10 interventions that a DA-led National Government will get done in the first 100 Days in Office

The following statement was delivered today by Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, on the steps of the Union Buildings in Tshwane. Maimane was joined by DA Gauteng Premier Candidate, Solly Msimanga, and DA Gauteng Provincial Leader, John Moodey.

On Saturday, 23 February 2019, the Democratic Alliance (DA) launched its Manifesto for Change – our blueprint for immediate reform that will change the fortunes of our nation with solid, workable ideas for tackling the biggest problems our country faces.

Our manifesto is a plan of action grounded on our offer to bring immediate change that builds One South Africa for All where there’s a job in every home, our communities and streets are safe, our borders are secure, basic services are delivered to all, and corruption is eliminated. We believe that our offer will resonate with South Africans who want immediate change.

The reality is that under the current government, rampant corruption has stolen our country’s future and stolen opportunity for our people. The façade of talk-shops, summits, commissions, and meetings have yielded no tangible change to the lives of those left behind – most importantly the almost 10 million unemployed South Africans.

We have a plan, and we are ready to implement our plan. Today I will outline the immediate interventions that a DA-led National Government would action within the first 100 days in office. These include the following 10 immediate interventions:

  • Table the Jobs Act, Fiscal Responsibility Bill and ISMO Bill;
  • Immediately place SAA under business rescue;
  • Begin the rollout of a Voluntary Civil Service Year;
  • Introduce specialist Teacher Training Colleges and a National Education Inspectorate to ensure that teaching and other standards are met;
  • Increase the child grant to the food poverty line of R547 per month;
  • Begin to implement a 6-point Small Business Development Plan;
  • Cut Cabinet to 15 Ministries;
  • Initiate key interventions to professionalise the police force, including the provincial control of police;
  • Deploy SANDF troops to our borders; and
  • Decentralise control of ports, harbours and Metrorail services and their budgets to metro councils.

The DA is open to working alongside – and forming governments with – all political parties across the country who share common values of a market-based economy that creates jobs, a lean and capable state that delivers services for all, zero tolerance for corruption, and the upholding of the Constitution that guarantees its people their rights, including the right to own property.

Legislative Reform: The Jobs Act, the Fiscal Responsibility Bill and the ISMO Bill

In order to resuscitate our ailing economy and get it to growth levels nearer to our peers on the continent and across the developing world, a DA-led government would introduce three pieces of key legislation:

Jobs Act

Unemployment is the single biggest threat to our country’s future. With almost 10 million people unemployed, a DA-led government would place job creation at the centre of our first 100 days in office. We will introduce the “Jobs Act”, a piece of legislation which will offer tax incentives for people to come and open businesses that create jobs.

The Act makes provision for special incentives to local and foreign investors who meet a minimum employment requirement. These incentives include repatriating international investment profits, easing forex controls for investors, creating medium-sized business access to a specialist DTI arbitration team to assist with costs, and to make hiring and firing employees easier through a labour market flexibility exemption clause.

Fiscal Responsibility Bill

South Africa’s financial situation is dire. Our projected debt-to-GDP ratio over the next three years stands at over 60% by 2021/22. This means that almost two thirds of the value of everything South Africa produces in a year is needed to pay back the debt the ANC government has piled up. With more spending on debt, more bailouts for beleaguered SOEs, and a dwindling taxbase, there is an urgent need for reform.

A DA-led national government will stabilise our national debt by tabling and passing the Fiscal Responsibility Bill which introduces fiscal spending rules that mitigate against the debt-to-GDP ratio spiralling out of control by implementing a debt ceiling set at 60% of debt-to-GDP. Under our model, the Finance Minister will be required to report to Parliament for compliance with the new fiscal spending rules and prohibit government guarantees to SOEs from increasing as a percentage of GDP.

ISMO Bill

Eskom’s monopoly on the generation and distribution of electricity in South Africa is a ticking time-bomb, with rolling power cuts threatening our economy, our jobs, and our livelihood. The first step towards opening up the market and enabling private sector investment and increased efficiency is the passing of the Independent Systems and Market Operator (ISMO) Bill.

In our first 100 days, we would table this ISMO Bill that will add secure energy supply and make it much more affordable for all citizens. The Bill will see Eskom split into a generation entity that can be privatised, and transmission entity to be operated by the state. This will enable Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to connect to the grid, and open up competition in the energy market.

Fiscal risks – immediately place SAA under business rescue

No matter which way its spun, the truth is SAA is bankrupt and its governance model is broken. The airline has stumbled along for decades, amassed hundreds of billions in state guaranteed debt and faces a continued management crisis with very little to show for this mess.

Within our 100 days, a DA-led government would immediately place SAA under business rescue. This would stabilise the airline and cushion the financial risk it continues to weigh on government spending and the economy. This would be done with a view to sell off the airline in the long term, creating competition in this sector.

Work Opportunity for Young People – Voluntary National Civilian Service

There are simply not enough voluntary programme or internship opportunities to absorb young secondary school graduates who decide not to pursue tertiary education. The government can play an important function in providing young South Africans with work experience and an opportunity to serve their country through a Voluntary National Civilian Service Year, gaining transferable skills and experience to meet labour force demands.

Every matriculant who does not qualify for tertiary education will be offered this programme and paid a stipend for the opportunity to serve their country or community in return for valuable work experience. This experience will be in strategic public sector areas such as the police, education and healthcare and the programme will serve as a platform for further opportunities in young peoples’ chosen sector.

Three streams the programme will pilot are an education stream for teacher’s assistants, a healthcare stream aimed at providing public hospitals and clinics with administrative assistants, a police academy stream where participants join police academies across the country and members of local law enforcement on daily patrols. The education stream is designed for underserved schools in administrative, sports coaching, cultural and extra supervisory roles, healthcare stream participants would be registered on community health worker programmes and the police academy would function to better understand the role in the community and become trained as a certified police officer.

Access to Opportunity – Introduce specialist Teacher Training Colleges and a National Education Inspectorate to ensure that teaching and other education standards are met

Basic Education is the great equaliser in society, and access to quality education opens up opportunity for a better life. Research continues to show that the quality of teaching and management of teachers in South Africa serves as the biggest threat to a child’s success at school. It is not good enough that 1 in 5 educators are not considered qualified enough to teach and that over 8 million children attend broken schools where the quality of teaching is unacceptable.

Within the first 100 days, a DA-led national government will improve teaching quality and performance in the country by introducing specialist Teacher Training Colleges and the National Education Evaluation Inspectorate (NEEI). The specialist Teacher Training Colleges will be for primary school teachers in all provinces and the NEEI will be a Chapter 9 institution that assesses the quality of teaching at schools amongst other factors and will include a rewards programme to improve teaching and set benchmarks for quality educating.

Early Childhood Development – Increase the child grant to the food poverty line of R547 per month

The first 1000 days of a child’s life has become known as ‘the brain’s window of opportunity.’ The period runs from when a baby is born until two years of age when more decent nutrition is an imperative. Today, 53 children under the age of five die every day from preventable causes, including malnutrition.

Within our first 100 days, we would pass a Special Appropriations Bill that would increase the child grant to the food poverty line of R547 per month as at April 2018 prices. This would go a long way in ensuring mothers can feed their children.

Revitalising Small Businesses to Create Jobs

In June last year, the Small Business Project and Institute published that although Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) constitute as much as 98.5% of all formal business in South Africa, there are just 250 000 SMEs employing no more than 200 people each across the country. In a country where one in four adults and one in two young South Africans do not have a job and have given up looking for a job, we require wholescale reform to allow these job-creators to thrive.

Our plan for Small Business Development puts small businesses at the vanguard of our economic agenda for change. Empowering the ownership and operations of South African small business owners to employ others is a crucial step to reaching full employment and securing a job in every home.

Within our first 100 days, we would implement an overtly pro-small business policy approach by:

  • Lowering the cost of doing business by exempting small businesses from certain labour and BEE regulations;
  • Improving cash flow of small businesses by implementing a short-term grace period on small business tax penalties;
  • Providing funding and related assistance for small business;
  • Providing targeted support for micro-entrepreneurs in the informal economy; and
  • Focusing on inspiring entrepreneurial mindsets and increasing support and incentives for co-operatives and businesses owned by young people.

This will stimulate foreign direct investment and partnerships, give the “little guy” more of a voice over big businesses, speed up business registration, simplify investment regulations and application processes for informal trading, and encourage entrepreneurship as a career choice.

Operation Hlasela Mafutha – Cut Cabinet to 15 Ministries

For government to be more responsive, transparent, accountable and efficient to the needs and services of the people it serves, the shape and function of government must change from the top down. Government needs to be reconfigured into a lean and cost-effective Executive designed to tackle South Africa’s major challenges and maximise service delivery through reducing unproductive public sector spending and dismantling the ANC government patronage network.

Reducing the size of government to 15 Ministries will save almost R5 billion a year, without sacrificing capacity needed to effectively run government. While essential government departments and entities will not be cut, unnecessary ministries which were principally created for patronage will be scrapped.

Within our first 100 days, a DA-led nation government will cut cabinet to the following 15 ministries: Employment and Enterprise; Economic Infrastructure; Finance; Basic Education; Further Education, Skills and Innovation; Health and Social Development; Integrated Planning and Service Delivery; Police; Local and Provincial Government; Home Affairs; Agriculture and Land Reform; Justice and Correctional Services; Environment; Foreign Affairs; and Defence. These ministries will direct government spending towards the right balance of priorities which will eliminate corruption and lead to economic growth.

Safety and Security – Honest and Professional Police

In communities all across South Africa, people live in constant fear of crime. This is in large parts due to The South African Police Service (SAPS) being chronically under-trained, under-staffed, under resourced and under-equipped – all while crime intelligence remains largely ineffective as it is located far away from communities. These systemic problems mean that the SAPS is incapable of fighting crime, whether syndicates and organised crime, or petty crime committed by individuals. Moreover, SAPS does not have a strong or skilled enough investigative ability to secure high detection and conviction rates.

We would completely overhaul SAPS, curb corruption, hire people with a passion for policing and retraining police officers to make the police force honest, professional and one that serves and protects.

The DA will ensure that our police force is honest and professional by, among other things, implementing mandatory lifestyle audits for senior police management; only hiring passionate police and ensuring new recruits go through extensive training; implementing a new promotions policy; and replicating the DA-led Western Cape’s independent Office of Police Ombud.

We will also increase mental health support for SAPS, create specialised anti-crime units and officer level positions, sexual offences, missing persons and rural safety, institute a semi-independent and effective drug-busting force within the SAPS and allocate a ring-fenced budget to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).

Lastly, provinces that can show that they are capable for duty will become responsible for policing in that province which will be achieved through key amendments which give provincial commissioners and station commanders more powers and functions to address crimes at a local level.

Secure our borders – deploy more SANDF troops to our borders

Government is currently failing at its mandate to uphold law and order in country, which is most dangerously experienced through unlawful and insecure migration on South African borders. Our porous borders have become compounded by an archaic and corrupt Home Affairs Department that has collapsed our immigration system leading to violence and instability.

Within our first 100 days, we will secure our borders by increasing the number of SANDF companies that defend our borders from 15 to 22 companies. We will ensure that they are adequately trained and resourced, that every person entering the country is legal and documented, and that assistance, support and care is provided for legitimate refugees and asylum seekers.

Decentralise control of ports, harbours and Metrorail services and their budgets to metro councils

Work opportunities can only be fairly accessed if citizens can freely and affordably access them. South Africa’s divided spatial planning has meant that many outsiders remain locked out of opportunities on the inside of the economy.

A DA-led national government will immediately move to devolve the operation and infrastructure of Metrorail, ports and harbour services in well-operating metros. In line with our focus on city-led economic growth, this will allow cities to tailor these services to best suit their citizens. Operators will be contracted and must meet service standards or face penalties and cancellation of contracts with the model allowing for integrated transport services.

Conclusion

During the first 100 days in National Government, the DA will reform legislation, mitigate fiscal risks, launch a voluntary civil service, upskill teachers, increase the child grant, create an enabling environment for small businesses to thrive, debloat the size of Cabinet, professionalise the police, deploy troops to secure our borders and integrate our transport system to create fair access to jobs.

Only the DA can manage the real problems South Africa faces. The DA’s governance track record speaks for itself. Where we govern, we govern well, get stuff done and have a solid agenda with workable solutions.

KwaZulu-Natal has seen change before, and will see it again come 8 May 2019

The following remarks were delivered today by Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at the party’s KZN Provincial Manifesto launch in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. Maimane was joined by DA KwaZulu-Natal Premier Candidate, Zwakele Mncwango

My fellow South Africans,

Sanibonani!

It’s great to be here in KwaZulu-Natal and to see so many committed South Africans who want to be part of a new chapter for our country. You are the future.

Today we officially launch our manifesto for change in this province. Abangane, Sifuna ukushintsha manje! We want change, and we want it now!

You see, this province is well ahead of its time in terms of true democracy. It has seen the democratic change of power from one political party to another. KwaZulu-Natal has tasted change, and it is this democratic change in power we are working towards come 8 May 2019!

That is why the DA will work with all political parties in this province who share common values of a market-based economy that creates jobs, a lean and capable state that delivers services for all, zero tolerance for corruption, and the upholding of the Constitution that guarantees its people their rights, including the right to own property.

We recoginse the potential of this great province, and what it could become with a government that works for all its people.

Fellow South Africans, democracy is built on the contestation of ideas. We must be able to debate even the most difficult topics in order to refine our values and mature our democracy.

And we must be wary of those political parties that arise because they support a particular race, or culture, or language group. We cannot build One South Africa for All if we support political parties that only speak for some.

I want to make it unequivocally clear, again, that I reject all forms of discrimination, be it on the colour of your skin, the language you speak, or the God you worship.

There have been parties in this very province that seek to divide us on such bases. Some discriminate against Indians, and while others fuel hatred of particular people because of their ethnicity. And often this leads to violence – which has spread across this province at an alarming rate.

Again, we call upon all public representative to advance peace and denounce all forms of violence – whether political or not. The people of this province still bear the painful scars of violence in the name of race, culture and ethnicity. We must stand together and never let such violence occur again.

Fellow Democrats,

We are now just two months away from the most important election in the history of our country. As always, there are people who want to tell the DA what it can and can’t do; where it can and can’t win. But I promise you today: The DA will prove them wrong again, as we have done in every single election.

We will bring the change that our country so desperately needs. Change that brings jobs. Change that brings hope. Change that builds one South Africa for all its people.

And if there’s one place that needs this change, it is KZN. The potential of this province is immense, and particularly now that there is a direct BA flight from London.

But right now that potential is being wasted.

It’s being wasted through a sugar tax that is killing the sugar industry here in KZN, and threatening thousands of jobs. Introducing new tax upon new tax will not save our economy. You cannot tax yourself to prosperity.

The potential of this province is being wasted by the lack of property ownership for its people. Title deeds deliver certainty and freedom. Let’s make the people of KZN property owners, both in urban and rural areas.

The potential here is being wasted by unreliable and costly electricity. We cannot be held hostage any longer by Eskom. Let us invest more in wind, solar and gas power, and let us allow our cities to buy their power directly from independent producers. That’s how we free up our local economy to create jobs.

Let’s make this province a manufacturing hub in our country. Not far from here is where the beautiful John Drake shoes are made. KZN needs more stories like this. Through tax incentives, we can make this province a major exporter of manufactured products and a massive creator of jobs.

Townships like uMlazi don’t have be dormitories of unemployed youth. Let’s change that. Let’s put a job in every home. I want to introduce a year of voluntary national civilian service that will allow young people to get valuable on-the-job experience in fields like healthcare, policing and education.

Let us fix healthcare in KZN, because this government has truly failed its people. If you get sick in this province – and particularly if you have cancer – there is very little this government can and will do for you. The oncology crisis here in KZN is another Esidimeni tragedy waiting to happen.

I also believe we need to take certain functions away from national government and put these in the hands of our provinces, because they are best placed to respond to the needs of the people. I believe provinces like Gauteng, KZN and the Western Cape will be better off managing their own rail and ports, and we should therefore dissolve Prasa.

I also believe we should introduce provincial police services to better serve our people and keep them safe. I’m talking about a police service with intelligence close to communities, and not miles away in a Pretoria headquarters.

Fellow South Africans, let us rebuild this province as a place of opportunity. Let us rebuild the economy that was destroyed by this ANC government. The same ANC that still fears Jacob Zuma so much that they not only dropped his corruption charges but also, under Cyril Ramaphosa’s government, the corruption charges of his son.

They have welcomed back the criminal Jacob Zuma, just so that the president won’t be booed at his own party’s rally.

Fellow South Africans, we need change and we need it now.

There is only one party that can bring this change, and that party is the DA. I can say this with certainty, because we have proven in the Western Cape, in several metros and in many municipalities across the country that we have what it takes to build a better future for all our people.

The DA is a party that gets things done. We don’t talk. We don’t promise. We do.

We have shown where we govern services are delivered faster. Where we govern, more people have jobs. Where we govern, more people stay in school and write matric. Where we govern, more people have access to quality healthcare and so they live longer. Where we govern, more people have access to basic services. Where we govern, money isn’t stolen from the people through corruption.

And we have a plan to do the same for the rest of South Africa. In this Manifesto we have a blueprint to build the country of our dreams. This is not a document filled with wild fantasies and impossible promises. This is solid, achievable plan that will deliver the change we need.

It is a plan that will bring jobs – at least one job in every home – because it will bring in investment and support small businesses. It will also ensure that these jobs can be accessed fairly by all South African, and not only those with the right connections.

It is a plan that will keep all our people safe in their homes, on their streets, in their schools and at their places of work. We will turn SAPS into a motivated, trained and well-equipped crime fighting unit once more.

It is a plan that will secure our country’s borders and rid Home Affairs of corruption. Anyone wanting to come into our country legally and register themselves will be welcome to do so. But there will be no chance for those who want to come here illegally, because no country in the world can afford this.

It is a plan that will dramatically speed up the delivery of basic services to all communities across the country by looking after public money and only spending it on the people.

And it is a plan that will stamp out corruption at every level of government. Zero tolerance is the only way. Any politician found guilty of corruption will go to jail for 15 years, and this includes former president Jacob Zuma.

That is the South Africa the DA wants to build.

Any party that shares the DA’s vision for a South Africa built around the need of the people and not the greed of politicians is welcome to join us. Together we can bring the ANC below 50% in KZN.

Fellow South Africans, our country is ready for change. This great province is ready for change. But there will be no change under this ANC government. The only change can come at the ballot box on 8 May.

Join me in bringing change to our country.

Join me in helping to put a job in every home.

Join me in making our country and our communities safe again.

Join me in kicking out the corrupt for good.

Join me on 8 May as we turn towards the future and start building One South Africa for All.

Amandla!

Vote DA to continue building One South Africa for All

The following speech was delivered today by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at the Western Cape launch of the party’s 2019 Election Manifesto. 

Fellow South Africans,

It is a great privilege to open this manifesto launch here in the best run province in the country – a province that is DA blue! As leader of the DA, I am immensely proud to stand before this diverse, beautiful bunch of South Africans. To see the power of diversity, and the power of what happens when we come together around shared values and build our towns, cities, provinces, and our nation.

In 1994, we had a dream of One South Africa. A dream where opportunities for learning, earning and owning would be open to all. Regardless of our race or background, we would be able to stand together as one, living free and dignified lives.

Today it is only the Democratic Alliance shares that dream, and are working every day to realise it. We call it One South Africa for All as we believe passionately that we South Africans are better together. And where we govern, this dream is becoming a reality.

Fellow Democrats, it was here in this province where Nelson Mandela walked free from Victor Verster prison and proclaimed a dream of freedom for all. We were all filled with hope and optimism as we put an end to the dark era of Apartheid. And it is here under a DA government that we are realising that dream.

Our constitutional flag reminds of the words of a great servant of nation and of this province, Archbishop Desmond Tutu that we are indeed a rainbow nation. A nation of many races, cultures, languages – a nation rich in diversity.

You see, the unique beauty of diversity is that you don’t have to surrender who are you to “fit in” or to assimilate. I want to affirm this value in both our party and our nation, and to ensure our rights are always be protected.

That is why I reject those who claim that certain South Africans don’t have a place in our nation. If you are Afrikaans, you have rights in our nation. You can learn in Afrikaans and speak the language of your choice. An assault on Afrikaans is an assault on our fundamental constitutional values of diversity, freedom, dignity and equality.

And the same goes for all other languages, too. We have a duty to defend and protect the rights of all if we want to achieve the dream of ’94.

Fellow Democrats,

The truth is our post liberation era of governance for all is modeled here in this very province. While they talk, we do!

For past ten years here in the Western Cape, the DA government has worked hard to ensure the dream of One South Africa for All becomes a reality. We did our best to build a capable, honest state that works for the people and that gets the people working. We’ve had many successes in that time, working with communities, proving that we are better together.

For example, the Western Cape has more households with at least one job than any other province. In SA, 20% of households have no job at all. But here in the Western Cape, it is only 9% of households.

91% of households in this province now have at least one job. It is my dream to see a job in every home, and when you elect us into government here for the next 5 years, we will work hard to ensure that every home in this province has a job.

Fellow democrats, we can do it because the DA knows how to get stuff done.

In the past 10 years, we’ve created 508 000 new jobs in this province, growing employment by 24%, well ahead of Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal. Our expanded unemployment rate of 23% is 14 percentage points lower than the national average of 37%. And we have South Africa’s lowest rural unemployment rate at 15.7%. no matter where you live in this province, there is access to jobs.

We’ve achieved this by creating an environment that attracts investment. And by focusing scarce resources on the sectors of our economy that create the most jobs, such as tourism and agriculture.

Investors prefer to start businesses where the government is honest. When the DA took office 10 years ago, the province achieved zero clean audits. Today, at 83%, the Western Cape received the highest number of clean audits in SA across all government departments and entities last year. Once again, we were well ahead of the next province, Gauteng, with 52% clean audits. Today we are the cleanest government in South Africa.

Clean audits matter, because they mean that every cent of public money is spent on delivering for the people.

Even though policing belongs to the national government, we have done more to fight crime than any other provincial government does. We have done oversight over police stations, have fought hard for more police officers, we work closely with neighbourhood watch groups, and we monitor thousands of cases in courts across the province.

There is so much more we still want and need to do and all the building blocks are in place. We’ve exceeded our housing targets, for example, but there are still over 100 000 housing opportunities in the pipeline for completion by 2022. And there are still many families waiting for houses.

The DA government, working with communities, has made progress here in the Western Cape. However, we still have a very long way to go towards realising our dream of One South Africa for All in this province. But together we have built an honest, capable state here that is well positioned to keep delivering on its constitutional mandates.

Fellow Democrats,

While we’ve achieved all of this, there is still much more to do. Now is not the time for complacency.

This election is going to be incredibly competitive. There will be political parties – some brand new – that will campaign on the idea that if you are black you must vote for this party, and if you are white you must vote for this party.

This is not our mission and we must fight this apartheid-era thinking. We must live out our mission of a post liberation, post racial era in South Africa. That is the only future for our nation, and that futures lies in DA-led governments.

In the next 5 years, the DA government here, under the honest, capable, determined leadership of our premier candidate, Alan Winde, will continue its mission to put a job in every home.

We will continue working to deliver better services – more houses, better schools, better clinics and hospitals, better roads. Because this is what DA governments exist to do.

On 8 May 2019, let’s go the polls and vote DA to continue building One South Africa for All!

The DA delivers jobs and will continue to deliver jobs

This speech was delivered by Geordin Hill-Lewis in the National Assembly during the Parliamentary Debate on Solutions to Address Job Losses and declining GDP growth in South Africa.

Chairperson,

In this election, 10 million unemployed South Africans face a life-changing choice: which of the parties is going to give them the best chance of finding work over the next 5 years?

Everything else is noise. The whole election boils down to that question. Which party is the jobs party?

So let’s look at the evidence, and at the manifestos.

One party in this House, the Democratic Alliance, has left every other party in the dust in delivering job-creating economic growth.

On every measure – unemployment, new jobs created, numbers of discouraged job seekers, new investment attracted, ease of doing business – on every score there is only one party that knows how to get the job done. The Democratic Alliance.

There is only one party that has actually delivered 640 000 new jobs in 10 years. Not the national government. Not the government of 8 provinces.

Only the DA has done that.

There is only one party that has delivered an unemployment rate 14% points lower than the national average, and the only province in the country with an unemployment rate below 20% for the first time.

Only the DA has delivered that.

In 2009, the ANC’s President Jacob Zuma, lest we forget, promised 5 million jobs by 2020.

Only the DA has actually contributed to delivering on this promise. If every ANC governed province had done as well as the one DA governed province, we would have achieved this goal.

Or alternatively, if every other province were governed by the DA, we would have achieved that goal long ago.

That is the choice.

That is our offer in this election. Everything else is noise.

We will do for South Africa what we have done where we govern.

We will deliver job-creating economic growth.

We will deliver a one-year paid internship for school leavers, to get them in the door of their first job.

We will attract investment and cut red tape.

We will stop corruption and throw corrupt politicians in jail.

We will make sure that jobs are available fairly, not only to the well connected or the corrupt.

And voters can trust we will do these things because we have already done them.
That’s what we do. We get things done.

That is our offer, that is our record.

Now, our opponents say that voters should trust the state to fix our economy and create jobs.

They want less power and less money in the hands of people, and more power and more money in the hands of the state.

That is their offer, and look where it has got us.

We have a state electricity company that cannot keep the lights on.

We have a state railway that doesn’t have enough trains.

We have a state airline that cannot fly.

We have state run ports that cannot unload ships.

We have a state mining company that cannot mine.

We have a state gas company that cannot find any gas.
The party that has brought us all of this is now asking voters to give it control of the health system.

And to pay for it all, this feckless, shameless party has reached deep into the vault of failed economic ideas and is now proposing “prescribed assets”, “nationalisation of the Reserve Bank”, and “expropriation of private property”.

So total is its bankruptcy of ideas, that the ANC has actually resorted to borrowing economic policy from the apartheid government. That’s where “prescribed assets” come from. We’ve “been having it”, as they say.

This is the wicked irony – the ANC has destroyed economic growth, it has destroyed jobs, it has stolen billions, bankrupted the state, and it now wants to take the pensions of ordinary hard working people to pay for it all.

Every teacher, every nurse, doctor, policeman, soldier, every journalist, every professional must know this. This is the policy of the ANC – to take your life-savings to pay for their crimes.

So let us be clearheaded about the choice in this election.
One party promises continuing decline, growing poverty and accelerating misery. That is the ANC.

One party promises to continue what it has already done.

We are the jobs party.

We are the growth party.

We are the party of improving lives, improving opportunities, and beating poverty.

Voters can lend us their vote in this election knowing we will do the same for them.

Our track record leaves everyone else in our dust!

And we are just getting started!

Our Manifesto is an Agenda for Change

The following speech was delivered today by Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at the DA Manifesto Launch at the Rand Stadium, Johannesburg.

Democrats

DA Leadership

Members of Parliament

Members of the Provincial Legislatures

Mayors

Councillors

Ambassadors

Traditional Leaders

Religious Leaders

Distinguished guests

DA staff members and activists

Fellow South Africans

Bagaetso

Goeiemiddag

Dumelang

We stood here in this stadium in 2016 and we said: Change is coming!

We said we’d be in government in Johannesburg. They said we couldn’t do it.

We said we’d be in government in Tshwane. They said we couldn’t do it.

But here we are today, and Johannesburg is blue.

Today Tshwane is blue.

Those same people are once again telling us what the DA can and can’t do. And again we will prove them wrong.

Change is coming!

We did it before, and we’ll do it again.

My fellow South Africans

What a wonderful sight this is – all you from Team One South Africa, out here today because you care about this amazing country of ours.

South Africa, our beautiful land!

We are here because we want to be part of the solution.

We are here because we believe that our country is worth fighting for.

You will not find a more beautiful country than South Africa anywhere in the world.

Or a more diverse people.

Or a more optimistic, strong and resilient people.

Our people shine on despite everything.

So let us celebrate those who lift us up because South Africa is a nation of heroes.

Sporting giants like Caster Semenya – Caster we are with you!

Heroes like Wayde, Chad and Luvo – champions who have flown the South African flag on sport’s biggest stage.

Giants of business and commerce – people like Richard Maponya and Adrian Gore – these are South Africans who have conquered the world.

South Africans have flown to space and have launched their own rockets.

South Africans have developed their own rocket fuel – a discovery that took young Siyabulela Xuza from the townships of Mthatha to the university halls of Harvard.

Just this week a young man named Kobus van der Merwe from Paternoster had his little West-Coast restaurant named the best restaurant in the world.

We have shown, again and again, that we are a nation of champions. We can compete with and we can beat the best in the world.

This tells me the problem is not with us. As a people, we can do anything. It is in the character of our people to do great things. To be South African is to be resilient and to triumph.

That is who we are.

We are a nation of heroes, and we must celebrate them. And I don’t just mean the great figures of our history like Tata Madiba and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

I mean the everyday heroes all around us.

It’s the single mother who works all day and still manages to raise her children, despite the odds being stacked against her. Despite the daily threats to her safety and despite the terrible poverty of female-headed households.

It’s the young father who takes on his responsibility and takes care of his child. The father who stays present and involved and becomes a role model for his children.

It’s the teachers, nurses and policemen and women who do so much and deserve to be paid more for the important jobs they do.

It’s the social workers, the NGOs and the church volunteers who help feed and clothe the poorest in our communities.

It’s the business owner who works long hours and sacrifices so much to keep people employed.

It’s the ordinary people all around us – friends and strangers – who choose to see the heart of a person, and not their colour.

We certainly have no shortage of heroes. This is who we should celebrate!

Let me tell you about my own hero: my father.

His priority in life has always been to take care of his family – my two sisters, my brother and I.

He believed that this was his first responsibility as a father and so he worked as hard as he could to do just that.

Every day, rain or shine, he would leave our home in Dobsonville, early in the morning to go off to a job that I am sure he didn’t like.

As a black South African living under Apartheid, he knew he was never going to be the owner of that business.

He would get home late every night and then do it all over again the next day. I cannot recall him ever complaining.

He and many other fathers in our townships fought and sacrificed because they held on to the hope that there would be freedom in our country.

Ultimately, their children would have a better tomorrow.

It’s the fathers and mothers who fought the struggle so their children could one day have a better life.

That was why my father worked as hard as he did. He made sure that we had the best education that he could get for us. And nothing was more important than that.

I remember my father once sat me down and told me that he would even go without socks if that’s what it took for me to get an education.

He would have given up everything for me, because he truly believed in a better tomorrow.

But my father also knew that good things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen.

You have to help create the future you want. For him, this meant giving me an education that would open doors for me.

This is why my father is my hero.

Fellow South Africans,

Growing up in the 80’s and early 90’s, I got to experience the very best and the very worst of South Africa in those short years.

From Apartheid’s state of emergency to the joy of our first democratic election, my childhood had it all.

By the time Nelson Mandela was freed from Victor Verster Prison in 1990, there was optimism about the future everywhere around me.

This was the birth of a nation – the triumph over a system that had locked so many out. It felt like freedom was now possible for all of us, and not just some.

And when the time came for the people of South Africa to make their mark in the first democratic election, they did what every other post-colonial nation in Africa has done: They put their trust in the party that had liberated them.

This choice was never in doubt. If anyone was going to deliver the dream of a better future, then surely it had to be our liberators – the people who promised us a better life for all.

In those early years it looked like we might just get there.

Led by Nelson Mandela, our government built houses, schools, hospitals and roads. They connected communities to the electricity grid and to clean water.

We signed a new Constitution, which contained so many of the values of a great South African from whom I often draw inspiration: Helen Suzman.

This was a woman who didn’t need to share the faith or the race of the South Africans she fought for to know that equality was a virtue worth pursuing.

She knew that it would be possible to build a South Africa that belonged to all who live in it.

And she laid the foundation for the party we see here today – of black, white, Indian and colored South Africans – united in our diversity.

Those early days of our democracy felt great! We were a country that was overcoming its brutal past and were set for a better future, together.

One South Africa for all!

But then something happened – something that altered our course.

Our leaders lost sight of our goal. They realised they could make money off every job, every contract and every purchase that involved the government.

The posters still said “a better life for all”, but what we were starting to see was a better life for some.

While millions didn’t have clean water to drink, some were drinking the finest champagnes up on stage.

While many didn’t have food to eat, some were running up restaurant bills the size of a year’s wages.

While everyone else queued for crowded taxis, some drove up in the most expensive cars money could buy.

While many lived in RDP houses that collapsed if you leaned on them, others lived in palaces called Nkandla.

Those who started out as liberators had ended up looting from the people they liberated. And they were looting the Arms Deal, Bosasa and VBS while millions didn’t have money to get by.

Corruption has stolen the dignity and the future of millions of our people.

Today, 25 years into our democracy, the people of Matjhabeng in the Free State are still waiting for clean running water.

Today, 25 years into our democracy, children are still drowning in pit toilets at schools.

We never thought the liberation movement would turn their guns on our people.

Recently, on my Kasi to Kasi tour, I visited Sada in the Eastern Cape. I went to a small community there who had to fetch their water from a borehole that the government had come and dug for them.

A dog had fallen into the borehole and drowned, and now the people are sharing their water with a dead dog.

You ask yourself, shouldn’t these people have had clean water from taps years ago?

In Tshipise, in Limpopo, I met a grandmother who had put all her life savings in VBS bank, because it was a bank of the people.

But we know what happened: greedy people stole her hope, her dreams and the future of her kids. Try telling her that corruption has no victim.

It is corruption that makes mothers do despicable things just to get a job.

And let me tell you, this corruption is not isolated either. It’s not the exception to the rule.

It happens at every level of government – from crooked ward councillors all the way to the office of the President.

Our country was sold out by those who swore an oath to serve us.

And, as we have just learnt in the Zondo Commission, they betrayed our struggle for a braai pack, some beers and a handbag.

This is not who we are. Enough is enough!

Fellow South Africans,

We need change.

This is not the South Africa we dreamt about. This is not the better tomorrow my father spoke about.

I have spoken to more and more people who tell me the same story. They’ve been forced to accept the hard truth that things will not change in our country under this government, because the ANC will not change.

I know this is not an easy thing to admit. Turning away from the only party you’ve ever known is, for many South Africans, like giving up on a family member.

But when that family member threatens your safety and the future of your children, then you are forced to make a tough decision.

I know exactly when this happened for me. It was thirteen years ago in an informal settlement called Zandspruit.

I was helping an NGO deliver food parcels, and it was there that I came across an elderly woman digging a hole outside her home. I asked her what she was doing.

She said to me: “I’m digging a toilet.”

And that hit me hard.

It really disturbed me that this woman – she could easily have been my or your grandmother – had to dig her own toilet with her hands because, in twelve years of democracy, her government could not do it for her.

Like many South Africans, I felt a great disappointment in the ANC.

I was now confronted with a choice. And I could not, in my right mind, vote for a party that would let that woman dig her toilet.

How can our liberators forget us?

Fellow South Africans, at first we must be liberated, but then comes a time when we must liberate ourselves from the liberators.

That day in Zandspruit I learnt two things: I wanted to be of service to my country. And this service would have to happen outside of the ANC.

Our country desperately needed change. But I also knew that I needed a change.

I came to realise then that if I was serious about making a difference, then the bottom line – the only thing that mattered – was delivery.

And where the DA governs, they deliver.

This is a party with a track record of service delivery that puts others to shame.

A party that looks and feels truly diverse. A party that makes every effort to unite people while other parties are increasingly dividing us on race.

And a party that has never stolen money from anyone. When they speak of a zero tolerance for corruption, it isn’t just empty words. They mean it.

These are the facts that convinced me. And you can have your own opinions, but you can’t have your own facts.

That’s why I decided that if I was going to be of service to my country, it had to be through the DA.

And once I made that leap in my mind, I could picture a South Africa that worked in a way this government of ours could never achieve.

Fellow South Africans,

By the time I joined the DA, it was already making a huge difference in areas it governed.

I am proud that I lead a party that delivers for all South Africans.

In ten years the DA turned the Western Cape into the best-run province in South Africa.

When the DA took over in the Western Cape in 2009, not one single government department had received a clean audit. Last year, the Western Cape got 83% clean audits. The next best province was way back on 52%.

Clean audits matter, because it means that public funds are not wasted, stolen or poorly spent. It means that this precious money is spent on the people whom the government promised to serve.

But it’s on job creation that the Western Cape really shines. Its broad unemployment rate is a full 11 percentage points lower than the next best province.

And over the past year, more than half the jobs created in the whole of South Africa came from the DA-run Western Cape.

If you want to change lives, these are the facts that matter.

These achievements are a great tribute to the work started by Premier Helen Zille in the Western Cape, which will now be continued by Premier Alan Winde.

And we want to do the same for Gauteng, the Northern Cape and ultimately across the whole country.

Because, Democrats, the DA brings change that delivers jobs.

More recently the DA took over the metros of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay through coalition governments, and in a very short space of time they made a huge difference.

Over the past two years, Mayor Mashaba’s administration has created well over 100,000 jobs in Johannesburg.

He also immediately started cleaning out the corruption in the City of Johannesburg. He has already initiated thousands of investigations, and this has led to 362 arrests, 15 suspensions and 27 dismissals.

And Mayor Mashaba built a power station, on time, saving the people of South Africa R50 million from the budget. That’s real delivery.

Mayor Msimanga turned the Tshwane administration from a bloated, overstaffed operation into a professional lean and efficient office that gets things done.

From being R2 billion in debt when he took over in 2016, the City of Tshwane had a surplus within the first year of his administration.

Across South Africa, DA governments have done more to empower people through work, through better service delivery and through property ownership than this current government has.

In the past 10 years, the DA government in the Western Cape has made more than 100,000 families property owners with full title deed.

In just two years Mayor Mashaba’s administration has handed over more than 6,000 title deeds.

We are changing municipalities all across the country – from Modimolle and Thabazimbi to the furthest corners of the Western Cape.

Fellow South Africans,

Our opponents can sit in the corner and call us names, but they can’t argue with facts. And these are the facts:

More people find work where the DA governs, because we know what it takes to create jobs.

More people have access to quality healthcare where the DA governs, because we build world-class hospitals, like the state-of-the-art Khayelitsha Hospital.

More children stay in school and write Matric where the DA governs, because we understand the importance of quality education, and so we test our teachers to ensure a high standard.

More people have access to electricity and running water where the DA governs, because we don’t steal public money, and we spend the bulk of our budgets in poor communities.

No matter which way you look at it, the DA, as a governing party, is simply in a different league.

Yes, the DA has its shortcomings. Yes, it sometimes makes mistakes.

But we would never lie to you and we would never make promises we don’t intend to keep.

I can promise you that if the DA is in government, Life Esidimeni will never happen, and neither will State Capture.

We wake up every morning, animated by a need to deliver for our people.

Fellow South Africans,

If ever there was a time to think carefully about what it will take to turn South Africa around, it is now.

Our country is heading towards the edge of a cliff.

Almost 10 million people can’t find work, our national debt now stands at over R3 trillion and we have a power utility that is bankrupt and can’t keep the lights on.

We are rapidly approaching the day when there will be more people out of work than people with jobs. That is very worrying.

We need change. And we need it now.

And yet all we hear is talk of more summits, more talk shops and more plans that could happen some time in the future.

After 25 years of ANC rule, we are still told to “watch this space”.

The reality is, we’ve run out of time to watch. We need to do. Right now.

We have once again become a country split in two. We are once again a nation of insiders and the outsiders – those with jobs and opportunities, and those without.

We no longer need a liberation movement. We need a new agenda. We need a vision for tomorrow, led by a party that is focused on the future.

Our task now is to build a South Africa where no one is left out.

That’s where we come in. It is a South Africa that can only be built by a DA government, and I assure you it will not take us another 25 years.

Fellow South Africans,

We need change that builds the future.

If you are with me – if you share this vision for our country and want to help me build it – then we have no more time to waste.

The DA has a plan – an agenda for reform – to achieve this goal.

This Manifesto is a blueprint to build a government that works for all. A government to which only the best people will be appointed, and a government that is prepared to work with anyone who shares our vision for South Africa.

So let me tell you what this South Africa looks like to me.

For starters, it works. It is a country where citizens get up and go to work, and where the government works for its citizens.

I have a dream of putting a job in every home.

It cannot be that four out of every ten South African households do not have a single income. If we can put at least one job in every home, it will completely transform these homes.

The freedom and dignity that an income brings is hard to describe to someone who has never had to worry about food. A job in every home will mean that no one has to go hungry, ever again.

That is how we start to turn houses into homes.

And we will achieve this by freeing up the real heroes in job creation – the small business owners and the entrepreneurs – to do what they do best.

We will rebuild our economy by maximising the sectors that are key to job creation – sectors like Manufacturing, Agriculture and Tourism.

We will pass the Jobs Act which will offer tax incentives for people to come and open businesses that create jobs.

We will also introduce a year of voluntary National Civilian Service which will create a bridge between school and the world of work, and offer school leavers valuable work experience.

I also dream of making all South Africans the owners of their homes, with full title deed. I’m not interested in a system where people must live at the mercy of the State on land owned by the State.

We don’t just oppose the amending of the Constitution for the sake of it. We want to ensure that Section 25 is protected. This matter will end up in court.

We have shown we can deliver land reform within the Constitution. And where there is contestation we can settle compensation through our legal system, and not by politicians. We must never enslave our people at the mercy of the State.

That’s not freedom.

I want people to own their land and to own their houses, because property ownership is everything. It allows you to borrow money against the property, it allows you to pass it on to your children in your will, and it allows you to sell it, if you so choose.

I also want South Africans to have choice, which is why we will introduce a housing voucher which people can either use to build their home or as a down-payment on a house.

In the South Africa I want to build you will find estate agents in Alexandra and Khayelitsha, and not just in Sandton and Constantia, because property will have value wherever you go.

That’s freedom.

But a home means nothing if you don’t feel safe in it. You should be able to relax in your home knowing that there are enough trained police officers on the street to keep you safe.

In the South Africa I want to build, our police service will be a well-trained, properly equipped and highly motivated crime-fighting unit. Only the best professionals will lead it and the days of deployed cadres filling top positions will be gone for good.

I want the provinces to have more control over the police. This will allow us to build stronger partnerships between Metro and Provincial police so that we can better fight crime.

I also want a Rural Safety Unit to make sure that all our citizens living on farms are protected.

I want homes to be places of dignity, which means separate rooms for parents and children. It means well-built homes, with electricity, running water and flushing toilets.

I want to speed up the delivery of these basic services so that all South Africans can enjoy the basic rights guaranteed in our Constitution.

I want this country to have an empowerment model that truly empowers more citizens as owners of companies. Let’s give shares to the people who work on our mines.

A model that transforms society and helps to build an inclusive economy in order to address the historical injustices committed against black South Africans.

I want to better protect our most vulnerable from poverty. I am a father of two children and I know it is near impossible to raise any child on R400 a month. So we have to increase this to a living grant for children.

I want our country to have secure borders. I want to make it easy for everyone who wants to come here legally, but impossible for those who want to enter illegally.

In this South Africa we will be energy-secure and sustainable thanks to our advances in renewable energy and our welcoming of independent power producers.

We will be future-focused when it comes to our children’s education, and we will prepare them for a fast-changing world.

I want to build an ICT infrastructure that will allow all our citizens to become digital citizens.

And finally – and you can read much more about this in the manifesto – I want our country to function honestly and openly. The South Africa I want to build will have no place for corruption and corrupt politicians.

If you are a corrupt politician, you will spend at least 15 years in jail.

I want to create a new, independent and fully-resourced Anti-Corruption Unit, staffed by both specialist prosecutors and investigators.

Tenders will be awarded out in the open, and no politician will do business with the State. Zero tolerance is the only way.

Fellow South Africans, that’s the South Africa I want to build – a South Africa for all, where no one is left out.

And yes, we can afford it if we get our priorities straight.

If we sell off the SOE’s that don’t work, if we eradicate corruption, if we slash our cabinet in half, if we stop wasting money on unnecessary luxuries, then we can build the country of our dreams.

I want to meet with labour, business and government so that we can build a better partnership that puts the agenda for all South Africans at the top.

We can either talk past each other and strike, or we can work together, hear each other and build a South Africa for all. We will coalesce with anyone who shares this dream.

We can build this South Africa. But if we are to do this, I am going to need your help.

I need you to rediscover your optimism for this country of ours. I need you to remember the dream we once had for South Africa, all those years ago.

I also need you to remember what was given up so that we can have a better future. Because we have sacrificed too much as a nation to go back now.

Think of the families torn apart as people left their homelands and their villages to make a living in the city, often not seeing their loved ones for years.

Both my parents left their homes like that – my mother from Cofimvaba in the old Transkei, and my father from his home in Bophuthatswana – to seek a better life here in Johannesburg.

And they were lucky – they both found work. For most of my childhood there were two jobs in our home, and this gave us precious freedom as a family.

They may not have been great jobs but they still changed our lives. It meant that we had choice. Because that’s what freedom is: the ability to choose.

When you have a job, you can choose which school your children go to.

When you have a job, you can choose which clinic to go to.

When you have a job, you can choose what to have for supper.

I want this for every single South African family. And this freedom is only possible if we can put a job in every home.

So I am asking you now: Help me achieve this. This is the cause for our generation – the cause for which we, like my father, should be prepared to give up our socks.

Let’s roll up our sleeves and set up the next generation for a future that is better than today.

We are South Africans – a nation of heroes! We have done great things and we will still do great things when we stand together!

We are South Africans! We are not going to be knocked down with one punch. We will get right back up again. And when we do, the world will see us rise.

We have come this far, but what has got us here is not going to get us there.

I know we can grow our economy and create jobs. I promise we can realise the South African dream: If we work hard, our children can have a better future.

Let’s show the world the fighting spirit of South Africans.

Let’s build a better tomorrow, and let’s start by changing our government.

Because if we don’t, then we are telling this government that it is okay to carry on stealing from us.

In ’94 our people chose the ballot instead of the bullet. That’s your power.

Use your vote to fire the government that has been stealing from you.

Use your vote to hire a government that will serve you.

Use your vote to put a job in every home.

Use your vote to realise the dream we once had.

We can make history.

Join us on 8 May when we march towards a better future.

Let us build One South Africa for All!

Amandla!

Electricity crisis can be laid firmly at the feet of uncaring ANC

The following speech was delivered in Parliament today

Chairperson,

Even when there isn’t loadshedding, many of our citizens face dark, cold nights without hot water or cooked food. It’s not because they haven’t paid their bill, or because there are power outages. It’s because their local municipality has racked up debt to ESKOM that they are unable to service.

The worst offender is Maluti-a-Phofung, which owes in excess of R2.8 billion to ESKOM. The municipality is unlikely to ever be able to settle this bill, as the interest far exceeds the revenue they generate each month. Others, like Emahlahleni, Matjhabeng and Thaba Chweu, are also in dire straits and owe hundreds of millions of rands.

At the end of March 2014, total municipal debt to Eskom was R2.6 billion. By the end of March 2017, this debt had increased to R13.6 billion and by September 2018, it had reached a staggering R17 billion. Soweto debt, which is separate from municipal debt as it is a direct ESKOM supply area, also rose to R17-billion during the same period. This combined debt is now increasing at a billion rand a month!

This is not something that has crept up on us. The Democratic Alliance has been warning of this financial crisis since 2014. At that time, Minister Gordhan assured us that an Inter-Ministerial Task Team, would deal with it. This is the same Task Team that the President and Finance Minister announced over the past few days as if it were something new. Well, here we are, 5 years later, and the situation is far, far worse! It is now a crisis! And solutions from the Inter-Ministerial Task Team seem to be missing in action.

Minister Jeff Radebe’s announcement at the Africa Energy Indaba that municipalities need to become more self-sufficient with regard to the production of electricity is to be welcomed. In fact, it is a key platform of our Independent System Market Operator private members bill, which Hon. Mazzone tabled earlier this year. The key issue, however, which Minister Radebe has failed to address is the ability of municipalities to manage this process. But many SA municipalities don’t even have the capacity to install, maintain and accurately read their customer’s electricity meters, let alone ensure the accurate billing thereof. In our proposal, municipalities MUST have the financial and technical capacity before they are permitted to generate or manage their own electricity supply.

A huge part of ESKOM’s troubles arise from the money that they are owed. So how can we fix it?

The first thing that needs to happen is that an assessment needs to be done of which municipalities are in a position to (a) pay ESKOM what they owe and (b) manage, finance and control their own electricity supply. Then we need to clean up municipal financial management, and more specifically, municipal billing. We can do this by deploying the right experts – auditors, accountants and managers with integrity –  to help municipalities get their systems sorted out, and accurate bills sent to customers. We need to ensure that they collect all the revenue they are entitled to, and that their budgets are fully funded and cost-effective. Thirdly, we need to ensure that municipalities have control of ALL the electricity supply in the areas they control. So the City of Johannesburg, for example, would take over areas like Soweto and Sandton, both of which are directly supplied and billed by ESKOM. Not only will this give the municipalities credit control over these areas, but it also increases revenue to the municipality (who mark up the electricity they purchase). Lastly, we need to address the cost of electricity. 25 years ago, this country prided itself on having the cheapest electricity in the world. Now, we are pushing to become the most expensive. It is unconscionable that ESKOM has increased electricity tariffs by 356% over the past 10 years. It is reprehensible that we will pay significantly more for electricity produced by Medupi and Khusile than we would for solar or wind generated electricity purchased during the Round 4 IPP bidding.

With regard to the Soweto debt, ESKOM undertook, in 2016, to write off the debt on installation of prepaid meters in all the households of the area. Progress in this regard has been slow and inconsistent. The common complaint from residents is not the installation of meters, but the process that has been followed. ESKOM technicians arrive at all hours of the day or night, with no notice or consultation.  And the culture of non-payment, which is so prevalent in this community, needs to be addressed from a national, provincial and local perspective. We need a massive public awareness campaign to let people know that if they don’t pay their bills, the lights might go off permanently!

Chairperson, by now it should be obvious: government is failing to provide basic services for its residents. This electricity crisis can be laid firmly at the feet of a corrupt and inept ANC. The various ministers of COGTA and Public Enterprises, and our president, Cyril Ramaphosa, from the time when he was deputy president until now, have failed dismally to address the challenges in ESKOM and our municipalities.

Where the DA governs, we are miles ahead in providing energy security for our citizens. More than 8 out 10 municipalities in the Western Cape already have laws in place to allow for independent electricity generation, and many of them are ready to sell electricity back to the grid. Because where we govern, we govern better! So on the 8th of May, vote to keep the lights on. Take back the power! Vote DA!

Deputy President Mabuza not the right man to rescue Eskom

The following speech was delivered in parliament today

Once again this house convenes for an urgent debate on the power cuts crisis that is crippling our country.

Almost 10 years ago, this house sat to debate a DA motion to consider measures to mitigate the devastating impact of the worst power blackouts that SA experienced back then.

As it was then, it is the DA, once again, at the forefront of providing solutions on an issue of national importance.

While we gather here with the knowledge that our work will proceed uninterrupted in the event of a power cut because Parliament’s generators will kick in. Many ordinary South Africans don’t enjoy the same privilege.

The rolling blackouts have been affecting South Africans from all walks life and the effects have been devastating.

While many of the Ministers in this house ignore the true effect of the corruption and maladministration that has broken Eskom, ordinary people feel the pinch every single day.

Industries will shut down. People will lose jobs. And all of this can be traced back to the people sitting on the right side of the House.

For Sara Masemola from Winterveldt, power cuts are life threatening. She says and I quote:

“It is difficult to cope without electricity because I need power to prepare food because I take (diabetes) medication. I don’t have a paraffin stove to fall back on like other residents.”

A print shop owner in Fordsburg, who can’t afford a generator says that “the power cuts are killing business for my shop. Without power, there are no profits for me.”

A baker in Linden, Johannesburg told a community radio station that she is throwing away as many as 15 loaves of unbaked bread as a direct results of power cuts.

Even those who can afford a generator, the devastating impact of the power cuts to their business is still large.

Themba DLamini who owns a butchery in Pietermaritzburg told a local newspaper that:

“Running a generator during power cuts is expensive and doesn’t provide enough energy to keep the lights on, fridges cold and met band saws working optimally.” 

These power cuts by the ANC are killing small businesses

The impact of power cuts at public health facilities has been severe.

Helen Josephs Hospital in Gauteng has been one of the public health facilities hit hard by recent power cuts.

A generator supplying power to the hospital’s emergency ward recently broke down during a power cut, leaving patients and medical professionals stranded.

A functional generator or alternative energy sources at hospitals and clinics could be the difference between life and death.

However, the sad reality is that many clinics in poor communities don’t have enough fuel reserves to use generators for long periods when power cuts strike. 

These power cuts by the ANC government are killing our public health system.

The President’s appointment of Deputy President Mabuza to lead the task team that will deal with the Eskom crisis was one of the most devastating decisions.

For anyone who has followed the colourful political life of the Deputy President knows that he is not the one to rely on when you need to fix anything.

The Deputy President has a proven track record in government that shows he is the country most incompetent senior public servant.

Deputy President Mabuza is no Mr Fix It. He is the Mr. Destroyer of the public service.

His legacy as the MEC of Education in Mpumalanga includes inflated matric results, questionable awarding of contracts and poorly built schools.

The Deputy President is an individual who seeks to maximize opportunities for personal benefits when given responsibilities for selfless leadership.

We don’t trust him. We know the majority of his colleagues don’t trust him.  The bottom live is that he is not the right man to lead us out of an energy crisis.

His own colleague, Honourable Fish Mahlalela, told the New York Times the following about the Deputy President’s leadership:

“He didn’t become what he is now because of his political capability… (rather) it was out of money and manipulation.”

In the very same article, the New York Times concludes that:

Mabuza’s role as the country’s second most powerful politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of the new government and its assertions that the ANC is turning the page on corruption.”

Honourable Members, unlike some parties in this house, we don’t talk about hypothetical solutions masquerading as “superior logic.”

While the unbundling of Eskom is long overdue, we propose the following to secure our Eskom’s future and sustainability:

  • Immediately remove Deputy President Mabuza as the chair of the cabinet panel.
  • Introduce Independent Power Producers to relieve pressure on the national grid.
  • Change Eskom’s coal procurement policy immediately to allow Eskom to procure coal from any credible source;
  • Reaffirm Eskom’s engineering and maintenance employees as an “essential service” that cannot enter into strike action;
  • Introduce a drastic salary restructuring of Eskom’s executives;
  • Instruct municipalities to start a “name and shame” campaign of the main offenders that are non-paying their electricity bills.

Fellow South Africans, every power cut you experience cut is a reminder that the ANC is killing the lights.

Therefore, a vote for the ANC is a vote for more power cuts.

We are in this crisis because the ANC has allowed Eskom’s debt to grow to unaffordable levels.

We are in this crisis because of executive instability at Eskom evident in the appointment 6 CEOs over 10 years.

We are in this crisis because the ANC government has failed to complete both Kusile and Medupi Power Stations in time.

We are in this crisis because the costs of building both power stations have doubled.

Fellow South Africans, use your vote to cut the ANC’s powers by voting for a party that has credible solutions to solve the country’s growing energy crisis.

And that party is the DA!

Kea Leboga!

South Africa being forced to pay a never-ending ransom to Eskom

The following speech was delivered in Parliament today.

House Chairperson

South Africa is now in an official hostage situation.  We have a situation where two belligerent parties, one being Eskom, the other being the ANC are holding the South African Republic, the South African economy and every person within South Africa as security in this hostage drama.  We as South Africa have a metaphorical knife to our throat and we are being forced to pay a never-ending ransom to Eskom or else, the throat will be slit and the result will be a full blackout and the death of South Africa as we know it.

This is no over exaggeration and this is not panic peddling. This is an absolute reality. We are teetering on the very edge. We should be terrified at what exactly could happen if this crisis worsens. As government, every single effort and every single action should be focused on averting this crisis. And to anticipate the responses, NO, enough has not been done, and enough is not being done to save our country.

The date is 11 December 2014. The deputy President and leader of government business is Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, the plan is to turn around Eskom and Mr Ramaphosa will oversee it. Plans fail..dismally. The date is 11 July 2017. The deputy President and leader of government business is Mr Cyril Ramphosa, a new plan is discussed to turn around Eskom, increase revenue and reduce spending. Plans fail…diamally. The date is 31 January 2018. The Deputy President and leader of government business is Mr Cyril Ramaphosa. Fitch downgrades Eskom, Eskom vows to implement a turnaround strategy that sees the utility claw its way back from financial ruin due to State Capture of the SOE…Plans fail, dismally.  The date is 2 December 2018. The President is Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, the leader of government business is Mr David Mabuza, rolling blackouts have rocked the country yet again, a new turnaround strategy is announced for implementation in early 2019…I think we can all agree, Epic Fail!

I have watched, year after year, Eskom board after Eskom board, rolling blackout after rolling blackout, Minister after Minister, Eskom price increase after price increase…it just gets worse. Eskom, as a state-owned entity simply cannot function. The ideological battles within the ANC are now not only ripping the party itself apart, it is causing an economic crisis the likes of which this country has never seen. The DA has not just sat back and complained, we have taken the proactive steps of providing solutions, providing legislation and requesting countless times to sit around the table and be of service.  We have said, so many times, this crisis transcends the bounds of politics, the very future of our country is at stake here.

That kind of overhaul needed at Eskom should mean splitting Eskom into a generation entity completely independent from a distribution/transmission entity. The generation entity should be privatised over time, where well-functioning power stations can be offloaded to the private sector to create much-needed competition.

The DA’s cheaper electricity bill will do just that and create a cheaper and more stable energy sector. Our bill was gazetted in Parliament for public comment yesterday and is the first real concrete step to changing Eskom’s structure. Less talk, more action.

The Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, announced another set of bailouts for struggling state-owned entities (SOE’s) yesterday in his budget speech.

The R69 billion lifeline promised to Eskom over the next three years is not enough to keep Eskom afloat, with the utility sinking faster than the Titanic.

The truth is that Eskom has hit an iceberg in the form of mounting debt of R419 billion – and climbing, an oversized workforce, low productivity, lack of critical skills, brand-new faulty coal power stations, scar tissue from years of corruption, maintenance backlogs and strategic errors.  When one adds the municipal debt that is owed to Eskom, the ship had only one way to go – and that is down.

The financial lifeline and rejig of Eskom into three entities will not be enough to save Eskom. Even with three units, there will still be only one board calling the shots. What Eskom needs is a complete overhaul, not a mere rejig.

We need to face some very harsh realities. State Capture hit it’s absolute height during the term of this Parliament. It was devised, executed and almost completed under the watch of then President Jacob Zuma and his entire cabinet. President Ramaphosa himself has referred to the nine wasted years.  Nine wasted years indeed, but let me tell you what was also wasted, six opportunities to vote in a motion of no confidence to rid this country of Mr Jacob Zuma. Six times the ANC voted in favour of keeping him and cheered and sang and gave him a standing ovation every time the motions were defeated.  The ANC members of this parliament have allowed us to now face the aftermath of State Capture. The politics of the stomach completely winning over the politics of the people. I have to laugh when I hear comments being made to the media like “we had no idea it was this bad” or “we should have acted sooner”. Yes, you should have acted immediately but that would have meant that all those pesky small anyana skeletons would have come tumbling out before they could be hidden.  It simply cannot be that every single member of the executive, most especially the leader of government business was not aware of every element of state capture.  What exactly happens in cabinet meetings? Just a little get together to decide who says what to deflect from the truth?

The ANC government has taken the people of South Africa for fools one to many times. South Africans are politically astute and will never fall for these games and lies again. It is not normal and nor should it ever be accepted as normal to have rolling blackouts threaten us each day. The time has come for South Africans to take back their power.  The date is 9 May 2019, the President is no longer Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, the country has freed itself from the hostage taker and the county has it’s power back. The date is 10 May 2019 and the President is Mr Mmusi Maimane.

ANC-run Free State municipalities must pay back over R5 billion debt to Eskom

The following remarks were delivered today by Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at a picket outside the Free State Premier’s Office in Bloemfontein. Maimane was joined by Team One SA Spokesperson on Corruption, Phumzile van Damme. Attached is a copy of the memorandum that was handed over to the provincial government.

Democrats,

Bagaetsho dumelang,

We are here outside the Free State Premier’s Office to pass on a clear message to the ANC provincial government: we, the people will not continue to pay for the sins of the ANC. Government must take immediate action against municipalities in the province which have failed to pay more than R5 billion in bills owed to Eskom.

Democrats, this province is the biggest defaulter when it comes to paying its Eskom bills. Maluti A Phofung, Matjhabeng and Ngwathe owe Eskom R2.809 and R1.815 billion and R940 million respectively – the 1st, 2nd and 4th most indebted ANC municipalities to Eskom in South Africa as at November last year.

Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni’s, Budget Speech confirmed yesterday that almost five times this amount owing will be allocated each year in bailouts, totalling R69 billion in the Medium Term. South Africa cannot continue to pay for the sins of the ANC in government.

This is not a drill, it’s a risk to the very sovereignty of our nation. The ANC’s corruption, inefficiency, mismanagement and mountainous debt has brought South Africa and its economy to its knees on the edge of a fiscal cliff.

This crisis is so severe that sovereign credit ratings agencies like Moody’s have warned the ANC government that if State Owned Entities (SOEs) like Eskom raise government’s debt burden, South Africa’s credit rating will be downgraded which could lead to another dip into recession that would plunge the country’s economy deeper into darkness. Mboweni’s announcement yesterday that our debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to soar to over 60% for the first time since we became a democracy will likely have confirmed their fears.

There is hope for the worst indebted ANC municipalities like Maluti A Phofung, Matjhabeng and Ngwathe in the Free State. But three practical solutions must immediately be implemented to climb through the pile of debt they owe. We call on the Premier to immediately:

  • Institute a name and shame campaign for non-payers of electricity by releasing the names of the main offenders that are non-paying to these municipalities’ websites and local papers to make sure the community knows who is skipping on payment. This would be similar to the water saving name and shame campaign in the DA-led City of Cape Town;
  • Install smart meters that will allow the timeous collection of payments from municipalities to Eskom;
  • Take urgent action with consequence management for managers in these municipalities and others that are not paying and do not meet payment targets for outstanding payments to Eskom.

Where the DA governs, we are miles ahead of the rest of South Africa’s renewable energy readiness. More than 8 in 10 municipalities in the Western Cape already have laws in place to allow for independent solar energy generation and most of them are ready to sell clean energy back into the grid. This is what City led economic development looks like and why we continue to take the ANC government to Court over the right to diversify energy and buy directly from Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

The DA has a clear plan to reform the energy sector and to stabilise electricity supply. We would immediately:

  • Privatise the generation entities of Eskom, allowing a diverse range of energy to enter the grid, increasing competition and lowering costs;
  • Instruct Eskom to immediately freeze the build on the last two outstanding units at Kusile, and instead look to bring on more IPPs to provide power. Eskom’s debt is spiralling due to cost overruns on the two big coal builds, while the units are not running at full capacity due to design and build flaws.
  • Reaffirm Eskom’s engineering and maintenance employees as an “essential service” that cannot enter into strike action;
  • Install major smart meters for municipalities to force municipalities to collect revenue timeously; and
  • Allow well-functioning metros to source energy directly from independent energy suppliers.

The worst offending ANC municipalities from the Free State to Emalahleni, Govan Mbeki, Lekwa and Thaba Chweu in Mpumalanga, Emfuleni in Gauteng and Ditsobotla and Naledi in the North West owe the dying Eskom more than R10 billion in total debt during level 4 loadshedding weeks ahead of an ANC created bankruptcy of Eskom that it is incapable of managing.

This is a national emergency. Citizens have a civic duty to cut the ANC’s power on 8 May 2019 and vote for change!

DA’s Manifesto centred on building One South Africa for All

Today, Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, kicked off the Party’s manifesto mobilisation week in his hometown of Soweto, Gauteng, ahead of the party’s Manifesto Launch at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg this Saturday, 23 February. Maimane went door-to-door, engaging with residents and encouraging them to join this coming Saturday where we will make history and unveil our agenda for change. Pictures are attached here, here, here, here and here.

Our manifesto is grounded on our offer to bring immediate change that builds One South Africa for All where there’s a job in every home, our communities and streets are safe, our borders are secure, basic services are delivered to all, and corruption is crushed. The manifesto is a strong plan with implementable solutions to rescue our economy, and we believe that our offer will resonate with South Africans who want immediate change.

Over the coming days, DA public representatives, MPs, MPLs, Mayors, Councillors, and activists will cover every corner of Gauteng mobilising citizens to fill the Rand Stadium this coming Saturday.

The choice that lies before South Africans when they cast their votes on 8 May this year is a choice between another 5 years of talk shops, summits, corruption and empty promises from the ANC, or DA’s agenda for immediate change that builds One South Africa for All.