DA Federal Executive resolves to cancel Limpopo Elective Congress

Please find attached soundbite by Siviwe Gwarube MP.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) Federal Executive, acting on the advice of the Presiding Officers of the Limpopo Congress, last night resolved to cancel the Congress that was scheduled for 20 March 2021.

This decision arose out of information that emerged over the past few weeks which has implications for the holding of a free and fair Elective Congress.

In the interest of the integrity of our systems, the DA Federal Executive, acting on the advice of the Presiding Officers of the Limpopo Congress, resolved to cancel the Congress until the information that has emerged and allegations levelled are adequately investigated by the Federal Legal Commission (FLC).

Until the congress is convened and a new leadership team is elected, the Federal Executive has appointed an Administrator to manage the affairs of the province as the term of the current leadership is set to lapse on Saturday the 20th of March 2021.

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

DA calls on Deputy President to provide an honest report of SA’s vaccine rollout

Please find attached soundbite by Siviwe Gwarube MP.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the inter-ministerial committee (IMC) headed by Deputy President, David Mabuza, to provide an urgent and honest report back on South Africa’s vaccine rollout programme which is yet to begin in the middle of March.

While the government has tried to create the impression that South Africa has started its vaccine programme, the truth is that the vaccines being administered thus far are merely part of a Johnson & Johnson trial – the Sisonke Protocol. This part of the vaccine rollout phase is perhaps the simplest as it targets healthcare workers in healthcare facilities. What is an impending crisis is how we in are tending on reaching the millions of remaining healthcare workers and the most vulnerable who require the vaccine when we can hardly put together 10 000 vaccinations per day.

South Africa is currently only managing to vaccinate an average of just over 6 000 people per day. Even if we manage to ramp up the vaccination to 10 000 people per day – which is wholly inadequate – it would still take us 4 000 days, essentially 10-11 years to meet government’s target of vaccinating 40 million people to reach population immunity. This will mean that instead of vaccinating 65% of the population by the end of the year, the target will only be met by 2031.

It is becoming apparent that South Africa’s vaccine rollout has failed before it has even started. The DA therefore calls for an honest diagnosis of where South Africa currently stands on the logistics of the vaccine rollout.

While government has long held that the issue is the throttled supply of the vaccine – due to our tardy strategy of acquiring vaccines – this is simply a slow train to nowhere. The third wave of infections hangs over South Africa like a grim reaper and the Department of Health keeps celebrating mediocrity that will cost us lives. Countries world over are vaccinating large chunks of their populations while we are still scrambling to get to 200 000 vaccines a month into our rollout process.

The Deputy President is expected to answer questions in the National Assembly this week, and we will certainly use this as an opportunity to grill him on what the delays are and how these challenges will be addressed. The very function of the IMC which was convened by the President was meant to provide political and administrative accountability over this process. It is time that government stops ducking and diving and level with the country on this process.

If South Africa fails to meet its vaccine deadlines, we will remain in an endless loop of lockdowns and Covid-19 infections which will cost us lives and shove millions into an inescapable cycle of poverty. There has never been a greater imperative for the South African government than this. Silence on this can only mean the crisis is worse than anticipated. That is why we need an urgent update on this process.

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

Time for Minister Mthethwa and NAC to resign

It is time for the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, and the members of the National Arts Council (NAC) to resign.

By not attending a meeting with relevant stakeholders in the arts and culture sector last night and sending his subordinates instead, the minister has proven once and for all that he is simply occupying that seat in order to receive his substantial salary every month and not because he cares about the sector or those artists who have lost their livelihoods during lockdown.

The minister’s recent tweets and his poor handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in the industry shows he knows next to nothing about the sector and has done nothing in the nearly 8 years he has presided over the arts and culture department to remedy the situation.

Minster Mthethwa is not interested ensuring the future of the industry, because he has no interest in the industry itself. If he did, he would surely do everything in his power to ensure its survival.

But not only did he refuse to attend a meeting with the sector, and routinely misses meetings with the parliamentary portfolio committee on sports, arts and culture, he failed to ensure that the NAC distribute Covid-19 relief funding fairly and without favour.

He failed to secure the little funding made available to the sector from corruption and exploit. He did not step in when there were complaints that there was not enough time to submit documentation for applications or that the process was unfair and exclusionary. The minister, his Department and the NAC have in fact failed every single Covid test laid before them.

The NAC and the minister have also yet to engage with artists staging a sit-in at the NAC offices in Johannesburg, resulting from the Council trying to break contracts with artists who were to receive funding from a R300 million Presidential Economic Stimulus Programme (PESP) relief fund for various projects, of which many have already commenced.

The NAC refuses to provide clarity on the beneficiaries of this funding and is now trying to force artists to sign new contracts, which will impact further contracts of commenced projects.

Neither the minister nor the NAC seem to be equipped to address the concerns of the sector they’re meant to serve and should therefore not be in those positions of power. It’s time the Minister resigned, and should he refuse, as he surely would, it’s time President Cyril Ramaphosa replaced him with someone capable and caring.

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

Waarom ignoreer die bestuur van Universiteit Stellenbosch die menseregtevergrype teen Afrikaanse studente?

Die Demokratiese Alliansie (DA) deel die pyn van Afrikaanssprekende studente aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch (US), wat vanoggend wakker geword het met die nuus dat die universiteitsbestuur – onder leiding van rektor Wim de Villiers – reeds vir ses maande lank die hulpkrete van Afrikaanse studente eenvoudig ignoreer.

Volgens berigte in Rapport, het studente van die Tygerbergkampus reeds in Augustus 2020 klagtes oor taaldiskriminasie aanhangig gemaak by die betrokke huiskomitee, koshuishoof, die TygerMaties kluster, sowel as die US se gelykheidseenheid. Vir ‘n halwe jaar lank het hul hulpkrete op dowe ore geval, met die universiteit wat skynbaar nou eers wakker geskrik het te midde van die voortslepende storm weens die verbod op Afrikaans aan die universiteit.

Die DA is ook gewalg deur die berigte dat vrouestudente by sekere koshuise gedreig word met boetes en tugstappe as hulle Afrikaans praat. Daar is nou berigte van dosyne studente by minstens vyf koshuise dat hulle belet word om Afrikaans te praat in die openbaar, op Whatsapp, en selfs in hul eie kamers. Dit blyk nou ook dat Afrikaans spesifiek geteiken word, met een student wat aanvoer dat hulle toegelaat word “om alle tale behalwe Afrikaans te praat” omdat dit glo as ‘n “onderdrukkende taal” beskou word.

Dit is teen hierdie tyd duidelik dat die grondwetlike regte van talle Afrikaanse studente aktief vertrap word aan die US. Maar waar is Wim de Villiers?

Die rektor, wat die dryfkrag was agter die 2016 taalbeleid wat Afrikaans as ‘n gelyke taal afgeskaf het en daardeur klaarblyklik ‘n atmosfeer van diskriminasie teen Afrikaans geskep het, het nog nie ‘n enkele woord gerep oor hierdie menseregtevergrype nie. In plaas daarvan om proaktief en met empatie te reageer, het die bestuur van die universiteit tot dusver probeer wegkruip, die klagtes ignoreer of probeer afmaak as ‘n “verkeerde interpretasie” van die “gees” van die taalbeleid.

Gegewe die feit dat De Villiers se taalbeleid openlik verklaar het dat Afrikaans minder belangrik is as Engels aan die US, blyk dit eerder asof die huidige vergrype die direkte gevolg is van die 2016 taalbeleid. Die enigste oplossing is dus om die taalbeleid te hersien deur seker te maak dat Afrikaans gelyk gestel word aan Engels.

De Villiers se bestuur se weiering tot op hede om ferm op te tree ter beskerming van die vrouestudente wat verbied word om hul moedertaal te praat maak hulle aandadig en medepligtig in hierdie vergrype. Aangesien die bestuur duidelik geen aptyt het om op te staan vir hierdie studente nie, gaan die DA die nuutste onthullings oor studente wat gedreig word met boetes insluit by ons bestaande klagte by die Menseregtekommissie.

Deur die loop van die komende week gaan die DA ook verdere aksies aankondig ter verdediging van moedertaalonderrig op Stellenbosch. Ons nooi elke Suid-Afrikaner wat verbind is tot ons Grondwet om met ons hande te vat vir die grootste veldtog van sy soort in die geskiedenis van ons demokrasie.

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

DASO calls for the immediate resignation of Minister Blade Nzimande

In 2020 the Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) called for more funding to be made available to NSFAS because we foresaw the problems we see playing out today. These recommendations along with how we advised the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) to manage the Covid-19 pandemic at universities, were received and noted but never implemented.

In light of this, DASO calls for the following:

  • Minister Blade Nzimande should resign immediately;
  • All accepted students should be allowed to register under special circumstances until a finance solution is reached;
  • DHET, NSFAS and National Treasury should meet to make the necessary funds available by the end of April; and
  • University managements should cooperate with student bodies to ease tensions and avoid further violence.

DASO further condemns SAPS and Minister Bheki Cele who have continued to use excessive force on student protests for years.

The tragic killing of Mthokozisi Ntumba last week once again highlighted the fact that the country doesn’t have a capable police force. We have learned over the years through different tragedies that our SAPS personnel don’t receive proper training, especially for mass management situations. To this day even after IPID has released a report confirming that the death of Andries Monareng (a TUT student) was actually as a result of two police officers using live ammunition, there is still no conviction.

This has been happening for many years and enough is enough! We will indeed ensure that No Student is Left Behind.

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

DA calls for public participation on Children’s Amendment Bill to be paused until concerns are addressed

Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite by Bridget Masango MP. 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the Chairperson of Portfolio Committee on Social Development, Mondli Gungubele, to request that the public participation process for the Children’s Amendment Bill (CAB) be paused in light of the serious procedural concerns, as well as issues with various clauses in the Bill.

The CAB in its current form is fundamentally flawed and must be rectified before the public participation process continues to ensure that the public has a fair chance to comment on a reasonable Bill.

The DA has raised the following concerns with the Chair:

  • The public participation process has been chaotic to date with haphazard postponements of hearings without proper notification to stakeholders;
  • Lack of communication to the committee regarding submissions received from the public and stakeholders and no information regarding access to the submissions. The committee simply cannot wait until 16 March before we see the submissions and the DA refuses to accept the summarized version of the submissions. Each and every submission deserves proper contemplation and scrutiny;
  • Should it be required that the Committee sit during the constituency period, permission needs to be obtained in a timely manner;
  • Clarity must be provided on how the changes in the Bill and its impact on them would be communicated to children;
  • The clauses and chapters to be rejected must be provided in writing, i.e., the rejection of the clauses that provided for early childhood development (ECD);
  • The DA has in numerous committee meetings requested clarification on which clauses of the CAB pertain to the comprehensive legal solution. To date, however, no clarity has been forthcoming. In order to ascertain for instance how the High Court Order on foster care would impact children, this clarification is urgently needed;
  • A copy of the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIAS) for ECD provisions must be provided as a matter of urgency; and
  • Comprehensive details regarding the costing of this Bill.

The CAB is of paramount importance to countless children and simply cannot be rushed through. We owe it to our future generations to ensure that they are properly cared for and protected. The consequences of an ill-thought-through and unconstitutional Bill will haunt our children and open them up to harm if due diligence is not done now.

The DA is willing and able to put in the important work and requires the committee and all stakeholders to work with us in this to protect our children.

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

Magashule using student protests for own political means

The ANC’s RET-faction, the ones in the ANC who stole and looted the state coffers the most, are now positioning themselves as the allies of students. This is highly hypocritical and ironic.

The leader of the pack, Ace Magashule, who is out on bail and charged with fraud, yesterday marched against his own opponents in the ANC and the students were merely a vehicle in this political ploy.

It was Jacob Zuma who promised free education in 2017, in a desperate attempt for his faction to cling onto power. The reality is of course that there was no money to finance free education in 2017, and there is still no money today. And now Magashule and his cohorts are playing similar political games.

After accepting a memorandum from Wits University students, the disgraced SG of the ANC shamelessly said that he would contribute “whatever little money” he has to assist students.

Given that the money stolen, misused or looted by ANC cadres could potentially wipe out student debt in one fell swoop, it is highly disingenuous of Magashule to stand in solidarity with students that have fallen victim to the ANC’s inability to deliver.

Ace Magashule is no hero of students’ interests; he is simply using their genuine concerns as a means to counter his opponents within the ANC.

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

DA slams SAHRC’s refusal to investigate Cloete eviction

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is appalled at the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) refusal to investigate the eviction order against Mr Ivan Cloete, from the Colenso farm in Darling.

The SAHRC has actively campaigned against farm evictions and forced removals in the past – especially in the Western Cape – and the DA can only assume that the refusal to investigate this particular case comes from a political prejudice that ultimately undermines Mr Cloete’s rights.

The SAHRC has investigated and intervened in a number of farm evictions over the past few years. The Commission even called for a review on farm eviction laws in 2019 and called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to uphold a promise on a moratorium on farm evictions in 2018. Yet, it refuses to do right by Mr Cloete.

The only assumption that can be drawn is that the SAHRC has been politically captured and that Mr Cloete is being forsaken due to ANC cadres and MK veterans vying for his land and the fact that the DA has taken up his cause.

In its own words the SAHRC “is committed to promote respect for, observance of and protection of human rights for everyone without fear or favour”. Well, the Commission is certainly showing fear of the ANC government and favour towards it by this hypocrisy.

The DA implores the SAHRC to remember its mandate and review its decision to investigate the eviction order against Mr Cloete, a farmer who is being asked to vacate his third farm. Such injustice cannot be allowed to stand, especially from a Commission whose purpose is protect rights.

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

DA rejects ANC’s recommendation for NLC chairperson

At a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition on the 13th of March 2021, the African National Congress (ANC) chose to actively disregard a submission by The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) which cited serious concerns about the candidacy of Dr Muthuhadini Madzivhandila for National Lotteries Commission Chairperson (NLC).

In their report OUTA noted that “Dr Madzivhandila has been serving on the board of the NLC from 1 April 2017 to present. This is the same board that has observed allegations of corruption and maladministration pertaining to the NLC proactive funding model”.

The cited the following concerns:
• He is subject to several criminal complaints by OUTA and other organisations as a result of his membership of the board.
• The Special Investigative Unit’s (SIU) investigation into serious maladministration and unlawful appropriation of expenditure of public money and property by NLC coincides with his tenure on the board.
• He was the director of a non-profit company which received R900 000 from the NLC and that it needed to be determined whether or not he had declared this prior to his appointment to the board.
• He failed to address alleged irregularities at the NLC despite holding a senior position in the organisation.
• The appointment of Dr. Madzivhandila as the chairperson of the NLC “would be a disservice not only to the NLC itself, but to the public”

In addition, the DA laid criminal charges against the entire NLC board for failing to release their list of grant beneficiaries for the 2018-2019 financial year and the Covid-19 relief fund, of which Dr. Madzivhandila was a member.

It is particularly concerning, that he held the position of Human Capital, Social and Ethics Chairperson and served as a member of the governance, audit and risk and regulatory committees yet he expects the public to believe he had no hand in covering up alleged corruption at the NLC.

Despite these very serious allegations, the ANC chose to stick with their man. Insiders have informed the DA that this is due to an intensive lobbying operation conducted with ANC members of the portfolio committee by NLC.

Despite having been impressed by the interviews of other two shortlisted candidates, Mr. Terry Tselane and Dr. Barney Pityana, the DA has chosen to reject the committee’s recommendation of three names to Minister Ebrahim Patel on account of Dr. Madzivhandila’s inclusion on the shortlist.

We now urge Minister Patel to make the right choice and appoint either Mr. Tselane or Dr. Pityana in the interests of fixing what is so glaringly wrong at the NLC.
Failure to do so will only end in more misery for the most vulnerable in our society, who have been deprived of much-needed funding by the Lottery Looters.

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

DA congratulates Natasha Mazzone on Italian Knighthood

The Democratic Alliance (DA) congratulates our Chief Whip in Parliament, Natasha Mazzone MP, on receiving the Italian Order of the Star, an equivalent of a knighthood in Italy, for her outstanding leadership in Parliament and fighting for a just society in South Africa.

The award recognises the preservation and promotion of national prestige, promoting friendly relations and co-operation with countries and ties with Italy and is awarded to Italian expatriates and foreign nationals.

Natasha was one of the most prominent Parliamentary figures to fight the State Capture scourge within the State machinery. She has fought tooth and nail to uncover evidence, which she later testified on before the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

It was her relentless effort to fight the state capture and hold Parliament accountable during the dark phase of our democracy that is now in the public discourse. Her efforts are now internationally recognized and we will continue to fight for all South Africans as they deserve a better government in South Africa.

This is testament to her devotion for democratic consolidation, good governance and a better South Africa for all. The DA would like to congratulate Natasha in receiving such a highly bestowed knighthood and is pleased and thankful to have someone of her calibre fighting on the side of democracy and constitutionalism.

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