We will build the South Africa envisaged by Mandela and Kathrada

The following remarks were made today by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at a press conference following a visit to Robben Island, which was hosted by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to thank the Kathrada Foundation for inviting us on this trip to one of our country’s most meaningful historical sites. It is deeply moving to know that Uncle Kathy wanted us to understand what Robben Island meant in the context of our struggle history, and had wanted to take us there himself. His absence here today was felt by all.
Those, like Uncle Kathy, who were imprisoned on the island paid an enormous price so that our country could escape the oppression of the Apartheid government. It was their freedom for ours. And it is their stories of sacrifice and leadership that we must turn to for guidance when it seems that we have so little left to guide us today.
Anyone who has ever crossed these 12km of water and set foot on Robben Island will know what the place symbolises for us as a nation. We often speak of the negotiators of our democracy and the authors of our Constitution in the early 90s as the people who wrote the crucial early chapters of our new nation, but many of those conversations started far earlier in the cells and on the grounds of the island.
Many of the concepts of freedom and justice that define us as a nation – and that eventually found their way into our progressive Constitution – were discussed and debated, agreed and disagreed on, for many years by the likes of Ahmed Kathrada, Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Dennis Goldberg and Laloo Chiba, who today serves on the Kathrada Foundation Board.
It is an honour for me to make this trip along with people like Mr Chiba, and Barbara Hogan, who was jailed in the 1980s for her role in the fight against Apartheid. Those who were imprisoned on Robben Island sacrificed more than we can imagine. They were subjected to the most inhumane conditions, and parts of their lives were stolen from them and their families. But they helped anchor our struggle to build a free and just society today in the selfless struggle of our history. It is for that sacrifice were are most grateful for.
But today wasn’t only about remembering history. It was also about reflecting on our present. There would be no point in remembering the sacrifices of Mandela, Kathdrada, Sisulu and many others if we don’t ask ourselves: Are we honouring those sacrifices today? Have we made all those decades spent on that island in service of a better South Africa count? Would Ahmed Kathdrada and Nelson Mandela be satisfied with the state of our democracy and the quality of our leadership today?
Every single person in this country knows the answers to these questions. The juxtaposition between what we saw and remembered today and what we read in the Sunday newspapers yesterday was not lost on anyone. The contrast could not possibly be bigger.
Yesterday’s reports that our President has had ongoing relationships with gangsters and smugglers, that he received enormous payments from a private firm while he was president, that he used every means possible to evade his tax obligation and that he used his presidential powers to shut down investigations into his tax crimes are an indictment on the legacy of those who gave their freedom for ours.
You could not turn a page in the newspaper without reading of the corrupt activities, the crimes and the scandals of members of our government and their deployed cadres, including those hoping to take over their reins from Zuma at the end of the year. The organisation that once personified selfless struggle could not have fallen further from grace. The heroes we remembered today could not have been more betrayed.
It is time for every South African to take a stand for these heroes and their vision for our country. It is time for all of us to fix the mess this government under Jacob Zuma and his friends, his family, his handlers and his supporters have gotten us into. None of us can afford to sit on the fence any longer. We simply don’t have the luxury of time.
We made this trip to Robben Island today to fulfil Uncle Kathy’s wishes. But what he also wished for was a South Africa that works for all her people. A South Africa free from oppression, free from poverty and free from the greed of bad leaders. I intend to work to fulfil that wish.
Thank you.

Dodging Dlamini’s announcement about SAPO very suspicious

Please find attached soundbite in Zulu and English soundbite by the DA Shadow Minister of Social Development, Bridget Masango MP.
The DA notes with concern Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini’s announcement today that the South African Post Office (SAPO) doesn’t meet the requirements to fully take over the distribution of social grants.
The announcement today is rather suspicious considering that SAPO has vehemently denied SASSA’s claims that they were not prepared to take over grant payments.
It is now clear that Minister Dlamini is yet again trying to manufacture another situation where the country is forced to accept another extension of the dodgy CPS contract.
Time is running out for SASSA to find a new service provider and it seems as though we are heading for another crisis.
Dodging Dlamini has continued to side-line Parliament throughout the entire procurement process, she has repeatedly failed to show up to account to the Portfolio Committee on Social Development.
Her actions are in violation of her oath of office and are in defiance of Constitutional Court orders.
Minister Dlamini is spectacularly out of order and this is sufficient grounds for her to be fired.
The DA will await Minister Dlamini at the meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development tomorrow where she can expect a grilling for failing to put the vulnerable people of our country first.

Mbalula must clean up SAPS leadership

The DA is not surprised by revelations that the Minister of Police, Fikile Mbalula, is in possession of a memorandum by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) detailing allegations that Acting National Police Commissioner (NPC), Lieutenant General Lesetja Mothiba, incited subordinates to defy lawful instructions from Mbalula.
Reports further allege that Mothiba sent senior officers to Brooklyn Police Station to retrieve a docket in which he is a suspect, discussed this docket with his Intelligence Adviser and wrote to Mbalula recommending that the complainant in the matter, a senior Crime Intelligence official, be dismissed from his position.
Mbalula must come clean about the truth of these allegations and, if found to be true, he must urge President Jacob Zuma to fire Mothiba, as the President is the one responsible for the hiring and firing of the NPC.
We have long held that instability, integrity deficits and incompetence in the South African Police Service (SAPS) leadership is having a negative impact on the crime-fighting effectiveness of the police service.
The tenures of former NPCs Selebi, Cele, Phiyega, Phahlane and now Mothiba are testament to this.
The Victims of Crime survey, Crime Statistics revelations that 52 people are murdered and 109 raped every day and #BlackMonday have made it clear that the South African public no longer trust the police.
It is imperative that a permanent NPC be appointed as soon as possible.
Mbalula has been promising to have a permanent appointee in the position since he took over in April and to have it sorted out by the end of the year. The DA can only interpret this as yet another empty promise because he has not shown any progress to date of facilitating a credible and transparent process.
SAPS leadership needs to be cleaned up so that they can bring down the extremely high level of crime.
When Mbalula addresses Parliament tomorrow during the debate on the scourge of crime and murder in South Africa, the DA expects nothing less than a full plan to improve SAPS leadership.

Makwakwa’s alleged return to SARS must be explained

The DA has been reliably informed that Mr Jonas Makwakwa, who has been on special leave pending the outcome of an investigation into how large amounts of money ended up in his bank account, will return to work any day now.
The DA has therefore written to the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance  (SCOF) to request that SARS be required to report in detail on the Makwakwa matter.
This must include:

  • A detailed explanation for the alleged return to SARS of Jonas Makwakwa;
  • An unabridged copy of the Hogan Lovells investigation report;
  • Whether the Financial Intelligence Centre has been informed of the outcome of the Hogan Lovells investigations; and
  • What has been the outcome of the criminal investigation into the Makwakwa/Elskie matter by the Hawks?

On the 15th of September 2016, SARS commissioned Hogan Lovells to investigate FICA referrals that large amounts of cash deposited into Makwakwa’s as well as Kelly-Ann Elskie bank accounts.
Despite repeated requests by the DA for progress reports on the Hogan Lovells investigation SARS have steadfastly refused to give any reports.
It now appears that the Hogan Lovells investigation has been concluded and Makwakwa has returned to work.
Information received indicates that Makwakwa will be assigned to a new position at SARS and that all cell phones, including that of the SARS Commissioner, Tom Moyane, have been prohibited from being taken into Block A of the SARS Head Office in Pretoria that houses SARS senior management.
SARS must confirm Makwakwa’s return and fully account for it.

The DA stands up against all murders in South Africa

Attached please find sound bites in IsiZulu and English.
We can all agree that the murder rate in South Africa has reached levels never before experienced and every person in our country knows the feeling of fearing for their life and the lives of their loved ones.
We know that in the last year three specific groups have been particularly affected:
• Every day, seven women and children are murdered;
• Every day, in the Western Cape alone, almost two people are killed in gang-related violence; and
• In the last year, at least 74 people in rural communities have been brutally murdered. The Rural Safety crisis affects all who live in rural areas, both farmers, farmworkers, their families, and other residents.
Minister of Police, Fikile Mbalula, is solely responsible for the safety of all South Africans, a task at which he is clearly failing.
It is high time that Minister Mbalula urgently reinstate the specialised units that succeeded in targeting specific issues such as rural safety, drug and gang-related crime but were shut down with no effective alternative to replace them.
Every life lost in these tragic crimes is one life too many.
Enough is enough.

Best wishes to iNkosi Buthelezi

The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes today’s announcement by Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Leader, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, to step down from leading the party at its next national elective conference.
As one of the foremost leaders in our nation’s transition to democracy, he played a key role in creating a framework for a negotiated solution to the racial conflict in South Africa. I would like to thank iNkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi for his contribution to our country’s political history – in particular the role he played in KwaZulu Natal in the early 1990’s.
We are appreciative for the 1994 decision Buthelezi took to participate in the first democratic South African elections after he initially refused. His decision meant that South Africa would have its first democratic election, which was held in 27 April 1994.
I have enjoyed working with him as part of the opposition in the 5th Parliament, and wish him strength during his retirement, with many years of good health.
The DA is confident that whoever is elected to take over the reins and lead the IFP will follow in Buthelezi’s example of steadfast loyalty to the country above all.
We will continue to work with the IFP in cities and towns across the country, in order to deliver services to the people, and keep the ANC out of power.

Parliament to debate the scourge of crime and murder in South Africa

On Tuesday, 31 October, Parliament will debate the scourge of crime and murder in South Africa, as requested by the DA.
The recent crime statistics have shown that all South Africans, irrespective of race or background, can become a target of violent crime. Every South African knows the feeling of fearing for their life and the lives of their loved ones.
Women and children are the most vulnerable, they are often the targets of horrific rapes and a shocking seven women and children are murdered every day.
In townships across South Africa crime has reached crisis levels as murder, rape and brutal attacks have become the order of the day.
Rural communities are also under siege. Farmers, farmworkers, and other rural residents live in constant fear, as numbers of people in rural communities being brutally murdered increase year on year.
Violent crime is not targeted at one specific group or groups. The 52 murders and 109 rapes that occur every day are crippling communities across the racial and socio-economic spectrum.
The scourge of violence in South Africa is a damning indictment on the ANC government.
Violent crime in South Africa has reached crisis point and sadly the South African Police Services (SAPS) seems to be losing the fight.
The time has come for Minister Fikile Mbalula to urgently reinstate the specialised units, which were successful at targeting specific crimes such as rural safety units, anti-drug and gang units. These were disabled with no effective alternative to replace them.
Enough is enough. We need to take our country back from the criminals that are crippling our society with fear.
No life has more value than another. Every life lost in these tragic crimes, is one life too many.
As the DA we are committed to seeing violent crime being rooted out of our communities. We stand with women, children, people in townships, rural communities and every South African who has been targeted by crime.

President Zuma must immediately release fees report to prevent confusion after leak

The DA calls on President Jacob Zuma to immediately release the long overdue Report of the Commission of Enquiry into University Fees, together with the recommendations of Government.
The President’s own nearly 2-month dilly-dallying over the release of the report, and his reported refusal to share it with the previous Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande for what seem to be petty and vindictive reasons, have predictably resulted in a leak of aspects of the report in today’s City Press.
The leak is bound to cause public confusion and concern.  The Commission’s reported recommendation that a no-fee solution cannot be found was to be expected – and will itself be controversial in some student quarters.
There are a handful of measures that will be popular: scrapping registration fees, for example – but the full report would have to indicate where universities would get their cashflow for the first three months of the academic year without it.
Making TVETs completely free and introducing a stipend for TVET students is another – but we need to know how much more that would cost, how such a scheme could be managed given the huge complexities of TVET student registrations,  and where that money would come from.
And setting up an “education fund” to which multiple bodies could donate money to fund higher education sounds interesting – but given the monumental shortages in funding, it has yet to be shown that such a fund could realistically raise the kinds of additional funds that are needed.
Other reported recommendations are unclear, some are expensive and others are possibly unachievable. For example, in City Press’s version the report advocates:

  • Spending 1% annually of GDP in University subsidies. Increasing university subsidies is essential to stabilising the system, but fixing it at a ring-fenced rate will not be accepted by most Treasuries;
  • Developing an “Income-Contingent Loan” system: again a good idea, but the full report needs to convince the public that such a system is both possible, financially viable given current very poor repayment rates,  and an improvement on NSFAS. The system, says City Press, would be stabilised through using “unclaimed pension benefits” – an appalling precedent in the light of the fact that our current government would love nothing better than to start raiding funds of this sort (think PIC) for its own chief purpose, that of looting; and
  • Using the Unemployment Insurance Fund to pay for TVET infrastructure, when in fact funding infrastructure is nowhere near as difficult as funding recurrent expenses, and raiding funds such as these would, again,  set a very bad precedent.

The Treasury last week ruled out any significant budget increases in Higher Education without the clear identification of a clear source of new income to pay for it, for example a dedicated tax. This would seem to render at least some of the Commission’s recommendations unviable and possibly dated, which is unsurprising considering the Commission took months to set up, and took an extremely long time to conduct its hearings.
The leak of the report is a sign that the public is desperate to know what is in it. The disdain that the ANC has for the public is once again apparent. The President and the Cabinet have failed in their duty to bring this matter to a swift conclusion.

Correctional Services must explain Kutama Sinthumule prison escape to Parliament

The DA notes with alarm the breakout by inmates from the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre last Thursday evening.
Today, I will write to the Chairperson of the Justice and Correctional Services Portfolio Committee, Dr Mathole Motshekga, to request that the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) prepare a full briefing on the matter to be presented when they make a scheduled appearance before the committee on Tuesday.
The fact that this breakout happened raises serious questions of the state of security measures at the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre.
It is noted with relief that all but three escapees have already been re-arrested.
The incident nevertheless requires a proper interrogation in order to try and prevent a recurrence.
The Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre is a privately run facility and a breakout of this nature requires a thorough enquiry and explanation.
Incidents like these are unacceptable and the DCS must work to ensure that it does not happen.
South African communities are already under siege by crime and violence, we cannot afford to have criminals on the run and in the streets who have not yet been fully rehabilitated.

We must continue to fight for liberal democracy across the globe

Note to Editors: The following statement follows the meeting of the 199th Liberal International Executive Committee (ExCom). The 13h30 press conference will no longer take place. 
Introduction
Over the weekend, under the banner of Liberal International, liberal political parties, from across the globe have gathered in Johannesburg for the 199th Liberal International Executive Committee (ExCom) meeting. This body came to Johannesburg at the invitation of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its Federal Leader, Honourable Mmusi Maimane MP.
This gathering is represented by 108 delegates from 32 different countries are present for the ExCom meeting, among them are former ministers, parliamentarians, mayors, and party presidents. On the whole,  Liberal International represents 97 liberal and democratic political parties and affiliates from across the globe.
This meeting is significant, and takes place in a political environment where in the past decade the global political landscape has slipped dramatically towards populism and even extremism fuelled, in part, by growing intra-state inequality, diminishing opportunities, and a sense of democratic deficit.
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 US Presidential Election illustrates what can happen when a large contingent of a population feel excluded from the economy and from political institutions.
Without a growing and inclusive economy, and without independent political institutions that work, radical and regressive political bodies are fuelled by the frustration and discontent of citizens and are able to mobilise people based on their differences, rather than shared values.
This means that those of us at the moderate centre of politics need to work harder to reach all citizens who want a better future, with our message and universal values of Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity. Moreover, we need to work hard to ensure that populist politics – whether on the left or the right – does not prevail.
The rise of divisive nationalism that has re-emerged globally over the last few years threatens the hard fought progress the world has made over the last half a century. Progress towards universal human rights, international trade and cooperation, non-racialism and non-sexism. It is this progress which we must fight to protect.
We cannot allow the politics of “us” and “them” to divide us further along the lines of race, ethnicity, nationality, sex and gender.
Rather, we must strengthen the centre, in order for democratic societies based on the values of fairness, equality, and tolerance, to thrive and to be leaders in the world.
Adoption of the Johannesburg Declaration on Better Governance
At the centre of the ExCom meeting is the adoption of the Johannesburg Declaration on Better Governance – a practical benchmark to which liberals around the world can refer and one of the key themes enshrined in the Liberal Manifesto 2017 adopted in.Andorra.
Only liberal democracy can make sure that individuals and their freedoms are properly protected but we must not allow the abuse of our freedoms by those who oppose those very freedoms. With strong democracies that are able to defend themselves, we will actively protect our liberal values and democratic institutions against those who want to undermine and destroy them.
As a form of government, democracy makes it possible to hold those in power accountable for what they do. Accountability, in turn, is a key for a better government, and so are transparency and a sufficient decentralization of decision-making, which guarantee more direct participation and control of government by citizens.
Many people in the world suffer from a dismal level of professional governance in their respective countries and poor governance is often associated with corruption which is one of the most destructive elements in community life.
At all levels of government from the local to the global, we must strengthen our efforts to fight corruption, fraud and organized crime, and to generally improve the quality of governance through the implementation of our liberal principles of accountability, transparency, separation of powers, decentralization of decision-making, respect for the rule of law and an active civil society.
Liberal International Secretary-General Designate
It is a pleasure to announce that Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister of Energy, Gordon Mackay, is the incoming Secretary-General of Liberal International. It is the first time that someone from an African country will serve in this position. He takes over from Emil Kirjas who has held the post for 10 years
This appointment is both historic and symbolic given the DA’s longstanding relationship with Liberal International. The DA is the second-oldest Liberal International member party from Africa, joining in at the Tel Aviv congress in 1984, only the Senegalese PDS, which joined in 1980, has been a member for longer.
Gordon comes into this position with a wealth of experience and a strong commitment to liberal politics and the role it plays in bringing about positive change to people’s lives.
Prior to his election to Parliament in 2014, Gordon worked for the Office of Emergency Programmes of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in New York and in Afghanistan where he was responsible for disaster and conflict risk analysis.
He speaks 3 languages, English, Afrikaans and German. He has recently started studying French with 50 hours of French under his belt.
Gordon holds a Master’s Degree in International Studies from the University of London and BA Honours Degree in Economics (cum laude). He is the recipient of various scholarships and academic prizes and has published in the area of labour economics and making financial markets work for the poor.
We wish him well on this new journey and believe that Liberal International will be enriched by his progressive and dynamic leadership.
President of Liberal International, Dr  Juli Minoves, who referred to the greatness of South Africa in a speech at the United Nations when the country rejoined the organisation in 1994, said: “We are proud to count the DA as a member of or global liberal family. In government, the DA is demonstrating the universal appeal of liberal values and that there is wide appeal for a credible alternative for South Africa.
The large presence of our global network is an unambiguous signal of the confidence we have in the DA’s opportunity to form a national government in 2019.
I commend the work of the Honourable Mmusi Maimane and welcome our new secretary-general, Gordon Mackay MP.”
Conclusion
 As Liberal International members, we walk away from this weekend with a new sense of direction and commitment to liberal democracy. It has been a festival of ideas marked by robust engagement and an awakening of our liberal values.
I close with a quote from John Locke, who profoundly stated “Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”