Author: azolam

Attention broadcasters: Please find attached a soundbite

On Friday, 26 May 2023, in my capacity as Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Premier and Constitutional Matters, I tabled the Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill. 

This Bill is motivated by a recognition that, both inside and outside of the Western Cape’s constitutional competence, the National Government is unable or unwilling to act in the best interests of the residents of the Western Cape. Hence, in order to act in the best interests of its residents, the Western Cape Parliament and Executive must identify areas in which the assertion of provincial powers is necessary and explore all available legal steps to provide services to its residents.

The goal of the Bill is to create an over-arching framework within which subject-specific provincial legislation, proposed national legislation and requests for the delegation of national competencies will be considered.

This Bill therefore seeks to do the following:

1. Identify and remedy failures of the National Government; 
2. Promote the assertion of existing provincial powers; 
3. Actively seek the assignment or delegation of additional power;
4. Mandate the Western Cape Government to prepare reports and draft bills to fulfil those objects; and 
5. Create a mechanism for the Western Cape Parliament to introduce national legislation in the National Council of Provinces through its delegates.

If passed, the Western Cape Provincial Powers Bill will play an important role in ensuring that the Province assert existing powers or seek additional powers in the areas of Policing; Public Transport, including municipal transport; Energy, including generation, transmission and reticulation; Trade, especially international trade; and Harbours. 

The Bill will be deliberated on in the next meeting of the Standing Committee on Friday, 9 June 2023, following which the normal legislative process will run. 

The DA remains committed to the devolution of national powers to capable provinces in order to bring quality service delivery and good governance to communities.

Be part of the mission to rescue South Africa, register correctly to vote now at check.da.org.za

Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Dr Leon Schreiber MP.

Please find attached the parliamentary questions and the replies: Cape Town and Pretoria.

New information obtained by the Democratic Alliance (DA) through parliamentary questions reveals that, over a period of two years, the ANC government spent R93 million on maintaining the 97 mansions, valued at nearly R1 billion, occupied by its Ministers and Deputy Ministers in Pretoria and Cape Town. The DA is submitting a complaint to the Public Protector to investigate what appears to be brazen corruption and tender inflation in the maintenance of Ministerial Mansions.

This means that the government spent an average of nearly R1 million on each mansion in just two years. The expenses incurred were for renovations, repairs, municipal rates, and services including free water and electricity.

Many of the expenses bear tell-tale signs of massive tender corruption. At one house in Cape Town, the kitchen was renovated at a cost of over R1.4 million. For an ANC cadre housed in Albert Street, Waterkloof, the State paid over R240 000 to fumigate cockroaches – charged through three different invoices. The replacement of a fallen curtain rail at a house in Johann Rissik Drive in Waterkloof Ridge cost R54 000. And the replacement of light bulbs at a ministerial mansion located in Clark Street in Waterkloof cost over R19 000.

While these appear to be clear cut cases of tender inflation, it does at least finally answer the question of how many Rands it takes for ANC cadres to replace a lightbulb.

Generators to exempt Ministers from loadshedding

One of the biggest components of the R50 million spent on maintenance at ministerial mansions in Pretoria and Cape Town was to make sure that ANC cadres are protected from loadshedding. While South Africans suffer under stage 6 load shedding, the same Ministers and Deputy Ministers who caused this crisis are completely insulated from its consequences. The information obtained by the DA shows that, over the past two years, the ANC government used taxpayers’ money to “refill diesel generators,” “service generators” or “repair generators” at ministerial homes at least 297 different times. On one occasion, the ANC spent nearly half a million Rand to install a generator at a ministerial house in Moreleta Park.

These expenses also have clear marks of possible corruption, with the State routinely spending over R25 000 to “refill” a generator.

Swimming pools and air conditioners

On at least 388 different occasions, taxpayers were forced to cough up for upgrades and repairs to swimming pools at ministerial mansions. This was the single most common maintenance expense to ensure that ANC cadres can cool-off in the pool after a long day of looting.

Once cadres had done some laps in the lap of luxury, they are further kept cool by air conditioners courtesy of the people of South Africa. On at least 90 different occasions, taxpayers’ money was used to install, fix and maintain air conditioners.

While South Africans suffer under some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime, the ANC spared no expense to keep themselves safe, spending over R191 000 to fix a broken camera on one occasion. Electric fences at ministerial mansions also often cost R25 000 to service. On at least 84 occasions over the past two years, the people of South Africa paid to fix electric fences for members of Cyril Ramaphosa’s executive.

Free water, electricity and municipal rates

The remainder – over R43 million – was spent on paying for property rates, refuse removal, water and electricity at the 97 mansions.

The DA is reporting these severely inflated expenses to the Public Protector. It appears that ANC cadres are even using the luxury mansions where they live like Rockstars to commit tender corruption. We have also already tabled the Cut Cabinet Perks Bill in Parliament, which will bring transparency and oversight to the process of including benefits in the Ministerial Handbook. These perks cost South Africans over R1 billion per year. Our country simply cannot afford to keep paying for the luxury lifestyles of Ministers who live like Rockstars, while loadshedding, unemployment and poverty are at crisis levels.

Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered by the DA Deputy Federal Chair Solly Malatsi at the DA KwaZulu-Natal Congress in Durban today.

Sanibonani!

Anisibahle!

Democrats, we gather here just a few days after commemorating Freedom Day.

As is the case whenever I reflect about Freedom Day, I am reminded of where we come from as a country.

The reality is that millions of South Africans don’t fully enjoy their freedom as they don’t have jobs, don’t feel safe in their communities and don’t have access to the most basic services they are entitled to by law.

Right here in Kwazulu-Natal we have a non-caring government whose appetite for corruption has left millions of learners starving because their crony couldn’t deliver food to schools.

Abantwana be sekolo ba bulalwa yindlala nge nxa ye corruption.

We live in a country where 8 – 12 hours of loadshedding has become a daily norm while thousands of small businesses are closing because they can’t afford to power their businesses with generators.

We live in a country where the unemployment rate is 32.7% yet there are young people who aren’t registered to vote for a government that will create the enabling environment for job creation to thrive.

We live in a country where at least 70 women are raped daily while the Minister of Police shoots off his mouth saying a rape victim was “lucky” to be raped by one man.

This, democrats, is the greatest betrayal of a generation.

Who would have thought that freedom fighters would later inflict the most vicious assault on the dignity of poor people!

Democrats, it is only the DA that can save South Africa from the inhumane abuses of our freedoms by the ANC.

Not only do we have the best ideas to solve our country’s problems.

We also have the best people to lead governments that deliver services to all people.

From Umgeni to Midvaal. Kouga to Cape Town, Thabazimbi to Stellenbosch; it is DA governments that are leading performers in delivering quality basic services for all people.

It is DA governments that are enhancing the freedoms of poor South Africans by subsidizing them with the largest basket of free basic services.

It is DA governments that are restoring the dignity of residents who have lost hope in the ability of local governments to transform their lives.

Democrats, we are on the brink of history, not only in this province but throughout the country.

The Moonshot Pact that has been initiated by our federal leader is the most practical pathway to deliver the DA to government nationally.

Now more than ever, we are very close to dislodging the ANC from power.
So you need to be vigilant over the tenders in your municipalities and provincial departments.

The ANC knows very well they will be out of office in 2024 so they will use their remaining days in power as their last opportunity to steal.

And they will do so shamelessly.

Labantu abasa nawo namahloni!

So please scrutinise every major contract in all government departments and municipalities.

We must expose every trick as they will try to channel millions to their fellow comrades and cronies, to fund their elections campaign next year.

Democratic, internal elections are a symbol of a vibrant party unlike the others parties that are owned by their owners and not members.

Some of them appoint and fire leaders based on the mood of the owner.

They can’t even tell us how their leaders will be elected.

In the DA, we hold our leaders accountable through regular elections.
We aren’t afraid of going to congresses.

We trust our internal processes so much that we can even bring congress dates forward.

Democrats, the DA KZN is one of the best exhibitions of what is so right about our party.

No wonder you won the Best Province Award at our federal congress.

So whatever the outcome of this congress will, please leave that electionitis virus here.

For we are going to need each other to win this province.

We dare not be distracted by internal dynamics.

Everything we do from today onwards must be geared towards making sure we end up in government in this province next year.

Democrats, I want to challenge you to ask yourselves how do your daily actions help advance the cause of the DA to govern nationally.

To achieve this and to never fall into the comfort of complacency, we must demand the best from our leaders as we do of ourselves.

Democrats, sekusele kancane, 2024 is here.

We need to focus on the issues that matter to voters and not our egos.

Phambiki DA Phambili!

Note to Editors:  The following speech was delivered today by the DA Chief Whip Siviwe Gwarube at the DA’s KwaZulu-Natal Congress in Durban.

Good morning, Democrats!

It is always great to be back in KwaZulu Natal,

It is even more exciting now since the growth of the DA in the province is undeniable;

We are breaking new ground!

We are doing what many said could not be done;

Taking on Umngeni Municipality – the first DA government in KZN was only the beginning.

The people of South Africa are making the connection: there is a direct correlation between how you vote and how you live;

The people of Mphuphumeni will testify that they made a different choice in 2021 and their lives have changed for the better!

This will be the story of many around KZN as the DA grows and threatens to form a government here in 2024.

Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come!

The DA’s time has come.

The ANC’s time has come to an end!

But, democrats it is simply not enough to tell voters that the ANC has failed.

It is not enough to remind them that they have been betrayed by the party of liberation.

They know this!

They feel this everyday of their lives.

They know it every time the lights go off!

They know it every time another corruption scandal breaks!

They know it every time we are told our government is bringing accused war criminals to South Africa!

They know it every time they cannot afford to buy food for their families.

We now need to show them that the ANC may be dying; but their dreams do not have to die with it.

We need to show them that the DA can do for them what we have done in Cape Town, Midvaal, Koega and right next door, it Umngeni.

We need to tell them about how we managed to get the Western Cape to produce 90% of all new jobs in the last quarter,

We need to tell them that 7/10 young people being without work is a crime.

And that the indignity of joblessness will be fought by the DA,

That the 30 million South Africans living in poverty will be a priority for the DA,

And we need to tell them how we have added thousands of additional police officers where SAPS has failed the people of Cape Town.

The people of South Africa are yearning for change.

They are in desperate need of hope and a credible government that will deliver on promises made.

That is why we cannot be emphasise enough – apho kuphethe khona iDA ubomu babantu bungcono.

Apho kuphethe urhulumente we DA, municipalities are turned around to give better services to people who never knew that government is meant to get the basics right.

Kwindawo esiphethe kuzo, loadshedding will be a thing of the past.

Abantu bethu deserve better than the ANC.

But we will need to go door to door, street by street inspiring people to not lose faith in our democracy, and to vote for the DA.

Their anger with the ANC must result in them voting differently instead of staying at home.

This is why we need to make this compelling offer to them.

Asithethi nje kungenzeki.

Asibi mali kaRhulumente.

Asiniki misebenze abantu bombutho othile.

Asinyanzeli abantu abatsha abakhangela imisebenzi balale no- councillor kuzo bazofumana I-EPWP.

Asifuni kunikeza abantu oR350, sifuna bafumane imisebenzi.

But democrats, isikhathi siphelile,

Ukhetho luka 2024 lusondele,

We need to go out there and tell people what a DA government will do for them and encourage them to vote!

Asilali.

Sisempini.

Ubangaba we don’t save South Africa in 2024 sakufika ku 2029 sesingena lizwe

So let’s go out there, and do our bit for our country.

Let’s go tell voters akuphelanga mathuba!

They have one last opportunity to cast a vote that will change their lives.

And that change will start here with us all.

Viva DA, VIVA!

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the judgment by the Gauteng High Court this morning which has interdicted the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) from violating the rights of South Africans to work, go to school, and trade, by any means of intimidation, violence, or coercion, on the party’s planned national shutdown on Monday 20 March 2023. This interdict will strengthen the arm of South Africa’s law enforcement bodies and security services to uphold the law on the national shutdown.

Most notably, we welcome the judgment which states that EFF members, employees and officials are interdicted and prohibited from:

1. shutting down schools, retail stores, businesses, trade and public roads;
2. calling for, promoting instigating or organising the blocking of roads or railway lines, and/or the shutting down of schools, retail stores, businesses, and trades;
3. organizing or participating in, or inciting others to organise or participate in, any unlawful conduct and/or unlawful protect action; and
4. inciting violence.

This judgment is a victory for law and order in South Africa, and a win for all peace-loving citizens who want to work, learn, and provide for their families without fear of violence, looting, and intimidation by a group of vigilantes posing as a political party. The DA has repeatedly stated that the EFF has every right to protest, but the party has no right to hold South Africa hostage in doing so.

While the interdict obtained by the City of Cape Town will protect the city and the Western Cape at large, the DA’s interdict will protect South Africans living in all other 8 provinces from any violence, intimidation, and coercion. On the day of the national shutdown, it will be business as usual for all South Africans and we call on law enforcement to ensure that the EFF national shutdown does not hinder or prevent any citizen from working, learning, or moving freely as is their constitutional right.

In light of this judgment, the DA calls on President Ramaphosa to mobilise and prepare all law enforcement bodies, including the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Defence Force, to be prepared to neutralise any threats to national security by the EFF on Monday 20 March 2023.

As Head of State it is President Ramaphosa’s duty, as prescribed by the Constitution of the Republic, to ensure the security of the nation. We have seen in recent years how woefully underprepared his government has been to protect South African citizens from violence and vigilantism, most notably during the 2021 July riots, where hundreds of citizens lost their lives tragically at the hands of government negligence.

The DA also reminds South Africans to use our affidavit template, which we have distributed widely across all channels earlier this week, to report any violence, intimidation, or looting by EFF members to the SAPS. The SAPS under the ANC national government now have no excuse should they fail to ensure the enactment of today’s court judgment which sets a clear precedent for the right to all South Africans to live in a safe environment without fear of violence or intimidation.

The DA remains firmly committed to the principle of the rule of law to ensure that the rights of all South Africans are upheld and protected. Today’s judgment is a victory for law and order, and a victory for all South Africans who aspire to live in a country where violence, terrorism, and vigilantism are left, once and for all, in the halls of history.

President Ramaphosa’s announcement this evening of changes to his national cabinet is less a reshuffle and more a gratuitous bloating. Contrary to a commitment made in 2019 to reduce the number of ministries in the South African national executive, he has chosen to augment his cabinet by a further two ministries.

The Minister of Electricity and of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, will add an additional R74 million to the public wage bill. It is simply unfathomable that the President can push this cost onto the South African taxpayer while the nation languishes under sluggish economic growth, the highest unemployment rate in recent history, and an electricity crisis that is shedding jobs at record numbers.

It is important to note that the new Minister of Electricity in the Presidency, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, nearly singlehandedly wiped out the City of Tshwane with a smart meter contract declared highly irregular by the Auditor General when he was the metro’s mayor. If Cyril Ramaphosa thinks that Ramokgopa will solve the electricity crisis, then permanent blackouts are inevitable.

There was also no announcement of performance agreements, targets, or tangible outcomes and timelines for the above ministries, making it impossible to gauge whether or not either of these ministers perform. Housing both of them in the Presidency also means that these ministers will be shielded from accountability in Parliament where a Committee on the Presidency still does not exist.

But it is less about who President Ramaphosa has added to his cabinet and more about who has remained or simply not faced any consequences for dismal performance. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma/s move from COGTA to Women, Youth, and People with Disabilities demonstrates that there are no consequences for the sole individual who ravaged our economy with irrational regulations under a National State of Disaster for the coronavirus pandemic.

Minister Patricia De Lille has faced no consequences after the millions wasted on the Beitbridge washing line, or her abject failure to prevent the fire which razed the National Assembly and gutted the country’s legislature.

Similarly, South Africa’s worst police minister in history, Bheki Cele, whose leadership has led to crime statistics worse than those of war torn countries, remains in his position as Minister of Police. This is a slap in the face to the millions of South Africans who have fallen victim to murder, rape, and violent crime on a daily basis.

The same can be said for Ministers Pravin Gordhan, Ibrahim Patel, Gwede Mantashe, Angie Motshekga, and Blade Nzimande. In each of these portfolios, South Africa’s metrics have only gone backwards due to non-performance and corruption.

Aside from these notable changes, or lack thereof, President Ramaphosa has merely moved around a batch of broken eggs in the same basket. There is no expertise brought in from the private sector, no consequences for ministers who have failed dismally in their existing roles, and no show of bravery and backbone by the President to rid his cabinet of ministers who have repeatedly plunged South Africans into disaster.

South Africa has very little to look forward to under this reshuffled cabinet. The only way for a new, effective cabinet to come in and rid us of failure and incompetency, is for a cabinet to be appointed that is free of the ANC. Until then, South Africa can only expect more of the same. More inaction, more loss, and more despair – because this is what South Africans equate to Ramaphosa and his government.

Note to Editors: A voice note from the DA Federal Leader John Steenhuisen is attached here and an affidavit from SARS here. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) can today reveal that the US dollars hidden inside a couch on the Phala Phala farm of President Cyril Ramaphosa were not declared to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) upon entering South Africa.

The DA obtained this information directly from SARS following a request submitted in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

Towards the end of last year, Ramaphosa claimed that he had received US$580 000 from one Hazim Mustafa, a Sudanese national, as payment for cattle as part of a legitimate business transaction.

In turn, Mustafa claimed in a media interview that he had complied with the requirement to declare the money to SARS officials at OR Tambo airport upon entering South Africa.

The SARS customs policy on excess currency stipulates that “every person must declare” foreign currency upon arrival in the country. Failure to adhere to this provision is an offence that may be criminally prosecuted.

To verify Ramaphosa and Mustafa’s claims that this was a legitimate business transaction using foreign currency that had legally entered the country, DA Leader John Steenhuisen on 7 December 2022 submitted a PAIA request to SARS to obtain the “relevant currency declaration forms that Mr. Hamiz Mustafa submitted to declare the US$580 000 that he was bringing into the country.”

The DA received SARS’ response this morning, with the revenue service confirming that “the record does not exist and/or cannot be found.”

This was accompanied by an affidavit from Siyabonga Nkabinde, a legal specialist in SARS’ corporate legal services department.

In his affidavit, Nkabinde confirms that “On or around 17 January 2023, I commenced engagements with various business units within SARS that I believed may be in the custody and/or be in possession and/or have knowledge of the record requested and was advised that pursuant to the search for the record in various SARS Passenger Processing Systems the record could not be found and/or may not be in existence.”

The response by SARS means that we now know that the President of South Africa had hidden dirty dollars, which had entered the country illegally, inside a couch on his game farm.

It renders Ramaphosa’s claim that these funds were merely the proceeds of a business transaction impossible to believe, because legitimate business transactions are usually not hidden from SARS inside a couch.

It now seems more likely than ever that Ramaphosa may have been in possession of these dirty dollars for a corrupt, illicit or criminal purpose.

The information also adds further credence to the findings of the Section 89 panel’s report that there exists prima facie evidence that Ramaphosa may have violated the Constitution, the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, as well as his oath of office. The ANC last year abused its majority in the National Assembly to reject the panel’s report and Ramaphosa vowed to overturn it in court.

However, the Constitutional Court last week denied him direct access to challenge the panel’s findings.

Should Ramaphosa turn to another court in his desperate bid to avoid accountability for his possession of dirty dollars and the subsequent coverup of the theft at Phala Phala, the DA will introduce this new information from SARS as evidence that the panel’s report must stand.

We will also submit this information to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula as yet another reason why she must accede to the DA’s request for the urgent establishment of an ad hoc committee to fully expose the truth behind the President’s dirty dollars.

Please see the following table regarding the public hearings that will be taking place in the respective provinces across the country.