DA calls for public release of Multichoice Gupta-TV contract & pushes for parliamentary enquiry

The DA calls on Multichoice to publicly release the full contracts it entered into with Gupta owned TV station, ANN7, as well as the record of the prior negotiations.
This follows the latest revelations in the Gupta leaks about questionable payments made by Multichoice to ANN7, as well as the involvement of former Communications Minister, Faith Muthambi.
If there is indeed nothing untoward about the nature of its dealings with the Gupta family, Multichoice will have no issue publishing the requested documents for public scrutiny.
Should it fail to do so within 48 hours, the DA will request that the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) force it to do so.
In terms of clause 7 of ICASA’s Subscription Broadcasting Services Regulations, as a licensed subscription service provider, Multichoice is required to keep a record of all contracts it enters into, which ICASA has the power to subpoena, as it deems fit.
In terms of Muthambi’s unsurprising involvement, the DA will write to the Chairperson of the Communications Committee, Humphrey Maxegwana requesting that the now overdue inquiry into state capture as was requested of the committee by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Lechesa Tsenoli be scheduled as the first item on the committee’s agenda in 2018.
In August this year, the Portfolio Committee on Communications received a letter from Tsenoli, requesting that the committee investigate state capture, and in particular, allegations pertaining to Muthambi. The latest revelations are an indication that the matter can no longer be delayed.
The DA looks forward to Multichoice’s feedback and questioning Muthambi during the inquiry. This time, she cannot be allowed to escape without being held accountable, if wrongdoing is found.

Willing buyer, willing sellout

The following remarks were made today by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, in Saxonwold, Johannesburg, at protest against State Capture by the Gupta’s and Jacob Zuma. Maimane was joined DA National Spokespersons, Refiloe Nt’sekhe and Phumzile van Damme, and DA Regional Chairperson, Khume Ramulifho.
Fellow democrats,
Today we are gathered here in Saxonwold to protest the capture of our country by Jacob Zuma, his ANC, and the Gupta Family.
Our message is clear: we reject the capture of our country by the rich and the corrupt, and we want real change. South Africa needs a new beginning, ushered in by a new government committed to fighting for the poor and the jobless, not the rich and the connected few.
We need a new government that is committed to our nation’s new struggle – the struggle for access to jobs.
And we demand accountability! The justice system must do its work so that those who have robbed our country are put behind bars.
Fellow South Africans,
Just a few hundred metres down the road from here is the Gupta’s mansion – the very site were Jacob Zuma and his ANC government were captured, and where they sold our country to the highest bidder.
Today we had planned to march to the gates of the mansion, to show South Africa what Jacob Zuma’s capture site really looks like.
But when they heard we were coming, the Guptas ran to their lawyers, who threatened to take us to court.
What do the Gupta’s have to hide? And why are they scared of us?
The truth is, they don’t want South Africa to see Jacob Zuma’s real capture site!
Democrats,
Just 24 hours ago, President Jacob Zuma attended the official unveiling of a multimillion rand monument in his honour, just outside of the small town of Groot Marico in the North West Province.
The monument, according to the President, was erected to commemorate the 1963 arrest of over 50 members of Umkhonto we Sizwe, who were en route to Botswana to take part in military training. Jacob Zuma was one of the members who were arrested.
At the entrance of the newly sprung monument stands an official sign which reads “Jacob Zuma’s Capture Site”.
Anyone who has picked up a newspaper, turned on a radio, or watched the evening news over the past year knows that there is a new “Jacob Zuma capture site” here in Saxonwold.
It is behind the high walls, electric fencing, and stringent private security of the Guptas mansion where many important decisions affecting our country are made. Where ministers are appointed and fired, where government contracts are signed, where national budgets are written, and where policy is decided.
Every decision made there is made guided by one criteria: make Jacob Zuma, his friends, and the Gupta rich.
The Gupta mansion is not only the capture site of Jacob Zuma, but several Cabinet Ministers too, including Malusi Gigaba, Faith Muthambi, Mosebenzi Zwane, Des Van Rooyen; as well as numerous top executives at State-Owned Entities such as Eskom, Transnet and Prasa.
The Gupta mansion is the real capture site of Jacob Zuma, and the headquarters of corruption in South Africa. How sad that a young man in 1963 willing to risk his life for a free South Africa, has allowed his own legacy to be defined by corruption and the selling-out of that struggle. Indeed, the struggle for democracy and freedom has been abandoned by Jacob Zuma and his ANC.
And while they get richer, South Africans are getting poorer.
Democrats, it has been months since the infamous “Gupta Leaks”, which implicate members of the Gupta family, the President, his cabinet, and senior officials and SOE executives. Yet they all walk free.
To this day, not one single person has been prosecuted for their crimes. We cannot continue to sweep this under the carpet. It’s time to fully expose the rot throughout government and the private sector.
It is vital that we establish a platform through which we can get to the very bottom of this matter. That is why I have called on the Speaker of Parliament to immediately establish an ad hoc committee into State Capture by no later than 31 October 2017. The Speaker has been put on notice, and if she fails to act, we will have no hesitation in approaching the Courts to ensure this matter is resolved.
You see, the Jacob Zuma of the past shares many similarities with the ANC of the past.
Both fought for freedom, both put the nation before self-interest, and in doing so, both won the trust and support of the majority of South Africans.
Today, like in the past, Jacob Zuma and the ANC share many similarities.
Both are captured by private interests, and operate for the benefit of itself and those connected few – instead of the country and its people.
Today the ANC, like Jacob Zuma, has resorted to divisive rhetoric and race-baiting to divide South Africa for its own selfish benefit.
And today, the ANC, like Jacob Zuma, has lost the trust and the support of the majority of South Africans. That is why come 2019, South Africans will use their power to vote out this corrupt ANC government at the ballot box, and choose a new beginning for our country.
The future of South lies in a post-ANC South Africa, free from corruption and State Capture, and focused on our nation’s new struggle – the struggle for access to jobs. Our fight is to ensure that all South Africans can enter the economy, find meaningful work, and create a better life for themselves and their loved ones.

We have an opportunity to pull SA back from the abyss

The ancient Greek Titan Prometheus is reputed to have said:  “Whom the gods seek to destroy, they first make mad”.
And what madness we have witnessed:

  • A President who has sold his country to foreigners who stripped the country not only of its money and resources, but who have snatched away opportunity from the hands of the poor and most vulnerable in our society. The mother whose sheer desperation forces her to feed her children on grass and sugar water. Madness!
  • All this whilst the President and his family have gotten richer; obscenely richer. The President of the Republic has sacrificed the future of our nation’s children on the altar of the Guptas only to selfishly secure his own future. Madness!
  • Our economy has been pushed to breaking point. Thievery by day, manoeuvring by night. Finance ministers pushed out under the cover of darkness. Their high crimes and misdemeanours? Trying to put the economy and people of South Africa first and keep the rabid wolves of State Capture away from the doors of the people’s Treasury. Madness!
  • A Minister of Finance, with no plan whatsoever to rescue our freefalling economy other than to slavishly execute, like a grinning Lord Baelish, the orders of his mad king. The irresponsible uncle we all know, who bets the family home to buy a sports car he knows he cannot possibly afford. Risking it all, he wants to take the sound investment portfolio and throw it into the abyss of SAA. Madness!
  • 3 million of our mothers, sisters, brothers and fathers who do not have the dignity of work because this administration cannot get the basics right and a Parliament that does nothing to help them. Madness!
  • Those who stand up for right and against wrong are pursued and persecuted, while the crooked and corrupt are promoted. Madness!

And where exactly were the guardians of the people when these mists of madness swept over our nation?
This Parliament should be the frontline of defence for the people of South Africa.
Instead at every twist, test and turn, it has chosen president over people, party over principle, executive over example, and collusion over our Constitution.
We saw it happen over Nkandla.
We saw it happen when the Constitutional Court did its job in its damning judgement.
We saw it happen when Ministers like Faith Muthambi, Bathabile Dlamini and Mosebenzi Zwane wreaked havoc on the nation while this House sat on its hands and looked the other way.
We saw it happen when more than a hundred vulnerable patients were sentenced to die an agonizing death by an administration that behaved with criminal neglect and inhumane indifference.
And we are watching it happen before our very eyes over State Capture.
And, on the 8th of August South Africans came to see the truth – that we don’t have a Jacob Zuma problem, we have an ANC problem.
On the back of Nkandla, the State of Capture report, the 783 charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering. Despite his picking off of the good men and women in your party, one by one. Despite his driving away excellence and inducting incompetence.
You, apart from some brave men and women on your benches, who saw the madness and tried to end it, chose instead to own him. The ANC had an opportunity to do right by the People and our Constitution and stop the madness, but now you have become it.
Mr. Jacob Zuma is the ANC and the ANC is Mr. Jacob Zuma and surely as night follows day, this madness will contaminate your party until it destroys you. It’s already started as comrade turns on comrade. Your factional battles in some provinces, like KZN, are literally becoming a matter of life and death. All the while, as these battles rage on, the People are forgotten.
The “Do Nothing Parliament”!
We have also seen the manifestations of this being played out here in our Parliament as the People’s business is put on hold and forgotten while the factional battles play out in your caucus and our committee rooms, paralyzing the ability of this House to fulfil even the most basic of its Constitutional mandates.
Passing legislation: fail! Excepting the Division of Revenue and Appropriations bills, Parliament has passed just seven pieces of legislation this year, four of which were introduced in 2015.
This year, the 5th Parliament will hit a new record low of passing legislation. Sloppy law-making that has seen bills referred back for procedural and Constitutional failings. The reason? We have just not sat enough this year to process the People’s business because your party business and factional battles have taken centre stage.
Long recess periods in order for your organisation to try sort out its internal battles and fights over “White Monopoly Capital” this and “Radical Economic Transformation” that; who gets the keys to Treasury, and who do the Hawks target next; whose emails does the State Security Agency hack now, and who gets smeared next.
Committee meetings are cancelled because ANC members cannot stand to be in the same room as each other. We have seen them tearing each other apart in the Home Affairs committee, the Public Enterprises committee, and the Public Service and Administration committee. Like a mad beast that flails at its own flesh and gnaws away its own limbs, and all the while the People are forgotten.
Scrutinizing and overseeing Executive action: fail! This House has been completely castrated in its ability to do this by a governing party unwilling to hold its own executive accountable and a President that refuses to give this house the ability to do its job.
Just last week, at this very podium, the President was allowed to once again get away without answering basic questions that were put to him. It’s not that we didn’t like the answer, as the Speaker tried to cast it.  It’s that there wasn’t an answer to dislike at all. How is that executive accountability? How is that holding the President to account if serious question time is reduced to a giggling, paper shuffling evasion and obfuscation session? How can the National Assembly say it’s effecting accountability? It’s a sham! And all the while the People are forgotten.
The truth is that life has become too hard for too many South Africans. Sophocles said, “What joy is there in day that follows day, some swift, some slow, with death the only goal”.
And yet that’s the living reality for so many of our forgotten citizens under this government. The mother in abject poverty in Mount Ayliff who despairs over how she will feed her children that night while trying to eke out a living. The young school leaver in Kimberley who has given up hope of finding a job and whose only escape from this hopelessness is Tik.
These citizens, and the millions like them, should be this government’s obsession. But they are not. They should be this Parliament’s obsession. But they are not.
And that is why we need a reset.
South Africa cannot afford another two years of ANC governance. We cannot tolerate another two years of the Gupta family’s toxic influence over President Zuma and the ANC government. We cannot endure another two years of unchecked looting and plundering of our state-owned entities.
South Africa deserves a fresh start and the Constitution makes provision for early elections in instances, such as these, where there is a legitimacy crisis. Public representatives are elected to represent the hopes and aspirations of ordinary South Africans who, through their votes, chose them to serve. When they no longer serve those who elected them, but instead serve the interests of the political elite and their criminal associates, they must be removed.
Opposition parties also carry the hopes of the millions of South Africans who are unemployed and poor. They too should not disappoint the disaffected the way the ANC has.
The ANC can no longer be trusted to govern. South Africans have had enough. This is why the motion to usher in new elections must be supported.
This is a call to action.
My fellow members of the 5th Parliament of the Republic, in the next eighteen months, as President Zuma and his berserkers, in a maniacal rollercoaster, drive this nation closer and closer to the abyss;
As the unemployment lines grow ever longer, and hope grows ever shorter;
As this Parliament continues to be hollowed out, diminished and reduced into a “do-nothing” assembly;
As this government, at war with itself, continues to tear itself apart reducing our citizens to hostages of its hostility.
Let it be remembered, every day, that things could have been so different.
Let this day, the 5th of September 2017, be remembered as the day that this House had a chance to stand up for the people, had a choice and chance to strike out, and chose to draw a line in the sand and arrest the madness.
Let us not choose to fold our arms, turn our backs on the People, and once again do nothing.
But know this: whether this motion succeeds or fails today, the People of this country are crying out for change. They have grown weary of a president, party and government that puts itself first and them last. And the people will bring change.

DA welcomes that SIU can finally begin SABC investigation

The DA welcomes the signing of the proclamation allowing the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to begin a forensic investigation at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
Although three months late, President Jacob Zuma’s signing of the proclamation means that the SIU can now finally begin to do the work that will reveal the true extent of corruption, maladministration and unlawful conduct at the SABC likely implicating former Communications Minister, Faith Muthambi; former SABC COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng; former SABC CEO, James Aguma and indeed, the Gupta family.
We encourage the SIU to conduct its work speedily and without fear or favour and to be a bulwark against any attempts at political interference during its investigations.
It is unfortunate that the President took so long to sign the proclamation and appears only to have done so today, given that he would have been forced to answer for the delay during Oral Questions to the President next week.
For too long the SABC has lurched from crisis to crisis and served as a piggy bank for corrupt ANC-linked individuals and politicians. We trust the SIU’s investigation will reveal the true depths of the rot at the SABC, the SABC inquiry only scratched the surface. We look forward to the outcome of the SIU’s investigation.

DA urges Frolik to ensure Committee dealing with Muthambi corruption allegations goes ahead, despite ANC stalling

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee meeting on Public Service and Administration scheduled for tomorrow, 23 August 2017, was cancelled late last night, with no reasons given.
This is clearly a move by the ANC committee members to close ranks around Minister Faith Muthambi to prevent her from accounting for the long list of corruption related scandals that she has been embroiled in.
The DA will, therefore, write to the Chair of Chairs, Cedric Frolick, to request that he ensures that the committee convenes and the meeting continues as scheduled tomorrow.
This meeting has been cancelled undoubtedly because last week, former Chairperson, Dr Makhosi Khoza, confirmed that the meeting was quorate and that there were enough members to make decisions.
A decision was taken by the Committee that both the Minister and her Director General should be summoned to appear before the Committee after they failed to show up, despite the Minister being in Cape Town that morning. Additionally, it was also decided that both the Minister and her Director General be held personally responsible for the costs associated with their absence at the Committee.
It has now become apparent that the ANC does not want to keep the Minister accountable and this cancellation is a blatant attempt to not enforce the previous meeting’s resolutions.
The Minister was invited by the former Chairperson, Dr Khosa, to account for:

  • Spending taxpayer money on transporting her family to watch her Parliamentary speech totalling more than R300 000 on the 15th of August 2017. Recent reports have stated that the figure may be as high as R500 000 which only confirm that this must be fully investigated by the committee so that the appropriate action can be taken against her.
  • Her bloated personal office totalling 27 people, despite the Ministerial Handbook only making provision for 10. The Minister has allegedly hired family and friends to her office including Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s 21-year-old daughter Lerato is now her admin assistant.

The ANC’s sudden removal of Dr Khoza as Committee Chair was to ensure that Muthambi can continue to act without consequences for flagrantly abusing taxpayers money.
However, we have a continued responsibility to keep the executive accountable no matter who the Chairperson or members are and this committee meeting must go ahead.

Baleka Mbete must now lay criminal charges against SABC liars

Now that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, has finally tabled the report from Parliament’s Legal Services Unit identifying those who mislead or lied to the SABC Ad Hoc committee, she must ensure that criminal charges are laid against them.
The recommendation in the report of the Ad Hoc committee on the SABC inquiry was that Parliament itself lay charges against the individuals who misled the committee.
As Speaker, Mbete is the Constitutional Head of the National Assembly and must ensure that a recommendation of a report adopted by the National Assembly, including the ANC, is duly implemented.
The recommendation read: “Parliament’s Legal Services Unit, with the assistance of the Evidence Leader, should within 60 days from the adoption of this report by the National Assembly, identify the persons who misled the inquiry or provided false information or false testimony with the aim of criminal charges being laid”.
The report identified the following individuals as giving misleading or contradictory evidence and they are liable to a fine or imprisonment, or both:

  • Former Communications Minister, Faith Muthambi – whose testimony “could be seen as an attempt to mislead the Inquiry”.
  • Former Company Secretary, Theressa Geldenguys – for her “failure to inform the Committee that she was no longer the company secretary […] which could be considered as an attempt to mislead the Inquiry”.
  • Former SABC CEO, James Aguma – who might have provided the Inquiry with an email which “purports to lack authenticity as being that generated by the [Companies and Intellectual Property Commission] CIPC”. The report states that “in order to establish this fact conclusively further investigation needs to be undertaken to ascertain whether the email was generated by the CIPC”.
  • Former SABC Board Chair, Prof. Mbulaheni Maguvhe – Prof. Maguve and Minister Muthambi provided contradictory testimonies regarding the labour dispute between the SABC 8 and the SABC, which“could be indicative of Prof. Maguvhe misleading the Inquiry”.
  • Former SABC Board Chair, Dr Ben Ngubane – “[the] testimony offered by Dr Ngubane could be seen as an attempt to mislead the inquiry and that false information was presented to the Inquiry”.

Although the DA welcomes the tabling of this report, the reality is that it is almost 12 weeks overdue and has been sitting on the Speaker’s desk since the 5th of June.
Mbete must now ensure that she fully complies with the full recommendation of the report and lay criminal charges.
Misleading Parliament is a serious offense and the DA will ensure that this report will not stay just another report.
A clear message must be sent to those who think they can lie, under oath, to Parliament – lying will not be tolerated. It is now up to the Speaker to ensure that this message is sent otherwise the DA will ensure it is heard loud and clear.

ANC firing Makhosi Khoza won’t save Muthambi from appearing before committee

The DA will be writing to the Acting Secretary to Parliament, Penelope Tyawa, to ensure that bunking Minister of Public Service and Administration, Faith Muthambi, be subpoenaed to appear before her portfolio committee at the soonest possible date.
The ANC’s disgraceful decision to fire the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, Makhosi Khoza, will not allow Muthambi to escape accountability.
Muthambi inexplicably failed to appear before her committee on 15 August, despite travelling to Cape Town and giving assurances that she would appear. The committee passed a unanimous resolution to have her summoned to appear before the committee. That resolution stands and Muthambi must be summoned. If she fails to appear next time, following the summons, she will be liable to a fine or imprisonment.
The Acting Secretary must state explicitly when the minister will be issued with the summons and on what day she will be compelled to appear.
The DA will also call on the Acting Secretary to ensure that Muthambi is held liable, in her personal capacity, for the costs of her trip to Cape Town, along with the costs of the travel of her fellow truants, the Director-General of the Department and the CEOs from the National School of Government and the Centre for Public Service and Innovation.
Indeed, an investigation must be initiated into whether or not Muthambi pressurised these persons to bunk the committee. It is a serious matter indeed if she used her influence to sabotage a committee of Parliament.
We cannot and will not allow the ANC’s war with itself to impact the work of Parliament and allow errant ministers to evade accountability. South Africa cannot afford two more years of this ANC government.

Khoza’s axing shows the ANC cannot be trusted

The axing of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, Makhosi Khoza, is the clearest example yet of how the ANC’s in-fighting is preventing Parliament from doing the people’s business.
The message this sends to other Chairpersons and office bearers in Parliament is that if they do their job and fulfil their constitutional obligations in trying to force accountability, they will be punished.
The ANC cannot be trusted, not even by their own Members of Parliament.
The ANC leave delinquents like Bathabile Dlamini, Faith Muthambi, Mosebenzi Zwane and Mduduzi Manana to put the lives and livelihoods of ordinary citizens at risk yet gun for members who had the guts to vote to remove a President who has literally sold our country to the highest bidder.
ANC infighting is paralysing Parliament and the State and this cannot continue.
Our country desperately needs a new beginning. That is why the DA has called for Parliament to be dissolved and for fresh elections to be held.
The ANC is too far gone to self-correct and this in-fighting will only get worse as the December elective conference gets closer.
It is time for the people to have their say.
South Africa needs to go to the polls to usher in the change it deserves. The sooner the better.

DA to refer bunking Muthambi and boycotting ANC MPs to the Ethics Committee

The DA will be referring Minister Faith Muthambi and the ANC members who chose to boycott today’s meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration to the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests.
Messrs Muthambi, Dlamini-Dubazana, Ntombela, Dirks and Newhoudt-Druchen must all be held accountable for this gross dereliction of duty.
The DA is appalled by the conduct of Muthambi, her Director-General and the CEOs from the National School of Government and the Centre for Public Service and Innovation who failed to appear before the committee, without explanation, or perhaps boycotted it too.
We support the unanimous resolution of the committee, despite the errant ANC members’ best attempts otherwise, to have the Minister and her fellow truants summoned to appear before the committee. This summons will mean that if Minister Muthambi fails to appear next time she will be liable to a fine or imprisonment.
Furthermore, the Minister and her D-G should be held liable, in their personal capacity, for the costs of their pointless trip to Cape Town.
Today’s events once again show an ANC at war with itself and which can’t be trusted to govern, and reinforces our call for early elections. South Africa needs a new beginning, one without the corrupt system the ANC has built.

Muthambi must be investigated by ethics committee for gross misconduct

The revelations today that the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Faith Muthambi, has allegedly hired 27 support staff to her office, in what seems to be a case of nepotism, must be investigated by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests.
Reports today claim that Minister Muthambi allegedly appointed mostly uncles and cousins from her home province, Limpopo,  as drivers, deputy directors, and a “food services aide” in her office without following due procedure.
The DA’s members on Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests will now take up this matter when the Committee meets on Tuesday, 15 August 2017.
If these allegations are true, Minister Muthambi possibly breached the Ministerial Handbook.
Chapter 8 of the Handbook clearly states that a Minister can appoint up to 10 individuals when establishing Private Offices. Furthermore, Annexure F of the Ministerial Handbook states that Ministers can only appoint two full-time Special Advisors.
Even more disturbing, are the allegations that the Minister allegedly stripped the Director General of the Department of Public Service and Administration, Mashwahle Diphofa, of his powers to appoint staff.
It is now becoming clear that Minister Muthambi is up to her old tricks again and that she bending the rules to give herself excessive power to do as she pleases.
This, despite the fact that she is the Minister of the department which is responsible for administering norms in the public sector and ensuring the ethical behaviour of public servants.
These allegations follow reports of her most recent scandal in which the Minister allegedly paid nearly half a million rand in public money for her family members to travel to Cape Town to watch her budget vote speech.
The South African government is an institution which must provide equal opportunities for every South African citizen – not just Minister Muthambi’s family and loved ones.