Straight Talk: DA leads the charge for law and order

Last week, the DA took immediate legal action to stop unlawful land grabs on municipal property next to Lourier Park in Bloemfontein. This was after the ANC-run Mangaung Metro turned a blind eye to the court interdict against land invasion of this area. We are committed to using the court oversight process to ensure the law is upheld there.

Residents of the surrounding communities are understandably distraught by illegal land invasions on their doorstep, which threaten their security of tenure and social cohesion. But we should all be deeply concerned about this creeping lawlessness. Allowing lawless land grabs undermines the rule of law and sets a dangerous precedent that can spread like wildfire, fueling anarchy and an unravelling of the social fabric.

By taking quick, decisive steps to uphold the law, the DA is living our values and demonstrating them in action. The DA is committed to delivering housing, title deeds and land reform within the confines of the law, which is the only way to deliver them successfully, fairly and peacefully – and within a growing economy that attracts investment.

In sharp contrast, the lawlessness on display in Bloemfontein shows what is in store for the whole country under an ANC/EFF Doomsday coalition. Where the DA and our partners in the Multi-Party Charter stand for the rule of law, nonracialism, a market economy, and the separation of party and state – the essential preconditions for a successful constitutional democracy and the only set of values that can deliver peace and prosperity to South Africa – the Doomsday coalition stands for the exact opposite.
On Wednesday, the parties to the Multi-Party Charter held a joint press conference in Cape Town, to confirm our commitment and unveil our plan to achieve law and order in South Africa. The Brenthurst poll released last Friday confirms that the Multi-Party Charter is the largest political grouping outside the ANC.

The poll also confirmed what many others have already suggested: that the ANC will fall well below 50% in the election on 29 May 2024. This election therefore presents a crucial opportunity for law-abiding South Africans to unite behind the MPC and build a new majority around the values of the constitution, starting with the rule of law.

They can rest assured that the DA will be at the forefront of rescuing South Africa from chaos and lawlessness. Voting DA on 29 May 2024 is the most powerful way to bring law and order to South Africa, and thereby secure the foundations for peace and prosperity for all.

Straight Talk: DA double victory for SA this week

The DA has clocked up two huge victories for South Africa this week. While the President delivers words – mostly empty promises and populist posturing – the DA has achieved real progress in rescuing South Africa from cadre deployment and loadshedding.

On Monday, the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the DA in our case to compel the ANC to hand over its complete cadre deployment records from 2013 to 2018, the peak state capture period when Cyril Ramaphosa chaired the cadre deployment committee.

These records will reveal exactly how the ANC laid the foundation for state capture by interfering in public appointment processes, to block skilled applicants in favour of its chosen cadres. By forcing the ANC to reveal these records, the DA has dealt a serious blow to ANC state capture and corruption while scoring a decisive win for the democratic principle of transparency.

This is also a major victory in the battle to build a capable state. Because, by enabling the ANC to dish out state jobs in return for political loyalty rather than on the basis of merit and skill, cadre deployment is also the root cause of the collapse of state capacity. It is destroying the ability of the state to deliver services, which of course hurts the poor disproportionately, because the poor are most reliant on the state.

In uprooting cadre deployment, the DA is tackling the key cause of loadshedding, water-shedding, infrastructure collapse and economic decline all at once. At the same time, we’re also offering realistic, workable solutions to these problems. Please tune into the DA’s manifesto launch this weekend to hear more about these.

But we’re not only talking about solutions, we’re also actively implementing them every day where we govern, which brings me to the DA’s second great victory for SA this week. On Monday, DA-run Cape Town officially launched its Cash for Power programme, allowing households to earn cash for excess power generated by their solar PV systems.

This is part of Cape Town’s broader Energy Strategy that will protect residents from up to six stages of loadshedding by 2026 and pave the way for the rest of South Africa to follow. The DA is fighting on every front to reverse South Africa’s decline and build a capable state that can deliver to all. Please join us in rescuing South Africa from cadre deployment and loadshedding by registering and voting DA in the 2024 national and provincial elections.

Straight talk: The road rescue South Africa runs through Parliament

On Tuesday this week, ahead of yesterday’s State of the Nation Address, I delivered a speech titled “A Blueprint to Rescue South Africa”, setting out our plan for the DA’s first 100 days in national government. This plan amounts to the most comprehensive legislative reform agenda since 1994.

A defining failure of the Ramaphosa administration is that the outgoing President never grasped the importance of Parliament. Saying there should be bullet trains and an end to loadshedding does not magically make it so. Only the hard work of legislative reform makes change possible.

Within the first 100 days in office, the DA will introduce legislation to rescue our country from five key sources of state collapse. This legislation, the bulk of it already written and ready to go, is aimed at: fixing the institution of Parliament itself, in order to turn it into the engine room of reform; ending loadshedding by embracing privatisation; abolishing cadre deployment in favour of merit-based appointments and a capable state; halving the rate of violent crime; and growing the economy while protecting social grants.

To get Parliament working for the people, we will create a committee to oversee the Presidency, increasing the frequency of presidential questions, and introducing penalties when members of the executive fail to answer questions. As in the Western Cape legislature, we will reintroduce snap debates that force Ministers to account, and we will empower opposition MPs to serve as committee chairs. These measures would give expression to the recommendations of the State Capture Commission. The DA is serious about oversight and accountability.

To end loadshedding, we will reintroduce our bill to create an Independent Transmission System and Market Operator. This entity will be mandated to urgently establish a fully private market for the trading and distribution of electricity. In the first budget tabled by a new multi-party government, the DA will push for the introduction of an expanded R75 000 tax rebate to further encourage private households to install solar energy.

To ensure a capable state, our End Cadre Deployment Bill will outlaw cadre deployment. We will make it a criminal offence for any politician to interfere in appointment processes, and we will remove powers of appointment, promotion and dismissal from politicians. Instead, the DA will fundamentally reform the Public Service Commission to become an independent custodian of the public sector, with a mandate to ensure that all appointments are based strictly on merit and skill.

Within 100 days, the DA will introduce the Scorpions 2.0 through a constitutional amendment that will create an independent anti-crime and anti-corruption institution in Chapter 9 of the Constitution. At the same time, we will introduce a Devolution Bill to devolve policing powers to competent provincial and local governments, to bring policing closer to the people.

Finally, within 100 days, this new DA government will immediately prepare to introduce a new budget to begin to fundamentally restructure our economy. Unlike the ANC, we understand that social development is intricately linked to economic growth. That is why our first budget will contain no tax increases, no bracket creep, and will start to reduce the unaffordable wage and debt bills that suffocate the economy.

The DA’s Responsible Spending Bill will put a limit on government debt, while our Social Impact Bill will replace the corruption of race-based BEE with means-tested empowerment that benefits the 30 million people who still live in desperate poverty and who are struggling with the greatest cost-of-living crisis in a generation.

At the same time, the DA will bury the ANC’s job-killing policies that come straight out of the socialist playbook, including expropriation without compensation, the nationalisation of mines, farms, industry and the Reserve Bank, as well as the madness of the NHI.

With the DA in government, investor sentiment will soar, and our new budget will kickstart economic growth and job creation. Nothing could better protect the sustainability of social grants while at the same time lifting millions out of poverty.

A Parliament that works for the people. A private electricity market to end loadshedding. A capable state free from cadre deployment and corruption. An independent crime-busting entity and stronger local policing. A budget that creates jobs and protects social grants.

That is the DA’s Blueprint to rescue South Africa within 100 days of taking office. It will improve the daily lives of every South African. This can be the new state of our nation just weeks from today. The DA is committed to serving as the anchor tenant for a new multi-party government, and to carrying this Blueprint into coalition negotiations.

At the end of the day, the simple truth is this. South Africa’s next government will either be a coalition of corruption with the ANC and EFF at its heart, which will seal this country’s fate. Or it will be a Multi-Party Charter government with the DA at its heart, which will implement the most comprehensive legislative reform agenda seen in a generation. When you strip away the noise, those are the stakes in 2024.

Be part of the mission to rescue South Africa, get help registering to vote at check.da.org.za

Straight Talk: Only DA-style good governance can protect social grants

Let me be clear upfront: the DA is unequivocally committed to social grants. They are an integral part of our plan for building a strong safety net that can ensure dignity and security for everyone living in South Africa. We wholeheartedly agree with Mahatma Ghandi’s famous observation that “the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members”.

Far from discontinuing social grants, as President Ramaphosa and other detractors would have you believe, the DA would protect and improve the social grant system. If the ANC continues in government, on the other hand, the grant system will wither and die.

Protect

The health of the social grant system is directly linked to the health of the economy. Under a DA government, the social grant system will thrive because South Africa’s economy will thrive. You only have to look at the record number of tourists that flocked to the Western Cape this season, and the unemployment rate that declined from 24.5% to 20.2% last year, to know that the DA’s approach to economic growth works.

With a DA national government managing South Africa’s economy, millions of people will move off the grant and into the self-reliance and dignity of a job. The combination of growing tax revenues and falling unemployment will take pressure off the grant system, growing its sustainability and enabling the payment of higher grants to those who need them.

In stark contrast, under the ANC’s approach of centralized state control and cadre deployment, tax revenues are falling while borrowing costs and unemployment queues are growing. The fact is, grants are buying less and less each month, and they are becoming increasingly unaffordable for the state.

Over the past ten years, the ANC has increased the child support grant by an average of 2 percent per year, while inflation has averaged over 5 percent. The ANC has thus been systematically cutting the child support grant by about 3 percentage points per year for at least a decade. It is only a matter of time until the state starts defaulting on its debt and the grant system dies altogether. The ANC is the real threat to grants.

Improve

Not only will the DA in national government protect the grant system, but we will also massively improve it. For starters, we will immediately raise the child support grant, currently at R510, to the food poverty line at R760, to bring immediate relief from the scourge of hunger and malnutrition that is imperiling the health and life prospects of millions of children in South Africa today.

The DA has been proposing this intervention for years and we believe it can and should be implemented right away. Next month, we will present our Alternative Budget, showing how it can be achieved within the current budget envelope, by reprioritizing spending. As Joe Biden famously remarked: “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”

Many people are concerned that the child grant is not used for the purpose intended and furthermore encourages people to have more children. This is simply not borne out by the evidence, which has shown that the child grant has been instrumental in reducing child poverty, improving child nutrition, health (including mental health) and schooling outcomes.

The DA additionally supports a Basic Income Grant (BIG), but only in the context of economic growth that makes it affordable and viable. And we would improve the grant payment process itself, making the payment of grants more reliable and accessible, and combatting the payment failures and fraud that most recently deprived 150 000 beneficiaries of their January grants.

Conclusion

President Ramaphosa would have South Africa believe that the DA is “anti-transformation”. Yet nothing could be more damaging to transformation than the ANC’s extractive agenda of corruption, cadre deployment and patronage-driven centralized state control that traps people into a life of reliance on the state.

Real, meaningful transformation of our society will come from millions more people in jobs, coupled with a stronger social safety net for the vulnerable, driven by a healthy, growing economy. Ultimately, the DA’s goal is to provide socioeconomic relief that breaks the cycle of dependence, providing a trampoline to independence and dignity.

If you have not yet registered to vote DA, you can kickstart your registration process online at www.check.da.org.za. Or you can register at your nearest voting station on the upcoming registration weekend of 3-4 February by taking your ID book or card any time between 8am and 5pm. Please double your impact by persuading and assisting one unregistered voter to register to vote DA. This is your chance to rescue South Africa and our social grant system.

Straight Talk: Do you want more dignity for more South Africans?

Do you want to make South Africa a better country, with more jobs, better service delivery, and more human dignity? Do you think South Africa is currently on a downwards trajectory towards more crime and poverty? Do you think the national government is doing a bad job of running the country?

If your answer to these questions is yes, the most powerful thing you can do to bring the change you want to see is to register to vote DA in the 2024 national and provincial elections.

Consider StatsSA’s latest jobs numbers, that were released three days ago: Unemployment is down 4.3 percentage points in DA-run Western Cape since this time last year. Thanks to consistent service delivery that spurs confidence in the future which in turn leads people to invest in businesses, the unemployment rate has fallen from 24.5% to 20.2%.

This incredible drop in unemployment is due to the creation of 305 000 jobs during the year. The implications are obvious: more jobs equals more dignity and human wellbeing, less crime and suffering.

Also consider the recent census data, which shows that DA-run Cape Town has the highest proportion of households with in-house piped water (84.5% compared to a SA average of 59.7%) and flush toilets connected to sewerage (93.4% compared to a SA average of 70.8%).

This is what dignity is all about. The dignity of a job. The dignity of proper sanitation.

If you want more dignity for more South Africans, the easiest and more powerful thing you can do is to register to vote DA and get your friends and family to do the same.

This weekend is registration weekend, meaning you can register at your nearest voting station. Simply take your ID book or card any time between 8am and 5pm this Saturday or Sunday. Please double your impact by persuading and assisting one unregistered voter to register to vote DA.

Register to rescue South Africa. Register for dignity. Bring the change you want to see.

Be part of the mission to rescue South Africa, get help registering to vote at check.da.org.za

Straight Talk: The DA’s solutions to SA’s hunger crisis should have Tim Cohen’s support, not his disdain

The following Right of Reply by DA Leader John Steenhuisen was published by Daily Maverick on Thursday 9 November, in response to journalist Tim Cohen’s attack on the DA (Daily Maverick 2 Nov) for our cost-of-food solutions. We would like South Africans to understand the reasoning behind the DA’s solutions to the hunger crisis.

The DA’s solutions to SA’s hunger crisis should have Tim Cohen’s support, not his disdain.

In the face of South Africa’s prolonged and mounting hunger crisis causing immense human suffering with tragic short- and long-term consequences for our nation, it beggars belief that Tim Cohen (Daily Maverick, 2 Nov 2023) would choose to attack the DA for the solutions we’ve put on the table rather than the ANC for utterly failing to care about a nation in deep distress.

If Cohen thinks the DA is only now focusing on the cost of food, and only to get people to register, I would ask him what rock he’s been hiding under these past eighteen months while the DA has repeatedly urged government to intervene with our proposed solutions – solutions we developed in consultation with civil society experts in 2022, in response to the sharp rise in food prices occasioned by Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Food price inflation hit a high of 8,6% in June 2022, putting enormous pressure on low-income household budgets that were already under immense strain due to bad management of the economy, the slow pace of reform, the riots and floods in KZN, the spiralling cost of electricity, and the ANC government’s irrational hard-lockdown regulations which caused a steep rise in hunger and malnutrition, as found by the NIDS-CRAM survey in May 2021.

The DA set out many of our solutions in a press conference on 8 September 2022. Cohen can read the press statement here. Far from being “populist”, the DA’s solutions to the cost-of-food crisis are well-researched, workable and urgent. Everyone who cares that 27% of children under age five are stunted due to malnutrition, or that 81% of households miss at least one meal per day due to high food prices, should get behind these solutions and put pressure on government to implement them.

Had he made the effort to engage sincerely with the DA’s solutions he would realise that global food price increases notwithstanding, there is so much that government could do to take pressure off low-income household food budgets.

Instead, Cohen considers there to be little the ANC government can do to alleviate South Africa’s cost-of-food crisis. So rather than use his platform to call out government, Cohen has chosen to defend the ANC and rather to launch an outright attack on the DA.

Cohen says if the DA is going to play “bandwagon politics” (whatever that means) we should “at least find solutions that are actually genuine”. I challenge Cohen to an open in-person debate on “genuine” solutions to the hunger crisis. Meantime let’s have a look at some of the DA’s solutions to reduce hunger and malnutrition in South Africa.

The DA has proposed a range of short-term interventions to bring immediate relief, coupled with meaningful economic reforms that open the economy for jobs and growth, to tackle at source South Africa’s problems of hunger, poverty, unemployment and falling tax revenues.

We’ve called on government to review the list of zero-rated food items, with a view to expanding it to include more items commonly purchased by the poorest 50% of households, such as bone-in chicken, tinned beans, peanut butter, and baby food.

The last review of zero-rated items was done in 2018 by a panel chaired by Professor Ingrid Woolard, who agreed back in 2022 already that this list is due for review. The DA’s suggested additions to the list were provided to us by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), based on their analysis of low-income household food expenditure data.

Bone-in chicken is a high-quality source of protein and by far the most popular one for poor households, making up 14% of low-income household food budgets. Vulnerable South Africans need an affordable source of protein to prevent them shifting to a less nutritious high-carb diet as their budget is squeezed. It is also versatile and quick to cook, saving on energy costs.

Zero-rating bone-in chicken would cost approximately R4 billion per annum, but experts have suggested the intervention would pay for itself through improved health, work and learning outcomes.

Budgeting is about making trade-offs. I wonder if Cohen has considered, for example, that the ANC government spends almost R4 billion per annum on Protection Services to protect itself from the public when it could choose to spend this on protecting 30 million poor South Africans from hunger and malnutrition. As Joe Biden famously said: “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”

Based on advice from international trade experts, the DA also proposed a review of import tariffs on some food items, including those chicken categories most commonly purchased by households facing the most extreme deprivation. These experts advised that this intervention would have a negligible impact on the fiscus but a large impact on these poorest of poor households.

Cohen may disagree with these expert-held positions, but there is surely enough room for debate to render his accusation of “populist” unfair and unjustified.

In fact, the DA has for years called for tariffs on imported chicken to be lifted, which Minister Patel only recently did amid the outbreak of avian flu. The abolition of those tariffs has immediately brought down the price of chicken products. This is a case study on how the DA’s policy position of cutting tariffs and trade barriers would help the poorest of the poor.

The DA has also called on government to slash fuel prices to prevent hunger and riots. Again, far from being a cynical ploy “to get people to register”, we’ve done so consistently for the past two years, and Cohen can read this statement from May 2022 to understand our reasoning.

In addition to a slate of proposals we’ve put forward to grow South Africa’s food security, the DA has consistently called for the Child Support Grant to be raised to the Food Poverty Line. Few interventions could do more to address the 27% incidence of childhood stunting that so profoundly cripples those children’s prospects across the full course of their lives.

Cohen should know better than most journalists that all these interventions and more could easily be funded by meaningful economic reforms that open SA’s economy for growth and jobs. Should he genuinely not understand the DA’s plan to grow the economy, he can go onto our website and read our extensive suite of policies on how to deal with all the factors that make for a healthy economy.

I would also point Cohen to the many steps being taken by the DA-led Western Cape government to tackle the hunger crisis. This includes feeding around 500 000 schoolchildren daily through its support for school feeding schemes, 25 000 schoolchildren through after-school and youth development programmes, over 150 000 young children through ECD centres and over 100 000 people through funding soup kitchens. Its first 1000 days programme provides nutritional support for children at risk of malnutrition.

With no hint of irony, having bashed the DA’s solutions, Cohen then goes on to call the DA the party of “maximal critique”, implying that all we ever do is criticise the ANC, rather than coming up with solutions of our own.

I would remind Cohen that as the official opposition, it is the DA’s constitutional duty to call out the ANC for their failures. This is literally what taxpayers pay us to do. The DA started warning South Africa about the dangers inherent in the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment in 1998 and about the risks of state capture in 2011.

South Africa would be a different and far less hungry country today had journalists such as Cohen heeded the DA’s advice back then and joined our call for change. This is exactly what Cohen should do now, in the face of this hunger crisis.

Finally, there’s Cohen’s frivolous attack on the DA for not criticising government’s proposed tax hikes. Yet just the previous day, I tackled President Ramaphosa on these directly during oral questions to the President. And I would point Cohen to DA Shadow Minister of Finance Dion George’s press statement of 2 November aptly titled “Increasing taxes is not the solution Minister Godongwana”.

Maybe I’m naïve to expect more from journalists, but if you consider the extent of suffering and risk posed by South Africa’s hunger crisis, then shouldn’t Cohen take the time to understand what the DA is offering before mounting a fulsome attack on us? I certainly think so.

Be part of the mission to rescue South Africa, get help registering to vote at check.da.org.za

Straight Talk: The DA is on the side of peace in Palestine and Israel

Over the past week, the DA’s position on the ongoing war in Gaza has been maliciously mischaracterised as part of a broader effort to exploit this tragic conflict for political gain. Rather than promoting peace, the ANC has deliberately abused and inflamed divisions around the conflict in an attempt to distract from its dismal failures in government.

We cannot allow the ANC’s misinformation to go unchallenged. Below, I reiterate the DA’s position in favour of a two-state solution that results in peaceful coexistence between a sovereign Palestine and a secure Israel.

The War in Gaza

The Democratic Alliance (DA) stands in solidarity with both Palestinians and Israelis who seek a two-state solution. The DA stands against radicalism and violence. We reject any sentiment that seeks to annihilate either Israel or Palestine. We embrace rationality based on peaceful co-existence for both a secure Israel and a free Palestinian state. We embrace the right of both Palestinians and Israelis to statehood and sovereignty.

The DA is deeply concerned by the escalation of violence and the death toll in both Gaza and the West Bank, which continues to rise.

Even as the fighting rages, we call on all peace-loving South Africans to recognise the deeper conflict playing out on both sides of this war. It is a war between radicalism, which seeks the annihilation of the other side, and rationality, which recognises the inherent right of both Israelis and Palestinians to statehood, sovereignty and security.

For peace to be possible, rationality rather than radicalism must win the day on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of this conflict. The DA does not seek the destruction of one side by the other. We seek the triumph of rational forces, committed to peaceful co-existence, on all sides of this terrible conflict.

Palestine

In Palestine, radicalism is represented by Hamas. The DA, along with most of the world, regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation opposed to peace and to a two-state solution. We condemn the recent comments by the leader of Hamas threatening ongoing repeats of the 7 October terrorist attacks on Israel. Part of the path to peace involves eliminating Hamas’ capacity to utilise Gaza as a staging ground for terror attacks and as a supply base for its militants.

Palestinians deserve rational and courageous leaders, free from the influence of fundamentalists who agitate for the annihilation of Israel. And Palestinian leadership requires a democratic mandate. The President of the Palestinian Authority has side-lined potential rivals and a fully-fledged democratic election has not been held since 2006. Hamas and other radicals do not have any credible mandate to represent the Palestinian people.

But the people of Palestine are not defined by Hamas. The DA stands in solidarity with Palestinians who desire a sovereign and secure Palestinian state alongside a sovereign and secure Israel.

We call for the urgent provision of adequate humanitarian aid to Gaza, including food, fuel, and medical supplies. Humanitarian corridors must be created and respected to ensure the free-flow of aid to civilian populations.

Safe zones need to be established in southern Gaza, Egypt and potentially the Negev, which will display good faith on the part of Israel, for the acceptance of displaced Palestinian civilians. These safe zones will also make it easier to distribute medical supplies and other humanitarian aid to the innocent victims of this conflict.

The DA supports the call by United Nations agencies for urgent humanitarian pauses in the fighting to be implemented, to ensure the safe expansion of aid flows into Gaza, and to allow more civilians to reach safe zones until such time as the Palestinian State is free from the grip of terror. The DA also recognises the right of return of Palestinian refugees, who have been driven from their homeland by decades of conflict.

Israel

In Israel, radicalism is represented by influential hard-line factions within the current government. The DA condemns recent comments by Israeli officials contemplating the use of nuclear weapons in Gaza. The DA condemns any suggestion that innocent civilians in Palestine must be subject to collective punishment by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) over the atrocities committed by Hamas. We recognise the way in which actions of the Israeli government, including the expansion of settlements deemed illegal under international law and, in some instances, by the country’s own Supreme Court, has contributed to obstructing the path to peace.

While the DA recognises Israel’s right to defend itself, and to deal with Hamas in a manner that ensures a path to lasting peace in the region, we call on the Israeli government to uphold international law and significantly enhance access to humanitarian aid in Gaza. The DA reaffirms the principles outlined in Article 51 of the 1977 Protocol I of the Geneva Convention, which prohibits, and regards as a war crime, the carpet bombing of cities, towns, villages and other areas containing a concentration of civilians. Where Israeli military forces or their commanders target civilians or violate international law, they must be swiftly brought to justice.

Like Gaza, Israel deserves rational and courageous leadership that upholds international law and operates free from the influence of fundamentalists who agitate for the destruction of Palestine. The country needs a new direction from its government based upon a credible plan for peace that includes addressing Israeli settlement in the West Bank and ensuring that commitments made in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 are finally upheld.

But, just like Hamas does not represent all Palestinians, hardliners in the current Cabinet do not represent all Israelis. The DA stands in solidarity with Israelis who desire a sovereign and secure Israel alongside a sovereign and secure Palestinian state. We are deeply alarmed by, and condemn, signs of rising antisemitism in parts of the world.

The Path to Peace

The world needs to urgently start building the conditions for peace. The current volume of humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza is insufficient to meet the need and there should be no obstruction of such aid.

We must avoid a regional escalation. This is particularly urgent as militias such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen are now considerably more powerful than the governments of the countries in which they operate. We call on the governments in these Arab countries to take a strong stance against militias using their territory as launching pads for attacks.

We call on Jordan and Egypt to ensure that all refugee and border-related concessions are dependent on the free flow of aid and the provision of urgent medical assistance to injured civilians in Gaza.

It is important to recognise that, once hostilities have concluded, the IDF will not be able to credibly serve as a peacekeeping force in Gaza. This would have to be done by an international peace-keeping team, preferably including a coalition of Arab states that do not support Hamas and operate outside the influence of Iran.

Gaza will require a competent transitional government as soon as possible. Such a transitional government will have to be formed out of a coalition of actors and be perceived as legitimate, effective, and committed to peaceful co-existence alongside Israel. A transitional government must be ready to enter the territory, restore order, and reassert Palestinian rule by establishing a roadmap towards free and fair elections in both Gaza and the West Bank.

The Two-State Solution

The Democratic Alliance remains committed to a negotiated, viable and sustainable two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, where Israel has the right to exist, in peace, side-by-side with a free and unoccupied Palestine. This is in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. We call on all nations to work towards achieving this objective.

For the two-state solution to work, the expansion of Israeli settlement into the West Bank must end. At the same time, the tunnel network built by Hamas must be destroyed.

A rational solution needs to be found to address Israeli settlements that have been constructed on Palestinian territory, often in an illegal fashion and on some of the best land in the territory. The end goal of negotiations over how to address these settlements must be the creation of a free Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank alongside a secure Israel. This new Palestinian state must enjoy full recognition by Israel. Jerusalem should become a shared capital of both Israel and Palestine, with a form of joint management over the sacred Old City.

However, none of this will be possible until radicalism is replaced by rationality in both Palestinian and Israeli leadership.

As the Official Opposition in South Africa, the DA will continue to agitate for a peaceful resolution to this conflict that culminates in a two-state solution. We will use our position to pressure the South African government to refrain from embracing radicalism on any side of this conflict, and to ensure that our country’s foreign policy reflects our country’s constitutional values.

John Steenhuisen

7 November 2023

Straight Talk: KZN uMngeni-style turnaround loading

Having borne the worst brunt of ANC failure during the July riots of 2021, KwaZulu-Natal looks set to rise from the ashes next year.

The remarkable turnaround happening in KZN’s uMngeni Municipality could be replicated province-wide, if KZN voters install a Multi-Party Charter government in 2024, as is looking increasingly likely.

uMngeni Municipality has quickly become a shining beacon of hope and success in this deeply troubled province. Its trajectory of progress began when the people of uMngeni elected KZN’s very first DA mayor in 2021 by a margin of just 46 votes, showing Springbok-style that every point counts.

uMngeni’s success is not due to one person or factor, but rather to consistent effort and commitment by a well-led group of diverse South Africans working together for the greater good.

On taking office, this youthful team led by DA Mayor Chris Pappas and DA Deputy Mayor Sandile Mnikathi rolled up their sleeves and got down to work cleaning up the streets, fixing infrastructure, and igniting the economy of this beautiful Midlands municipality.

Pothole by pothole, streetlight by streetlight, road by road.

In just two years, all uMngeni’s inherited debt has been paid off and it achieved an unqualified audit for 2022/23, by modernising the systems of the municipality to improve efficiency and limit corruption.

This financial health has enabled them to purchase R35 million of heavy equipment for fixing roads and managing waste, and to triple the budget for roads repairs from R11 million to R30 million. To make communities safer, they’ve opened a traffic office and vehicle pound, and purchased 6 new law enforcement vehicles.

They understand keenly that this is the consistent, concerted action required to build people’s confidence in the future, which in turn spurs the investment and job creation needed to grow dignity and improve lives.

Chris Pappas is also the DA’s Premier candidate for KZN. The DA is on a mission to rescue KZN by replicating our uMngeni approach province wide. Our “1+1=WIN” campaign is targeted at getting every single DA supporter to play their part, by persuading and assisting one unregistered person they know, to register and vote DA.

The DA and IFP in KZN signed a historic service delivery pact earlier this year, and we are the two largest parties in the Multi-Party Charter that has united eight political parties around a common vision and set of priorities for rescuing South Africa.

Please be part of the DA’s 1+1=WIN campaign in KZN by persuading and assisting one unregistered voter to register to vote DA. They can check their registration status or kickstart their registration process at www.check.da.org.za. Let’s make this a team effort and bring home the cup for KZN!

Straight Talk: The Western Cape’s story can be South Africa’s story too

I am delighted to report that the latest Social Research Foundation poll has DA support on 31%, while the latest Brenthurst Foundation poll suggests we have the highest favourability in South Africa, at 37%. This is extremely encouraging and reflects the great work the DA is doing on several fronts.

I am particularly proud of our recent achievements in the Western Cape. They show there is nothing wrong with South Africa that cannot be fixed by a caring, capable government that partners with civil society to improve lives and bring progress.

This month, the province was awarded 100% unqualified audits across all 14 departments, as well as each of its 11 entities, for 2022/23. This is thanks to a relentless focus on transparency and accountability in the belief that clean government provides the foundation for service delivery and economic activity that improves lives.

Unsurprisingly, the province also continues to have the lowest unemployment rate in South Africa, with 54 000 new jobs created in the last quarter. Jobs are created when people have confidence in the future and are therefore willing to invest in new or existing businesses.

The Western Cape has a R7 billion budget to end loadshedding over the next three years, which will enable R69 billion of private sector investment in energy. This in turn will attract more investment and create more jobs.

The Census data released this month shows that the Province leads in delivery of water, sanitation and waste removal services, despite receiving much less funding than other provinces.

The Western Cape is also the only province where the murder rate is trending downwards, thanks to the more than 1200 provincial law enforcement officers trained under the LEAP programme in partnership with the City of Cape Town. Working with community policing forums and SAPS, they focus on murder hotspots in the province. This is how the province achieved an overall 5.5% decrease in the murder rate in the last quarter.

With a strong DA mandate for the Western Cape in 2024, the DA will continue to bring progress for residents in the province. But it doesn’t end here. The DA is working hard to bring our track record of good government to all of South Africa next year.

By signing a pre-election agreement with seven other like-minded parties to form the Multi-Party Charter, we have changed South Africa’s political landscape from unipolar to bipolar, offering an alternative government with a credible pathway to power.

I believe we have everything to fight for in 2024. But voters need to understand that a successful Charter requires a big, strong DA, just as a shopping centre requires a strong anchor tenant to bring the stability and attract the footfall that enables the smaller businesses to thrive and make a valuable contribution.

You can help re-write South Africa’s story into one of hope and progress by voting DA. Please urge your friends and family to register. They can check their registration status or kickstart their registration process at www.check.da.org.za. If we all pull together, the Western Cape’s story can be South Africa’s story too.

Straight Talk: Stronger Together

On Sunday morning, I returned from a coalition study tour to Germany filled with hope for the country’s future. I’d spent a fruitful week with other South African opposition party leaders, learning about coalitions and seeing first-hand how they have delivered prosperity to a country that lay in ruins seventy years ago.

Watching our incredible 29-28 victory against France in the Rugby World Cup match that night, the lessons for the upcoming national and provincial elections in 2024 practically jumped out at me.

A monumental team effort can get you across the line. Every point counts. We are stronger together.

A new independent poll by the Brenthurst Foundation indicates ANC support at 43-45% and the Multi-Party Charter at 38%, suggesting the gap between us is now just 5-7 per percentage points.

With a massive team effort, we can close that gap and get across the line next year, to bring in a multi-party government anchored by the DA, that will quickly bend South Africa’s trajectory towards progress and prosperity.

This teamwork is well underway. South Africans are coming together in a way that hasn’t been seen since 1994.

Yesterday, the Multi-Party Charter welcomed the ACDP as our newest member. Together, the eight leaders stood on the steps of the National Council of Provinces and affirmed our commitment to working together.

We also reported back on our coalitions study tour, with the main message being that trust and a common understanding between partners is vital. This is why our parties have come together well ahead of the election and are meeting three times a week to build relationships and seek alignment.

Civil society is also uniting for change. On 5 October, five civil society organisations convened the launch of #ConvergenceSA, an umbrella initiative to strengthen the voice of civil society calling for a new government in 2024. This brings together like-minded leaders and organisations from churches, unions, business and advocacy groups, such as BLSA, Neasa, Cape Forum, Outa, the South African churches, and the Solidarity Movement.

The Multi-Party Charter heartily welcomed this development, in the firm belief that there is strength in unity.

Poland showed exactly that this week, when Poles turned out in record numbers to give a solid 54% mandate to a liberal opposition alliance that had come together to save the country from creeping state capture and illiberal populism under the nationalist Law and Justice Party.

So yes, I am filled with hope for South Africa’s future. But let me make one thing clear. A coalition government next year must be anchored by a strong DA. Every single German coalition has been anchored by a big, stable party. Only a strong DA can bring the stability required for a successful multi-party government next year. And only the DA has the resources and experience necessary to govern.

Much like a shopping centre, it is the big, stable anchor tenant that is the magnet attracting people and enabling smaller tenants to contribute effectively to the overall success of the system. Working together, the whole becomes more than the sum of the parts.

Success in 2024 requires a monumental team effort and you have a part to play. Please urge your friends and family to register to vote DA next year. They can check their registration status or kickstart their registration process at www.check.da.org.za. As we saw on Sunday night, we are stronger together, and every point counts.