SAPS for the fact of the matter is that if the DA does not intervene, workers run the risk of foregoing their rightful benefits.

The ANC is incapable of doing the right thing. In fact, it simply can’t get things done – from registering its local government election candidates on time to obeying the very laws it passes in Parliament. The ANC should face the consequences for its criminal uselessness, both at the polls in the forthcoming municipal elections and in court.

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

The DA notes with interest that the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) proposes to come to some sort of secret settlement with Steinhoff on the basis of a philanthropic motivation of saving the company and a limited number of jobs, all at the expense of the pensioners and members of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF). How easy it is for those taking massive PIC salaries and bonuses to give away the hard-earned money of pensioners.

The PIC must have one, and only one, motivation in this case and that is to recover as much of the R9.35 billion foolishly and perhaps illegally invested in Steinhoff as it can.

This PIC settlement with Steinhoff comes after nearly four years since the December 2017 Steinhoff crash that will likely go down as the biggest corporate fraud to date in the history of South Africa. An event that prompted Christo Weise the then Chairperson of the Steinhoff board to refer to Markus Jooste, the then Steinhoff CEO, as “that F….ng psychopath”. Despite the passing of nearly four years there is yet to be a single person, not even Jooste, apparently the mastermind behind the Steinhoff fraud, who has even been charged let alone convicted and jailed.

In the early stages of the Steinhoff case the Steinhoff board made the Hawks investigation very difficult as they refused to provide a copy of the PWC report into the Steinhoff malfeasance to the Hawks. Even today it seems that a full un-redacted copy of the PWC has not been provided to the Hawks. This to “protect” Steinhoff from civil claims.

Given the very limited information provided by Steinhoff and the lack of any significant progress in holding the Steinhoff executive of the time accountable it seems premature that the PIC is willing to settle secretly with Steinhoff. There is no clear picture as to what assets Jooste has, either in properties like his mansion at Hermanus, perhaps squirrelled away in Swiss bank accounts or perhaps moved into other people’s names and yet the PIC is ready to settle with Steinhoff.

The DA will submit a written question to the Minister of Police to request a report on the progress made by the Hawks into the Steinhoff accounting fraud case.

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

Please find an attached soundbite by Chantel King MP

The DA calls on the President to sign a proclamation to allow the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe the conduct of the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Blade Nzimande, following the startling allegations made against him by the suspended Director-General of the department, Gwebinkundla Qonde.

Qonde has accused the Minister of procurement violations and interferences with appointments as well as the operations in the Department of Higher Editing and Training. Qonde also accused Nzimande of encouraging him to flout procurement rules in relation to the NSFAS laptop debacle.

These allegations warrant an independent investigation by the SIU to test the substance of the claims made. The DA, therefore, urges the President to sign a proclamation without delay.

The DA has noted the ongoing dispute between Minister Nzimande and DG Qonde which has resulted in mudslinging. However, the allegations against the Minister cannot be ignored by President Ramaphosa. Only an independent investigation can fully test the veracity of these allegations.

The President cannot continue to protect his Ministers from being held to account. It time the President to do the right thing ans suspend the Minister until such time an investigation has been concluded.

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

The DA has briefed its lawyers to explore all available legal avenues to oppose the decision by the IEC to reopen its candidate registration process.

 The IEC today announced its revised election timetable and a registration weekend after the Constitutional Court dismissed its application to have the Local Government Elections postponed until next year. Instead, the Court granted a 5-day delay.

This 5-day window has given the IEC an excuse to reopen the candidate registration process to allow the ANC to register the candidates where it failed to do so by the deadline of 23 August in 93 municipalities. 

While the Constitutional Court judgment underscored the importance of a voter registration period, which we welcome, we strongly object to the use of the window to re-open candidate registration. 

The two are clearly distinct from each other.  There had been no prior weekend dedicated to voter registration, because this was cancelled in July due to the Covid spike.

However, there was a clear deadline for candidate registration, which the ANC missed.  

It cannot now demand a second bite at the cherry.  This has never been granted before when other parties have requested leeway on an IEC deadline, resulting in the NFP’s total exclusion from the 2016 local election, and the IFP’s partial exclusion from certain wards in the 2011 election.

What we saw today gives the ANC an advantage that other parties have never enjoyed.  It is a transparent strategy to benefit the ANC, and would go some way to explaining why the ANC withdrew its appeal to the Electoral Court to have the candidate registration deadline lifted.  Why would they have done that if they did not have a fallback position.  Now their “Plan B” has been revealed.

However, the DA believes this manipulation was specifically precluded by the ConCourt’s judgment, for which we are very grateful, and we will seek to have it formally stopped. 

 The IEC cannot be used by the governing party to do its bidding. This is just another manifestation of the evils of State Capture by the ANC of state institutions. The DA will not hesitate to fight the IEC and the ANC in their blatant attempts to manipulate our Constitution and our electoral processes.