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DA calls on SA to object to MPs and MPLs who belong in #PrisonNotParliament

Lodge you objection here

We are calling on all South Africans to visit the prison-not-parliament website and  object to ANC candidates that are implicated in undermining the county’s constitutional order by implicating themselves in, among other acts, corruption, gender-based violence and state capture.

Now that the ANC’s lists have been finalised, it is evermore clear that the ANC will never be renewed or self-correct. Whether the ANC and South Africa are led by Jacob Zuma or Cyril Ramaphosa, the country will not head in the right direction. South Africa will only become the country we all work for when the corrupt are in prison not parliament.

The ANC submitted provincial and national candidate lists to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that are packed with leaders who have been implicated in state capture, some who have court judgments against them and some have actively undermined the constitution.

This system will send your objection anonymously to President Ramaphosa. The people of South Africa have until 02 April 2019 to voice their objections to ANC candidates who serve themselves instead of the people.

We must insist that those who are corrupt are prosecuted and sent to prison, where they belong, for stealing the people’s money.

South Africa deserves hardworking Members of Parliament and Legislatures who are beyond reproach. We must not allow ANC candidates to be elected to steal from us again.

Let us remove criminal candidates because they belong in prison not parliament.

The DA has shown itself to be the only party capable of putting the people first and Building One South Africa for All.

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Changes to DA Shadow Cabinet

Dr Wilmot James will be on sabbatical in order to take up a Visiting Professorship at the University of Columbia Medical Centre in New York. We wish to congratulate Dr James on this prestigious appointment, and wish him very well for his time at Columbia. His work on infectious diseases is a credit to South African health sciences and to the Democratic Alliance.
Due to this vacancy, and others, the following changes have been made to the Shadow Cabinet with immediate effect.

  • Patricia Kopane replaces Wilmot James as the Shadow Minister of Health.
  • Malcom Figg replaces Patricia Kopane as the Shadow Minister of Public Works.
  • Alan McLoughlin replaces Malcolm Figg as the Shadow Minister of Appropriations, with Brandon Topham as his deputy.
  • Ian Ollis replaces Gavin Davis as the Shadow Minister of Basic Education. Mr Davis will be focusing on policy development and communications ahead of the 2019 elections.
  • Michael Bagraim replaces Ian Ollis as Shadow Minister of Labour, with Derrick America as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Labour.
  • Dean Macpherson replaces Geordin Hill-Lewis as the Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry. Mr Hill-Lewis will be focusing full time on his work as Chief of Staff to the Federal Leader.
  • Ghaleb Cachalia assumes the position of Shadow Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.
  • Mbulelo Bara replaces Tarnia Baker as the Shadow Deputy Minister of Human Settlements. Ms Baker will focus on her work as Shadow Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation.
  • Choloane Matsepe replaces Mr Bara as Shadow Deputy Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The entire Shadow Cabinet can be accessed by clicking here.

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ANC MPs must vote with their conscience, secret ballot or no secret ballot

Fellow South Africans,
We are gathered together here outside the Constitutional Court today to defend our freedom.
The future of our country lies in the hands of 400 Members of Parliament who have sworn to be faithful to the Republic of South Africa.
Very soon, that oath of office will be put to the test.
Very soon, ANC Members of Parliament will have to choose between what is best for themselves and what is best for South Africa.
Because very soon, the 400 Members of the National Assembly will be voting on a Motion of No Confidence in President Jacob Zuma. (Or perhaps 399 members now that Brian Molefe is back at Eskom.)
They did not swear to be faithful to Jacob Zuma, or to the ANC, or to the Guptas. They promised to be faithful to South Africa, and to the Constitution.
And this is all we ask of them today. We ask them to put South Africa first. No more, no less.
No matter what the Constitutional Court decides today – secret ballot or not – all we ask is that Members of Parliament vote with their conscience.
ANC MPs should not need a secret ballot to do the right thing. They should do it, no matter what.
My vote is not a secret. I will shout it from every rooftop – we will be voting President Zuma out. Every person who loves our country, we call on you to do the same.
We are not gathered here to plead for a secret ballot.
We are not gathered here to influence the court in its decision.
We are gathered here to urge ANC Members of Parliament to do the right thing, even if it is hard.
Many ANC MPs have spoken out against Zuma at meetings. They have spoken out in the media. They have spoken out on the streets. Now it is time to speak out in the only place it can really count: in Parliament.
Every ANC MP who is considering voting for South Africa, we want you to know that you are not alone. The whole country is with you.
The future of our beloved country should not rest on the question of a secret ballot.
It should rest on the willingness of all Members of Parliament to do the honourable thing and put South Africa first.
The future should not be decided in Luthuli House or in Saxonwold. It should be decided in Parliament.
The choice that MPs face is simple:
Are they going to side with a President who has sold our country to the Guptas?
A President who used R250 million of our money on building his palace of corruption?
A President who was found by the Constitutional Court to have violated his oath of office?
Are they going to side with a President who has reduced our country to junk status?
A President under whose watch the economy has stagnated and 9 million South Africans are without work?
Or…are they going to side with the people of South Africa?
Both Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe have called on ANC MPs to vote with their conscience.
And we are here today to do the same. Secret ballot or no secret ballot.
The National Assembly is meant to be the voice of the people. Not the voice of the President. Not the voice of the ANC. Not the voice of the Guptas. But the voice of the people.
And the people say: We want a free South Africa. Not one that has been sold to the highest bidder. We don’t want to be slaves in the Kingdom of Gupta.
We want to be free South Africans in a free South Africa.
A South Africa in which those entrusted with power do the right thing, even when it is hard.