Two years on, and DA-led metros have brought change to millions of South Africans

The following remarks were delivered by the Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), Mmusi Maimane, in Greater Ellis Park in Johannesburg today. The Leader was joined by the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, and the Executive Mayor of Tshwane, Solly Msimanga.

Two years ago to the day, history was made when the Democratic Alliance (DA) was elected into government in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay – the first time the ANC had lost control of these cities. As soon as agreements were finalised, coalition governments with several political parties were formed to serve the people and bring about real change.

From day one, it was clear that the governments inherited from previous administrations were in shambles – both financially and administratively. These administrations were endemically corrupt and heavily bloated which will again be the case if the ANC are ever again trusted to govern these cities.

Since then, these governments have been hard at work putting residents first by cutting corruption, prioritising service delivery, and passing pro-poor budgets in order to create jobs. This is a responsibility that we do not take lightly.

Any modern economy’s prospect for sustainable development and growth hinges on the effectiveness of city-led economic growth. And the Greater Ellis Park area that we find ourselves in today is a visionary example of the sustainable growth of a city within a city. This is an example of how Mayor Mashaba is turning dilapidated and abandoned land in the Johannesburg inner city and revitalising it – creating low-cost housing and job creating industry to address historical injustices.

The very property we are on today is one of 71 pieces of inner city land earmarked as commercial and residential development for the benefit of the people of eGoli. This 1 640 square metre site is intended for the development of mixed income housing.

Johannesburg’s New Doornfontein City Improvement District (CID) continues to pioneer the utility of industrial land in the east inner city. What was the City’s historic manufacturing hub went to ruin under the previous ANC government, but is now on the cusp of being transformed.

The diverse space of land is set to be used as a manufacturing hub for mostly warehousing, light industry and amenities, an educational precinct, a mixed-use area for largely manufacturing, light engineering, warehousing, office and retail and at the heart of the development, a sports mecca space.

This is only one shining example of the DA difference that continues to transform the lives of more than 16 million South Africans living under a DA government. While we may have inherited metro governments that had long been forgotten by the ANC, DA governments will never take for granted those we serve – and the more than R100 billion in pro-poor budgets that were successfully passed in these governments are testament to this.

Today is a day to celebrate the first 24 months of DA-led coalition governments in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay as they lead in the fight to create jobs, stand up against crime, cut corruption and build One South Africa For All. These DA-led governments will continue to stand tall as beacons of hope for the South Africa of tomorrow.

City of Johannesburg

This hope was cultivated when upon assuming office in August 2016, the City of Johannesburg set itself the ambitious task of growing Johannesburg’s economy to 5% by 2021. This remains a high target but was a goal the Mayor’s team needed to reach to create jobs and turn the rising tide against unemployment in the City.

From day one, the DA-led City of Johannesburg made jobs and growth its primary focus. By creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurs and businesses to grow, it was only a matter of time before the results began to show.

Despite the continued rise in the national expanded unemployment rate to 37.2% in the second quarter of 2018, the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Stats SA earlier this week shows this government has created an environment that produced 109 000 new jobs since the beginning of the year. This was achieved while reducing the expanded unemployment rate from 32.3% to 30.8%. If this trend continues, the City is well on its way to reaching the goal of 5% growth by 2021.

Quality infrastructure and the stabilisation of services will always be a non-negotiable for business in the continent’s economic capital. The City has met this expectation by not only renewing infrastructure and stabilising services but establishing a responsive, dedicated, accountable and professional civil service that inspires confidence with the people of Johannesburg and delivers world-class services that will continue to make Johannesburg an attractive destination for investment.

The Khoebo Opportunity Centre has seen hundreds of young entrepreneurs walk through its doors, turning ideas into small businesses. The roll out of these Opportunity Centres are beginning to assist residents with crucial skills and support to grow their businesses so that they too can create job opportunities. In addition to Khoebo, the City’s goal is to create 13 more Opportunity Centres through Johannesburg, deepening access to jobs with two in every one of the seven regions throughout the City by 2021.

Crime and corruption have become public enemy number one in the City of Johannesburg, and we are winning the war. More than 3 500 cases of corruption and maladministration involving almost R18 billion has been uncovered by the newly established Group Forensics and Investigation Services (GFIS) and the recruitment of an additional 1 500 Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers has ensured the streets of Johannesburg are much safer. The launch of Operation Buya Mthetho has seen to more than 8 000 arrests by law enforcement officials since the beginning of the year.

Over 20 000 arrests have been made by the JMPD, and the GFIS has a specialised unit that counter-acts building hijacking syndicates and returns properties that have been hijacked to their rightful owners. With the assistance of the JMPD, this unit has already returned 73 buildings to their rightful owners.

A free Community Substance Abuse Treatment Centres has been opened which includes provision for a 24-hour crisis line where the people of Johannesburg can speak with caring professional staff to get the help that they need. By the end of this financial year there will be eight of these Centres reaching areas such as Poortjie, Bophelong and Cosmo City.

In order to open up access to health services, extended operating hours within City clinics have ensured that residents do not have to decide between making it to work and receiving medical attention, and so that students never have to choose between going to school and accessing healthcare.

City of Tshwane

The City of Tshwane has also become the talk of the town with the Capital City having allocated R137.2 million towards Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) initiatives this financial year. In September last year, much needed reforms to the City’s EPWP recruitment policy were introduced, effectively ending the system of insiders and outsiders that have previously marred EPWP job opportunities.

Tshwane’s reformed EPWP recruitment policy framework is built on the principle of transparency. The selection process involves an open public lottery system where beneficiaries are randomly selected so that no individual can be approached or lobbied to occupy any of the work opportunities available in the City.

The new DA government inherited a major housing backlog, and corruption and maladministration had taken over the building and allocation of houses to the poorest of residents. While many live without the dignity of a brick and mortar home, previous ANC mayors lived in lavish luxury in the so called “Mayoral Mansion”. This mansion was put up for sale and on 23 November last year it was sold for R5.1 million in order to build houses for those without. Proceeds made from the sale are already being used to build 40 houses for those without.

Over the past two years, great strides have been made towards stabilising the City’s finances. This was achieved by strengthening the controls over supply chain processes, slashing unauthorised and unnecessary expenditure and extricating the City from unlawful and expensive contracts.

This has resulted in turning a R2 billion inherited deficit into a surplus. The reported operating deficit for 2015/16 was R2.1 billion which was restated to R1.3 billion during the next financial year’s audit process. This is evidence of a DA-run City handling public money with care, ensuring it is spent on the people, not politicians.

The Capital City closed the financial year with an operating surplus of R704 million.

Nelson Mandela Bay

On the other end of the country, the Nelson Mandela Bay coalition government has had all the odds stacked against them from day one. But in the face of adversity, a budget that focused on low-income communities, housing and informal settlement upgrades, roads, lights and community facilities was passed.

Prudent budgeting enabled the first Metro Police Service in the Eastern Cape to have been launched in Nelson Mandela Bay to tackle the scourge of crime in the City. Working closely with the South African Police Service (SAPS), they have seen to an 11% decrease in gang related crimes in the City’s most dangerous communities such as Helenvale where a pilot project with Shot Spotter has improved response times and seen a number of critical arrests made.

The service has grown to 135 officers and 38 patrol vehicles with a specialised bicycle unit, ghost squad and bylaw enforcement unit in operation. It has been such a success that the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Police Department’s Annual Police Plan format was adopted as the blueprint to be used by all Metro Police Departments nationwide.

In two years, the rooting out of corrupt senior officials, securing and monitoring of SCM offices and opening up of the Bid Adjudication Committee (BIC) to the public has turned around the City’s finances and SCM and ensured that every penny is accounted for. The City is now liquid with over R2 billion in the bank, has a steadily rising collection rate and achieves some of the best capital expenditure in the country.

NMB recently received a AAA credit rating and a windfall Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) allocation of R178.8 million on top of the R911 million received at the beginning of the financial year. The City has succeeded in spending close to R1.1 billion on capital works that has directly improve the lives of the poor and made for better service delivery.

Services such as the Assistance to the Poor (ATTP) will see recipients receive R2 billion over the medium term, while R1.5 million is going to be spent on informal trading (EDTA) infrastructure. Almost half a billion rand has been apportioned to upgrading housing and informal settlements, human settlement projects, a bucket eradication programme, informal housing and electrification programmes. To date 9 000 of the 16 000 bucket toilets inherited from the previous ANC government have been eradicated.

To ensure the safety of their roads, more than half a billion rand has been put aside for roads and lighting. In addition to this, R150 million has been reserved for the upgrading and development of community facilities like Multi-Purpose Centres, libraries, sports facilities, parks and open public spaces.

Conclusion

These DA-led governments have put the people of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay first by creating jobs, waging war on crime, crushing corruption, delivering nothing but the best services and passing over R100 billion in pro-poor budgets. This is a total change for more than 16 million South Africans.

Change forced the ANC to realise that they cannot govern with impunity. This DA difference has come to be expected of us where govern and we would not have it any other way. South Africans deserve excellence in government and we hold ourselves to very high standards in pursuit of this.

These are not simply cherry-picked success stories. They are very real examples of the opportunities that exist for more than 16 million people who live under DA-led governments.

One of the greatest privileges one can ever be entrusted with is a mandate from the people to serve and it is these DA-led governments’ past two years of service to the residents of these great cities that we should all be celebrating today.

DA-led Tshwane leads in job-creation

The following remarks were delivered by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, during a visit to the Ga-Rankuwa Arts and Crafts Centre in Tshwane today. The Leader was joined by DA Leader in Gauteng, John Moodey, and the Mayor of Tshwane, Solly Msimanga. Please find photographs of the visit attached here, here and here

Today I visited the Ga-Rankuwa Arts and Crafts Centre, a model for expanding opportunities to those left out of the economy.

The programme that I visited today is a good example of why under a DA-led government, the economy grows faster, unemployment is lower, and more and more entrepreneurs have the confidence to start their small businesses. Where we govern, more people have work, and more people have hope of finding work. This is the DA difference that voters can expect in a DA-governed Gauteng.

The flagship project at the centre is the FabLab. The DA-led coalition government in Tshwane, led by Mayor Solly Msimanga, has helped design, manage and fund the FabLab, and has even provided the facilities at Ga-Rankuwa free of charge.

And since taking over the City in 2016, our coalition government has pioneered a Youth Innovation Challenge and a “Hackathon” which, like the FabLab programme, is another opportunity for young entrepreneurs to get the support and they chance they need to thrive. The Hackathon gives young people with innovative service delivery solutions a chance to work with the Mayor in tackling some of the biggest problems in the City.

The primary training that the learners are offered by the programme is run by the City of Tshwane in partnership with other agencies. This programme’s main objective is to work with schools to give these learners access to entrepreneurship, technology and innovation training.  The majority of the youth that the FabLab programme works with are as young as grade 9 to 11 learners and all are from poor communities and backgrounds.

And their use of technology is even targeted at finding solutions to service delivery problems. So it was exciting to learn that there are already more than 250 young entrepreneurs who have benefitted from FabLab and are now using tech to help services get to the people.

This programme is only a glimpse into the DA-led administration’s commitment to small businesses in Tshwane. Since taking office in 2016, the City has spent approximately R3 billion with small business suppliers alone, which is almost triple the amount spent by the previous ANC administration.

We must never stop trying to build a South Africa where no one is left behind. And it is SMME programmes like those run at Ga-Rankuwa Arts and Crafts Centre that will continue to be a shining example of previously disadvantaged communities receiving redress and job opportunities being created for young South Africans.

DA election machinery ready and focused on 2019

The following statement was delivered today by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at Nkululeko House – the Party’s campaign HQ in Gauteng – following a two-day sitting of the DA’s Federal Executive (FedEx). 

The Federal Executive (FedEx) of the Democratic Alliance met over the last two days to discuss matters of importance to the party and our national programme ahead of the 2019 general election. This statement serves to communicate the outcomes of this weekend’s sitting.

2019 Elections

The central focus of this weekend’s FedEx meeting was to discuss and consider the Party’s strategy and plans going into next year’s National General Election. The 2019 Election is set to be the most hotly contested and competitive national election since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

The growing dissatisfaction with the ANC saw historical shifts in government in the 2016 Local Government Election – with DA governments taking office in the country’s largest cities. We are confident that in 2019, we will grow even further as many more South Africans will choose the DA as the flagbearer for a united, non-racial and prosperous South Africa where jobs and wealth are created, our streets are safe, corruption is eradicated, and services are delivered to all.

FedEx moved to adopt a number of resolutions this weekend, which will form the basis of our election campaign. FedEx has set the party the following non-negotiable targets for the 2019 election:

  • To become the biggest party in Gauteng and form a government in the province;
  • To become the biggest party in the Northern Cape and form a government in the province; and
  • Retain the Western Cape with an increased majority.

Therefore, the focus lies in Gauteng, Northern Cape and Western Cape with these being our “strategic” provinces. In addition to this, we plan to substantially increase our percentage of the national votes cast.  This means that the provinces of KwaZulu Natal, the North West and the Eastern Cate will contribute significantly to the growth targets of the party based on our strong structures and electoral performance.

Our recent performance in these provinces in both by-elections and university and TVET college SRC elections shows the DA in breaking new ground as voters choose the DA’s vision for a One South Africa For All. From Letaba TVET college in Limpopo, to the symbolic and historic Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape – the DA is growing and winning elections on campuses across the country as young people agree that the DA is the only party with a plan for the future.

In recent by-elections, the DA has grown significantly in both rural and urban areas – in suburbs and in townships. Just this week, the people of the Eastern Cape endorses the DA’s agenda for change. We grew from 88% to 96.01% in the Ward 18 by-election in Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) yesterday, and from 6.24% to 24.94% in Ward 9, Ingquza Hill Local Municipality.

Pursuant to these targets, we have resolved that during this Parliamentary constituency period, all DA Members of Parliament will be undertaking an intensive 75-day period to interact with voters in their constituencies and beyond. Public representatives will engage with South Africans to present our offer, while reassuring voters in areas where we already govern the we will continue our efforts.

The party will go into official campaign mode during the month of June, with a view to officially launch the national campaign in July 2018. Alongside the Party’s Presidential Candidate will be a diverse and capable team who will each be mandated with one of the key strategic issues that affect South Africans daily.

Following that the party will launch Premier candidate campaigns across the country. It is our belief that we field Premier candidates in each province who are capable, dedicated, and able to speak to voters directly on our plans to bring about real change.

In addition to this, campaign groups and units are being rolled out across the country with DA members and volunteers delivering our offer of hope and change to thousands of South Africans on a daily basis. Structures are ready, our field redesign is complete, and our activists are eager to get going.

Lastly, we call on interested South Africans to put forward their name and apply to be a DA public representative in Parliament and in the Provincial Legislatures. We are looking for excellent people from all walks of life to build caucuses that represent South Africa in all its diversity. Application officially close on 30 June and can be accessed at www.da.org.za

We believe that no matter who is in charge of the ANC, it cannot bring about the real change need to move our country forward. A DA-led government in the future is the only way to fight poverty, create jobs, and to bring about a future of peace and prosperity for all.

Youth Month

The lead up to 16 June requires us as a nation to reflect on the current situation our young people find themselves in, and what more needs to be done to honour the young of 1976.

While the struggle of ’76 was about personal and political freedom, today’s struggle is the struggle for jobs and opportunity. After 24 years of democracy, young people are still provided an inadequate education that doesn’t prepare them sufficiently for the job market.

Young people are the worst affected by unemployment. Over 50% of our youth are without jobs. That means half of the country’s most productive workforce is unemployed.

Job creation is the only way that we can empower our young people.

FedEx notes and congratulates DA-led governments across the country that are creating job opportunities. It is fact where the DA governs, unemployment levels are lower than in the rest of the country.

At national level, a DA government would provide access to a national civilian service programme which would provide young school-leavers an opportunity to receive industry training in the fields of their choice; provide free higher education for students who are unable to afford it; and grow the economy to enable true access to jobs and other job opportunities such as the EPWP programme and the Vukuzakhe programme which partners school leavers and the private sector.

That is why it is a core focus of ours to ensure young people register to vote in next year’s election. Youth apathy at the polls is simply not an option. The DA’s youth structures will continue their programme of action this month, led by newly elected DA Youth Leader, Luyolo Mphithi.

To commemorate and celebrate Youth Day this year, the Party will be holding two national events. On 15 June, we will conduct a wreath laying ceremony at the Hector Peterson Memorial in honour of the youth of 1976 and those who bravely lost their lives in the pursuit of freedom. On 16 June, we will hold a Youth Day rally at the University of Fort Hare in Alice, Eastern Cape, the academic home of many ANC stalwarts including Nelson Mandela. DASO just recently won the SRC elections at Fort Hare, where students chose to vote for a fresh mandate and real change.

The Economy

The state of our economy remains one of the DA’s key focuses. Without a growing, vibrant and inclusive economy, we will never address the injustices of our past, and create opportunity for our young people to pursue their own destiny.

FedEx notes with major concern the latest GDP figures, and unemployment rate. Since Cyril Ramaphosa’s election, the economy has taken a huge blow. Unemployment is at a post 1994 record high with 9,4 million South Africans looking for work. Added to this, economy shrunk by 2.2% in the first quarter of 2018 – its worst faring in close on a decade. This included high employment sectors such as agriculture (-24%), mining (-9.9%) and manufacturing (-6.4%).

This is compounded by the financial war Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC government has launched against poor, working and middle-class South Africans. In addition to a 1 percentage point VAT increase, an Income Tax increase, “Sin tax” increase, and an increase in RAF and General Fuel Levy – the price of petrol skyrocketed earlier this week to an unprecedented R15.79 per litre. This will mean the cost of living – mainly food and transport – will increase, adding a further financial burden to ordinary South Africans.

I have therefore requested that this matter be dealt with in Parliament as a matter of urgency. I have approach the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, requesting an urgent debate of public importance to consider the current structure and composition of RAF and General Fuel Levies, and this can be altered to relieve ordinary South Africans from this financial strain.

Despite these negative conditions, DA governments continue their work in creating jobs and providing support to job creators. Next week I’ll be visiting two projects – one in Cape Town and one in Tshwane – where DA-led governments have shown creativity and innovation in spearheading economic growth and job creation.

Indeed, as a nation we have all hoped a Ramaphosa Presidency would yield positive results for our economy. However, the latest GDP and unemployment figures tell South Africans what they already know: an ANC government can never grow our economy at the rate we need to create new, permanent jobs for the almost 10 million unemployed South Africans.

The ANC is about big government, big business, and big labour – with the poor and unemployed way down in the pecking order. It is only the DA that is relentlessly focused on providing jobs and opportunity to those left behind.

Conclusion

The fight for an alternative, post-ANC South Africa is in full swing. We are forging ahead in creating a shared future for all South Africans.

Between now and 2019, we will use every opportunity in government, every single day, to win the trust of voters, and to show South Africans that there is another choice; a better choice, and that choice is the Democratic Alliance

Home ownership can help unlock real freedom

The following remarks were delivered by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at a Freedom Day celebration in Soshanguve in Tshwane today. The Leader was joined by Mayor Solly Msimanga, Mayor Bongani Baloyi, Regional Chairperson Abel Tau and DA Gauteng Provincial Leader, John Moodey.

Fellow South Africans

We call today Freedom Day because on this day, 24 years ago, we set off on a road that was going to deliver freedom for all our people. On that day almost 20 million South Africans visited voting stations to have their say in our first democratically elected government. They voted freely, but they were not free yet.

As Nelson Mandela remarked in 1995, on the one-year anniversary of our first election: “The ultimate goal of a better life has yet to be realised”. He knew that the symbolic freedom of the vote would have to be followed by the true freedom that comes with economic inclusion.

Which brings me to this venue. The reason we’re celebrating Freedom Day here at the Thorntree housing development in Soshanguve is because this is what the beginning of real freedom looks like. Owning a house like this, with full title deed, is a big step down the road towards independence.

Property ownership is about much more than simply having a roof over your head. It’s about building an investment in your future, and the future of your family.

When your name is on the title deed to that home, it means that you can unlock capital to realise your dreams. You can start a business. You can borrow money from a bank without being punished with the high interest rates charged by short-term lenders.

Owning your own home also means that you can improve your investment. You can take pride in turning it into exactly the house you want, knowing that every little upgrade you do will make it worth more to you.

But there’s another important reason why owning your own home is so important. We often hear about the disadvantage that young black South Africans have when starting out in life, but we don’t always talk about what that means. So let me explain one aspect to you here: the idea of an inheritance.

Even if all opportunities in our society are equal, most young black South Africans start off on the back foot because they have to start building a life from scratch. They will not receive the financial kick-start that many white South Africans get through inheritance.

And I’m not talking about millions of Rands. I’m talking about the kind of security that ownership of a house like this can provide.

If we want to break the cycle of poverty that still entraps so many black people in South Africa, then we have to start building the cycle of ownership. And the best way to do this is by turning people into home-owners.

At the stroke of a pen, poor people’s lives can be transformed across many generations. That’s real freedom.

Now I know the issue of land expropriation is a hot topic right now. Our opponents can’t stop talking about it, and it is clear that this is going to be their election campaign for the next year.

They claim to be talking for all South Africans when they say that land expropriation without compensation is the path to freedom for poor South Africans. But if we’re going to talk about the issue of land and home ownership on this Freedom Day, then we have to ask ourselves: Whose freedom exactly?

Expropriating land so that the state can own it and lease it out to the poor won’t empower anyone. Yet this is the plan that is being offered as a solution to our country’s inequality.

But that’s not freedom. Living in your house or on your farm as a tenant of the state is just another way to keep people trapped in poverty.

True freedom is individual freedom. It’s when every man, woman and child is individually empowered to live life the way they choose. The state can’t be empowered on your behalf.

That’s why the DA believes in real land reform, where the ultimate goal is for South Africans to own their homes and their land, and where their right to own their property is not threatened by government.

And we’re the only party committed to this. We get insulted and threatened for not going along with the ANC and the EFF’s idea of land expropriation. But theirs is a terrible idea that will do nothing for the individual freedom of poor black South Africans.

The DA wants you to own your home or the land you farm on. We want this to be your weapon against poverty. We want you to improve and grow this investment. We want you to be able to one day sell it and make a profit, if that’s what you choose. And we want you to be able to pass it on to your children.

That’s why the DA leads the way when it comes to giving people ownership of their homes. Since 2016, our governments here in Tshwane and in Johannesburg have already handed over almost 10,000 title deeds. In the Western Cape we have handed over more than 90,000 title deeds since 2009.

We believe property ownership is your foot in the door. It’s your first step towards financial freedom and independence.

Fellow South Africans,

We’ve come a long way since the 27th of April 1994. We’ve made a lot of progress in this country, but in some ways we’ve also lost a lot of ground.

Many of the promises made back then seem further away today than ever before. More of our people live in poverty than ever before. More of our people can’t find jobs than ever before. More of our people have given up on the promise of freedom.

This has led to much anger and frustration, which we see spill onto the streets of our nation almost daily. But it has also led to a new wave of blame and scapegoating for the troubles in our society.

Lately we’ve seen many people try to re-write large parts of our history in an attempt to excuse their failure to help millions of South Africans secure their freedom. This blame is directed at struggle heroes, at brave journalists, at the TRC and even at our Constitution. Anything to distract and deflect from the real issues.

The other day someone tried to insult me on Twitter by calling me a junior Mandela sell-out. At what point did Mandela become an insult? At what point did reconciliation become less desirable than retribution?

We are told today that Section 25 of our Constitution – the part that protects property rights – must be rewritten. As if expropriating property without compensation and giving it to the state will solve any of the issues faced by poor, landless South Africans. It won’t, of course, but it will serve to distract and deflect from the things that kept these people poor and landless.

I have often wondered what our alternative path would have looked like if we hadn’t followed Mandela’s efforts to build a united, peaceful nation. Would our economy have ended up like Chavez’s Venezuela? Would we have ended up like Mugabe’s Zimbabwe? Would we have descended into civil war? We avoided these outcomes because we chose, back then, to build one South Africa for all.

Today, our country is again in need of healing. Again, we are faced with the choice of dividing our people or uniting them. Of dwelling on the past and opening up old wounds, or looking to the future and building a shared tomorrow.

And again, we simply must make the correct choice. We must pursue – and we must evangelise – the cause of true freedom. And we must turn our backs on those who keep us locked in battle with one another.

Because that is what liberation movements are – and we have seen this all over the continent – they exist to keep nations in constant struggle. They have to keep fighting enemies, and so they have to keep inventing new ones. Even if that means rewriting history and tarnishing the names of heroes.

But, fellow South Africans, while we must reject the divisive talk and blame games of the liberation movement, this doesn’t mean we can ignore the legacy of centuries of colonial and apartheid oppression.

Ours is still a deeply unjust and unequal society. And ours is still a society infected with racism and prejudice. It must be our focus to heal our country, both economically and socially. And the only way we will do so is together.

We need to rebuild our economy to include those who have been left out.

We need to resolve the land issue within the framework of our Constitution.

We need to fix our broken basic education system so that our children are not left behind.

And we need to entrust our people with the capital required to progress in life – both the physical capital of home, land and business ownership, as well as the social capital that so many white South Africans use to get ahead, but that is still denied so many black South Africans.

I mentioned this earlier when I spoke of building an inheritance. But this entrenched social capital goes beyond what you own. It is what and who you know too.

My wife and I appeared to have started off in similar places in life, but in reality there was a marked difference between us. She was all but guaranteed university entrance, she knew all the right schools, she could start a business if she wanted to thanks to a network of people willing and able to assist her financially and through advice.

For many white South Africans, this is the case. They have the benefit of a head start purely through the knowledge their social network carries. And I say this not to make white South Africans feel guilty about it, but to point out where we need to get to for our black sisters and brothers too.

Black South Africans aren’t poor because they are black. They are poor because they are still enslaved by a system that keeps them poor. A system that denies them their freedom every day.

This system is no longer apartheid or colonialism. This system is a set of policies, written and implemented by the ANC government, that has failed our country in every possible way. And yet we keep on banging our heads against that same wall.

It doesn’t matter who leads this ANC government if he’s going to remain committed to the policies that paralyze our economy and protect the insiders at the expense of the outsiders.

It doesn’t matter how much our media fawn over our new president if he still sticks to an economic plan that has seen our industrial output stagnate for more than a decade.

It doesn’t matter how much more presentable he is than Jacob Zuma if he is not prepared to make the structural changes to our economy that will allow the millions of outsiders a foot in the door.

We don’t need a more palatable ANC. We need a whole new start with an entirely new set of policies that can unlock the potential of this country.

There’s only one party with such a set of policies and that’s the DA.

There’s only one party committed to building a united nation with a shared future for all.

There’s only one party that wants to make real home-owners of millions of South Africans.

There’s only one party fighting for true freedom for all our people.

And I assure you, my fellow South Africans, it is a fight the DA will ultimately win.

Thank you.

DA to begin fight for over 1500 landless residents of Gwatyu

The following summary remarks were delivered today during a visit by the Leader of the Democratic Alliance, Mmusi Maimane MP, to the Gwatyu farms in the Eastern Cape. Maimane was joined by the Shadow Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Thandeka Mbabama MP, the Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Annette Steyn MP, and the DA Constituency Head, Terri Stander MP.

My visit to the village of Gwatyu today is to offer the commitment of the Democratic Alliance (DA) to helping get justice for the people of Gwatyu, and to give them our assurance that we will take up their fight, and do all we can to make the residents of Gwatyu the rightful owners of the land they have lived on for almost half a century.

It has been a humbling privilege to meet the resilient families who live here. Despite their concerted efforts over the past years, over 1500 members of the Gwatyu Communal Property Association (CPA) remain in the same position they were in during Apartheid – tenants of the land they live on, and at the mercy of government. They have endured decades of empty promises and seem hardly any closer to owning their land now than twenty years ago.

Their fight is for the security of tenure of the land that they live on so that they can work their own land, and be freed from government control. The struggle of the people of Gwatyu is our struggle – it’s a struggle for land, and for the right to own and use the land on which they live. I am proud to say that the DA will take up this fight and will not rest in our efforts to enable the people of Gwatyu to own and work the land that they live on that has lain fallow for almost 40 years.  Our fight for the security of tenure of their land begins today. We will start with:

  • Using Parliament to demand accountability for why the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has not yet registered the Gwatyu CPA. The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Maite Nkoane-Mashabana, must register the CPA immediately to clear the path for title transfer;
  • Getting to the truth behind the land rights audit, and for it to be released to the people of Gwatyu; and
  • Considering what further legal action could be taken to force the state to deliver what they have promised so many times before.

The Gwatyu CPA reached out to the DA looking for someone to help in their fight to gain ownership of the land they live on. They heard that the DA is the party that stands firmly on the side of giving real ownership to black farmers. Not just making them permanent tenants of the state, which is the ANC’s current model, but real owners.

Over the last four years specifically, they have been made many empty promises by the government, especially commitments to register their CPA and confirm land audits that would prove their claim to the land. None of the promises have ever been delivered on.

The Department of Rural Development now denies that any land audit was even done on the land. The fact is that the this ANC government has lied to and failed the people of Gwatyu, who remain landless.

They continue to be treated as life-long tenants by government. The ANC government’s ownership of the 88 Gwatyu farms has never been for the benefit of the people of Gwatyu. It has been about retaining control over them.

They have been failed at every turn, and I heard today the many indignities and lies they have been forced to endure over the years. They have disrespected by an ANC government that clearly doesn’t care. This stops today!

I am inspired by the people of Gwatyu. I heard today how the unemployed and pensioners in the community used their own social grants to fund their march to Parliament in 2016 to protest outside while the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform was delivering his budget speech. Rather than being met by a caring and open Minister, they were sent away.

These residents now rightly organize under the slogan ‘nothing for us, about us, without us.’ This demonstrates the resolve of this community, which is worth supporting and strengthening. The demands are clear: government must register the Gwatyu CPA, land over the land rights audit, and transfer the land to the people of Gwatyu. The time for delays is over!

This land is some of the most beautiful and fertile land in the country. But for it to be properly farmed, government needs to transfer ownership of the land to over 1500 people that live on it so that they can work the land they know so well.

The DA also call on farmers all across the country who find themselves in similar positions to the people of Gwatyu, to make contact with us. Please contact my office directly on leader@da.org.za or call us on 021 403 2911 – and we will make sure each and every one of these cases are interrogated and pursued.

The DA will continue our fight to ensure South Africans become owners of the land they live on, and are not at the mercy of an uncaring ANC government.

  

 

 

Congress resolutions set those left behind, jobless as DA’s number one priority

The following statement was delivered today by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, at a press conference at Parliament, Cape Town. Maimane was joined by the DA’s Head of Policy, Gwen Ngwenya MP, and DA Shadow Minister of Labour, Michael Bagraim MP.  The accompanying document can be accessed here

South Africa currently finds itself in very peculiar and trying times. While we have recently seen a change in leadership – and the euphoria and hope that has brought with it – the reality is that the living conditions of ordinary South Africans remain the same. We live in a nation of two halves – those who are included in the economy and those who are not. It is those left behind, and left out, who are our number one focus. Everything we do as a party must be geared towards creating opportunity for these South Africans to improve their lives, and the lives of their families and loved ones.

The reality is that for many South Africans, life is still too difficult. Millions of our people are excluded from the economy, from owning property, from access to quality health care, from education, from living without the fear of crime, from fair access to government services and private sector opportunities. Too many South Africans live on or below the poverty line, homeless and excluded from society itself with little or no chance of an avenue of relief through meaningful social development initiatives.

It is with this reality in mind that the Democratic Alliance (DA) went into our biggest and most diverse Federal Congress – which was held on the 7 & 8 April 2018 in the City of Tshwane, the nation’s Capital.  As a party of government – governing for over 16 million South Africans in more than 30 cities and towns across the country – the adoption of resolutions took centre stage at the Congress.

As a party, we have set some key objectives heading into next year’s election. We remain focused on the future, and on ensuring we grow our economy to include those who are left out and left behind. For this to happen we must position South Africa as the number one destination for investment, we must focus on cities as the primary drivers of economic growth, and the state must not be the first employer, but the last.

The resolutions before Federal Congress build on, and extend, the DA’s policy offer for creating an inclusive society – one in which opportunity is created for those left behind, particularly the almost 10 million unemployed South Africans.

More than 50 resolutions were considered by Federal Congress, each seeking to address the many issues confronting the people of this country. The resolutions provided practical and feasible solutions to address job creation, access to jobs, and the economy; basic and higher education; land; housing; and health.

In the end, Federal Congress adopted 18 strategic resolutions that will form the basis of our manifesto offer ahead of the 2019 General Elections. The adoption of these resolutions clearly places those left behind – particularly the jobless – as the DA’s number one priority. The resolutions are as follows.

Jobs and the economy

On access to jobs, a DA National Government would assist young disadvantaged South Africans in finding work by:

  • Introducing a Jobseekers’ Allowance with a timeframe for all unemployed young people aged 18-34 who do not have a job;
  • Rolling out a national Job Centres project – known as the Khuphuka Centres –  where unemployed people can access job opportunities (including learnerships and apprenticeships) on a local database, get assistance in preparing job applications or receive employment counselling;
  • Introducing a National Civilian Service year to provide work experience for the approximately 78 443 unemployed matriculants – from the class of 2016 alone – to enter into work-based training in the community healthcare, basic education or SAPS fields; and
  • Expanding the Expanded Public Works Programme and giving more people access to these opportunities by making the system fairer and more transparent.
  • Develop a basket of incentives, across multiple sectors, to encourage industries to take up more labour-intensive production practices. Such incentives could include, among others, rewarding those businesses who increase their staff components with BBB-EE points or corporate tax cuts/rebates per worker.

On the positioning of cities as the primary drivers of economic growth, the DA resolved that:

  • South Africa’s national economic growth agenda must be aimed at strengthening the competency and capabilities of local governments to drive growth and job creation;
  • South Africa should simultaneously decentralise public finances and stimulate regional competition by giving local councils a share of revenues generated through corporate taxes of local businesses;
  • Skills development must be aligned to the needs of local economies; and
  • Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is to be utilised as a tool to encourage investment to secondary cities.

In order to foster job-creation, we resolved to unleash South Africa’s entrepreneurial potential by:

  • Introducing an overtly pro-small business policy approach which removes blockages and red-tape in the political/economic system, particularly targeting those sectors which our country has either a comparative or competitive advantage in, and crucially, those which are also labour absorptive;
  • Exempting small businesses from certain labour and BEE laws to help them compete and create jobs;
  • Implementing a Tax Amnesty for small businesses and working with all arms of government to decrease the time it takes to pay its debts, with a goal of bringing this period down to 30 days;
  • Providing funding assistance for small businesses totalling over R1.5 billion; and
  • Expanding support and incentives for youth, informal sector businesses and cooperatives to grow and hire more employees.

Land

In terms of land restitution and redistribution, we resolved to:

  • Commit to protecting not only clause 25 of the Constitution but the inclusive and continuous extension of private property rights to those excluded in the past – as is inherent in clause 25 of the Constitution;
  • Commit to promoting the pursuit of justice and redress in land reform – not by making the state a proxy for land ownership – but ensuring that those entitled to land receive it in the form of direct ownership with adequate support to be economically successful;
  • Refuse to allow the continued notion that land reform should not also include urban land by ensuring that beneficiaries of state-subsidised housing projects receive their title deeds quickly and efficiently;
  • Commit to not allowing land reform to be used as a divisive and racially charged lightening conductor to pull public attention away from the failures of government by actively correcting untruths meant to achieve this end; and
  • Commit to the development and implementation of land reform and land tenure policies that extend property ownership, attract investment, create jobs in the form of win-win partnerships and helps our nation to heal to divisions of the past.
  • Provide those who live on communal land with tenure, and where possible, title deed. It is vital that tenure for communal land is regularised to avoid confusion and/or double dipping on a National housing list.

Moreover, we resolved to support:

  • The removal of pre-emptive clauses from RDP titles;
  • The conversion of all previously-disadvantaged occupied council urban plots to full ownership;
  • The transfer of superfluous state land to the homeless – free of charge. Land can be transferred into full and immediate ownership under secure and unambiguous title that can be easily sold, mortgaged or let; and
  • Amend the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act of 70 of 1970 to allow for financial support of smaller and affordable plots of land – so as to allow farmers to give freehold title to farm workers residents on their farms.

Housing

On access to adequate housing, the DA resolved to:

  • Give people ownership of the land they live on by giving them title deeds;
  • Create a single, national housing list, which every local government’s housing list must reconcile with, to cut down on corruption and the possibility of benefitting twice; and
  • Launch a national housing audit to verify that only the real owners live in RDPs.

Furthermore, we resolved to enhance access to affordable housing opportunities, through increasing the number of options people have as follows:

  • Either, stay on the list for either an RDP home or GAP housing, as appropriate;
  • Sign up for the Home Voucher Scheme which will give you a R150 000 home voucher (this amount should be market related to account for inflation amongst other factors), which you can use to build your own home on a government-provided site which will be connected to water and electricity– or to use as a deposit towards buying an already-existing house; or
  • Choose to live in one of the new mixed income high-rise apartment buildings which will be built by the government in major urban centres, designed to enable residents to work, live, play and pray close to the cities, to bring people closer to work opportunities.

Basic Education

Noting that while there are many excellent and dedicated teachers in South Africa, there are currently over 8 million children attending dysfunctional schools where the quality of teaching, in general, is not up to standard. To radically improve the quality of teaching in our poorest schools, we resolved to:

  • Roll out online and digital learning platforms to every school;
  • Ensure that curricula prepares students to be productive members of society and teaches the skills which will be required when they become adults (such as a focus on practical ICT skills);
  • Introduce specialist Teacher Training Colleges in every province;
  • Establish a National Education Inspectorate to ensure that teaching standards are met;
  • Convert struggling schools to collaboration schools, where appropriate, to improve management and teaching at these schools;
  • Declare principals, cleaners and food providers as providing ‘essential services’ at all schools where they are full-time employees.
  • Ensure the appointment of senior positions at a provincial and national level require the relevant experience; and
  • Ensure the appointment of senior positions at a provincial and national level require the relevant experience.

Higher Education and Training

We resolved to:

  • Expand access to tertiary institutions with the rollout of a range of online courses and programmes in a variety of fields in collaboration with existing universities and colleges;
  • Ensure the Ministry of Higher Education and Training provides learning opportunities for all through two streams of higher education:
    • The first would focus on more academic and research-based training at public universities focusing on important research and innovation outputs such as in medicine and tech; and
    • The second would be providing quality technical and vocational learning and skills development through well-managed TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) colleges, work-based apprenticeships, community colleges, private training providers, skills institutes and online learning to include curricula which meet the requirements of our economy through the provision of practical courses in ICT, for example, such as coding.
  • Introduce a new funding model to guarantee that no deserving student is unable to study because they cannot afford it;
  • Introduce College Vouchers to allow deserving students to choose their preferred TVET college and qualification based on scarce and critical skills; and
  • Reintroduce agricultural colleges in areas where the need exists.

Moreover, we resolved to create more up-skilling opportunities leading to more jobs for South Africans by implementing a new vision for the Technical and Vocational Learning and Skills Development (TVLSD) sector as well as creating a new National Skills Development strategy which will:

  • Fix and revamp TVET Colleges and SETAs;
  • Make use of in-house or privatised skills training for companies where possible and appropriate;
  • Roll out Khuphuka Opportunity Centres to provide access to career guidance, job profiling and assistance in finding education, work and apprenticeship opportunities;
  • Create new apprenticeship programmes;
  • Increase the involvement of the private sector and labour organisations in training and skills development decision-making; and
  • Enable a more diverse and competitive training provider market in the country

Health

In order to rectify the current challenges facing the citizens of South Africa, with regard to access to quality primary medical healthcare and availability of medication, we resolved to:

  • Introduce an Expanded Clinic Building Programme in under-served areas nationwide, with an additional R2 billion allocated as a cross-subsidy for building and staffing to assist in reaching the DA-adjusted national goal of building 50 new facilities;
  • Make available a further R2 billion, part of which would be used to grow medical school placements for multiple skills, including, doctors, specialist nurses, occupational and physical therapists, public health specialists and miscellaneous other professions, such as clinical associates;
  • Conduct feasibility studies for underserved areas in order to assess the impact of extended clinic operating hours, and where applicable, primary healthcare facility operating hours will be extended to provide better healthcare services to the people of South Africa.
  • Ensure support from all government stakeholders (such as transport, infrastructure and police) for the extension of hours at public health care clinics: and
  • Provide mobile clinics for existing settlements which are not yet formalised and exist beyond a 5km radius from existing public health facilities.

National Minimum Wage

The single biggest threat to our country and its future is our rampant unemployment crisis. Today, almost 10 million South Africans currently cannot find work or have given up looking for work, and our expanded unemployment rate sits at a staggering 36.3%. The result is that our country is split into economic insiders and economic outsiders – those who have a job and those who do not. This divide is sustained by a rigid labour environment and a low-growth economy that is failing to compete on the regional and global stage. Due to this, our economy simply cannot absorb new jobseekers, while at the same time keeping the long-term unemployed locked out.

By operation, the longer an individual is unemployed and outside of the economy, the less chance they have of finding work and entering the economy. This leaves millions of South Africans without hope of ever finding a job and improving their lives and the lives of their families and loved ones.

The DA’s fight will always be for those who are left out of the economy – the jobless and the marginalized. The creation of opportunity for the millions of unemployed South Africans is our primary goal, and every policy, law or regulation must be assessed through this prism: whether it aids job creation or stifles it.

It is within this context we must consider the proposed National Minimum Wage (NMW).

As far back as 2014, NEDLAC and Cyril Ramaphosa announced their intention to introduce a National Minimum Wage. Following years of negotiations, three pieces of legislation were brought before Parliament at the end of 2017 – paving the road for the introduction of National Minimum Wage. These bills are:

  • Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill [B30, 2017];
  • National Minimum Wage Bill [B31, 2017]; and
  • Labour Relations Amendment Bill [B32, 2017].

In November 2017, the Department of Labour released the National Minimum Wage Bill that seeks to institute a national minimum wage of R20 per hour, or approximately R3,900 a month for a 45-hour workweek.

While below the working poverty line of approximately R4,750 per month, the national minimum wage is set to raise wages for about one third of the formal sector workforce. Arguably this makes the National Minimum Wage Bill the most important piece of labour market legislation since the current labour relations regime was put in place in the 1990s.

Federal Congress discussed and considered the introduction of a blanket National Minimum Wage, particularity as to how we can include the voice of the almost 10 million unemployed South Africans in this matter – as it will have far-reaching implications for those without a job.

Our first concern with a blanket National Minimum Wage – and by extension these three bills – is a procedural one. At present, the stakeholders party to National Minimum Wages discussions are Government, Business and Labour. These stakeholders have enormous collective power, and naturally, each represent their own interests in the matter. However, the voice of the jobless in completely absent from the process. It cannot be that almost 10 million directly affected South Africans were afforded little opportunity to have their say on what is a massively important policy for the economy and the labour market.

Our second concern is a consequential one. The imposition of a blanket National Minimum Wage will have the undesired effect of creating great uncertainty and volatility when it comes to the most vulnerable workers in the economy. It is widely accepted that a blanket NMW will lead to job losses, as the hand of employers will be forced to adjust to a government intervention which was not market-driven. Government openly concedes this, as National Treasury estimated that 715 000 jobs are at risk following the introduction of a National Minimum Wage. Despite this, Government is adamant to proceed.

With the most vulnerable workers in the firing line, and the unemployed standing even less of a chance of breaking into the economy, we are of the view that a blanket National Minimum Wage is unfeasible, no matter how politically convenient it is for the ANC.

The DA’s position

It must be stated up front that the DA supports the intentions of a National Minimum Qage seeking to protect the most vulnerable workers from abuse. Our shameful history has been one of long-standing abuse of workers’ rights for the benefit of a small group of individuals. We must not allow this trend to continue 24 years into democracy. However, we reject politicians who try to use minimum wages to buy votes.

The debate is thus about how best we protect workers from abuse, while also advancing the interests of the almost 10 million unemployed South Africans – many of whom will suffer if a blanket National Minimum Wage is imposed. We maintain that minimum wages must be sector specific to curb job losses in marginal industries such as textiles and steel, as well as those where rapid increases will lead to job losses such as agriculture, security services and domestic work.

We therefore reject a blanket National Minimum Wage in its current form. A one-size fits all approach, no matter how well intentioned, will result in job-losses. Sectoral Minimum Wages are important to ensure the rights of working South Africans are protected and to guard against the abuse of the most vulnerable members of our society.

As a developing economy on the African continent, we operate in a highly complex economic space. Within our own economy, we have a diversity of sectors and industries – each with their own unique conditions and demands. Our task is to balance the needs of workers with keeping all sectors of our economy competitive, vibrant, and growing.

Therefore, sectoral minimum wages is the most feasible option. The great benefit of setting sectoral minimum wages is that the peculiarities and challenges of different sectors of our economy can be taken into account.

The DA has proposed the establishment of an independent panel – that cannot be unduly influenced by politicians, big business or big labour unions – mandated to set minimum wages for each sector, taking into consideration all relevant factors, including the need to create jobs. This approach would allow, in some sectors, the setting of a minimum wage higher than that proposed, while protecting the vulnerable in our economy.

Lastly, we believe that we need to exempt students, the youth and interns from minimum wages as well as workers applying for jobs in small, micro and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in order to help people with no experience get their first job. Our challenge is to break down the barriers to entry into the economy. Millions of South Africans are blocked from finding work as there often exists a huge discrepancy between what they can offer and what an employer is legally forced to provide.

To mitigate the effects of a minimum wage on the unemployed, we have put forward the idea of a Job Seekers’ Exemption Certificate (JSEC), which is a document giving a person the right to take a job at a wage they find acceptable. This document would be available to any person who has been unemployed for an uninterrupted period of 12 months or more, and would be valid for two years.

A National Minimum Wage is likely to pose a further barrier to entry into the labour market particularly for those who struggled to find a job in the first place: youth and the long term unemployed. Therefore an option must be given to the unemployed, to exempt themselves from a National Minimum Wage, allowing them a foot into the economy. This idea was considered at Federal Congress, however no decision was taken. The DA’s Federal Council will therefore be considering it in due course. South Africa needs a solution which empowers workers without silencing the unemployed. The JSEC provides such a solution, which allow those left behind a chance to gain entry into the economy and find work.

What the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill, the National Minimum Wage Bill, and the Labour Relations Amendment Bill seek to do is replace the current Sectoral Minimum Wage approach with a blanket National Minimum Wage. While intending to raise the living standards of poor South Africans, these laws will only lead to jobs losses, and uncertainly and volatility for the most vulnerable workers. We therefore cannot support such legislation.  We will be making written submissions on this matter, to ensure that the voice of the unemployed is heard.

In summary, a National Minimum Wage has significant downsides. The problems surround the inflexibility of the labour environment in South Africa and the fact that less flexible labour markets tend to have higher potential job losses than more flexible labour markets. In South Africa there is a higher cost of living and more work opportunities than in rural areas. There are also different circumstances in different industries such as travelling costs that vary. Some employers provide housing, such as in Agriculture and Domestic work, where others do not. In this environment of greater regional variations and variations across industries, and against the background of a highly inflexible labour relations environment, the DA believes that a sectoral minimum wage is preferable with regional variations, to a one size fits all national minimum wage, which is likely to lead to job losses. It would be catastrophic to see even greater numbers of unemployed pushed onto the street with an already exceedingly high unemployment rate of 36.3%.

The DA’s fight will always be for those who are left behind – the economic outsiders in society. We will continue to propose workable solutions to create an inclusive South Africa, and we will reject any measures that will unduly discriminate against those who are left behind.

The DA is serious about governing South Africa for all those who call it their home, guided by our values of Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity.

Closing Speech Congress 2018

The following speech was delivered by the DA Federal Leader, Mmusi Maimane, to the party’s Federal Congress delegates at the Tshwane Events Centre today.

Delegates,

Colleagues,

Fellow Democrats,

To our Federal Chairperson, Athol Trollip, thank you for chairing this meeting and for your steady hand.

You are a distinguished leader, unwavering spokesman for our cause, tireless campaigner for the underdog, and we honour you, Athol.

You leave here today to return to your job as Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay. I hear there is someone, some smallanyana someone, that want to move another motion against you on Tuesday.

Athol, every person in this hall is with you, every DA voter is with you, even people who don’t support us yet are supporting you! You will still be the Mayor next week, next year, next Congress!

Hands off Athol Trollip, hands off!!

Then, to the professional staff who put this incredible Congress together, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for the countless hours of work that went into this for many months, and thank you for all that you do for our party. You have delivered the best Congress the DA has ever hosted, without question.

To our newly elected Federal Leadership team, I congratulate you on your election.

To our Federal Chairperson, Athol Trollip, and our Deputy Federal Chairpersons, Ivan Meyer and Mike Waters and Refiloe Ntsekhe.

Congratulations to all of you on your election.

Congress has shown confidence in you, and now you have the responsibility to serve this organisation with passion and devotion.

Most importantly, your responsibility is to build the DA and leave it a better, stronger, bigger organisation in 3 year’s time than it is today on the day you are elected.

No one in the DA is elected to make a name for themselves.

You run for office in the DA because you believe in our cause deeply, and you want to contribute to championing that cause.

No one elected in the DA must take themselves too seriously, BUT we must take the DA very seriously.

We must take our voters, and the issues that effect their lives, very seriously.

We must take the issues of the many millions who do not yet vote for us, and the things they face in their lives, very seriously.

We must take the issues of our country – unemployment and crippling poverty, out of control crime – very seriously.

Our focus must be on them, not on us.

Our focus must be out there, not in here.

Our focus must not be on showing who we are and what we can do, not on telling.

This weekend we have renewed the commitment of the Democratic Alliance to our central cause, the same cause that has given us a sense of purpose since the very founding of our party, and which continues to inspire us today.

The cause of a country united as one, a fairer society for all, the freedom of each man and woman, and the struggles of life and survival that our citizens endure every day.

This weekend we have achieved much to be proud of.

We have put in words in our Constitution, that which we have always lived: That we are the most diverse party in the country. The only party that is truly for all South Africans.

I want to thank Congress for supporting the inclusion of diversity as a value of our party. Not because it was not previously. It has always been.

But because sometimes it is important to affirm again, in our guiding documents, that which is important and sacred to us. We must hand over to future generations of DA members that which is close to our heart and which guides our actions.

That is what we have done this weekend, and I thank you for supporting me in doing it.

This weekend we have reaffirmed that our purpose as Democrats is not to fight for a better behaved ANC, but for an entirely new government for South Africa, led by us and our values. So let us go forward with confidence and vigour to pursue our goals for the 2019 elections.

Our primary goal, the thing that must fill us with passion from this day on, is winning in Gauteng. We can do it, and we will do it.

To our Provincial Leader, John Moodey, and his team – the whole of Congress is supporting our campaign in Gauteng, and we are with you. Make us proud.

We have also resolved this weekend that getting South Africans into jobs will be the first priority of our economic policy, and our singular obsession in government.

This is what being in government is about for us. Expanding opportunities for people to work. Jobs jobs jobs. Every South African must know that above all the other improvement that we bring in government, even more important than cutting corruption, where the DA governs, more people have work. Simple!

We know that there is nothing wrong with South Africa that cannot be fixed by a government with sound policies that actually work, that create jobs, and that get people into work.

It’s been the government’s policies that have led us to high levels of poverty and unemployment.

With a DA government, we can begin to undo this.

We have resolved this weekend that all people should have the dignity of ownership of their home. We will proudly be the party that is the champion of land reform in our cities. People in DA governed cities will receive full title deeds to their homes, and I was filled with pride to hear my friend from the Western Cape, Bonginkosi Madikizela, saying that he had already distributed 91 000 title deeds.

Everyone should have the dignity of a home, the dignity of land and most critically the know how. We don’t need to change our precious Constitution for this. We just need to cut corruption and get the job done properly.

We have resolved this weekend that we will address the serious issues facing public healthcare in the country by building more clinics, especially in communities that have no access currently, and by bringing back nursing colleges.

We have resolved that our cities and towns will cement their roles as the center points of economic growth in our economy.

We have decided on a number of overtly pro-small business initiatives, giving South Africa’s entrepreneurial spirit the support needed to succeed.

We have decided to fight for the poor by challenging the ANC’s VAT increase – not only because it is the ANC refilling the coffers they have looted, but because we must protect mothers who are already struggling to feed their children.

In committing ourselves to these resolutions, we have reaffirmed that the DA will be the party that leads South Africa not just with the cause of unity and prosperity for all, but also with the best ideas to back it up.

Some of our opponents are preoccupied with the failed ideas of the distant past.

We will respond by winning the argument with the best ideas for the future.

They rely on scapegoating and dividing our country on race.

We respond by rejecting this cynical politics and offering in its place the politics of unity, co-operation, and shared prosperity.

Some of our opponents have taken recently to talking of a “New Dawn”.

But the public does not judge them on their recent talk, but rather on their long record.

And so too we will be judged on our record.

Where we govern, life gets better step by step, for all residents, and especially poor residents.

Life gets better when we stop the corruption and start spending money on real services.

And it gets better when we focus on basic service delivery, and do our jobs honestly, and treat voters with respect, and be available to help.

That is how we touch peoples’ lives, and that is how we show, rather than tell.

I am confident that our governments in Tshwane and Johannesburg have begun to show the residents of Gauteng what we can do if they vote for us to govern this province next year.

We can bring real change to this province, and our record shows it.

Next year, we can bring change to Gauteng. Let’s visit every house, knock on every door, speak to every voter.

Let’s win this province in 2019!

We will win because we are focused on the real struggles of our people, and not on greed and the comfort of power.

We will win because we are right.

I have no doubt that there will be difficulties and setbacks in the years ahead. There always are. But I also have no doubt that if we are true to our founding ideals and our motivating cause, we will overcome anything in our path, and we will win in the end.

When our opponents obsess about power, we obsess about how to extend freedom, fairness, opportunity to every South African.

That is the difference between us and them. And it is that abiding commitment that will guide us to victory.

Let us go forth from this place today and fight for those who democracy has left behind.

Those for whom freedom still means the prison of poverty and unemployment.

Long after the banners in this hall have been taken down, and we have all travelled home, let us keep the spirit and zeal of this Congress alive.

Let us go and win the trust and the support of South Africans.

Let us go forth under the banner of One South Africa for All.

For we are the Democratic Alliance, and this is who we are.

Thank you.

 

Building an African Liberal Agenda

The following speech was delivered by the DA Federal Leader, Mmusi Maimane, to the party’s Federal Congress delegates at the Tshwane Events Centre this morning.

Friends,

Colleagues,

Fellow Democrats,

Bagaetso,

Dumelang,

I am deeply honoured to stand before you on our party’s biggest stage, a year away from the most important election in our country’s democratic history.

It’s great to be in Tshwane – a DA-led city where we are beating corruption, delivering better services making the city a safer place.

Thank you for hosting us this weekend, Mayor Solly Msimanga. We can see the significant progress you are making in our Capital City.

It is brilliant to be holding this Congress in Gauteng – the economic heartland of the country where we also run Midvaal and the City of Johannesburg.

Mayors Bongani Baloyi and Herman Mashaba, thank you for your dedication and commitment to improving the lives of the people of Gauteng every day, one step at a time.

This province is special to me. It is where I grew up, in Soweto. And it is where I met my wife Natalie, who all of you just met. She is the love of my life, my rock, my everything.

Nats, thank you for those beautiful words. Thank you for sharing the adventure of life with me. And thank you for KG and Daniel who remind me every single day why I do what I do. KG and Daniel, I love you very much.

Democrats, I want to thank you all for making the journey to be here this weekend. You have made great sacrifices and travelled hundreds of kilometres to be here.

I have never before experienced an energy like this in the DA. I have never felt such an urgency to ensure we get it right; such exhilaration at the prospect of changing the course of history.

We must harness this energy and use it for the good of our people.

Everyone in this room is part of something big. I don’t have to tell you this. You know it.

It is significant that we’re gathered here in Gauteng. This is the battleground for the future of our country. What happens in this province in next year’s election will reverberate throughout South Africa.

The tide is turning in Gauteng.

Seven years ago, we won in Midvaal

Two years ago, on the 3rd of August, we won in Joburg.

And on that day we also won, right here, in Pretoria.

Many people did not believe the ANC could lose, yet now they are learning what its like to be in opposition.

What started as a ripple here, is building into a tsunami that will wash over this province and turn it blue.

Now, I know that it’s not going to be easy.

Our opponents are afraid of us. And we expect the election to be a tough and dirty fight.

But when they go low, we’ll go high.

When they are trying to buy votes with food parcels, we’ll be talking to voters about our plan for a better South Africa.

While they are trying to intimidate us and threaten us, we’ll be out there winning the battle of ideas.

And when they are dividing the people of this country, we will be uniting all South Africans – black, white, Indian and coloured.

Democrats, we are in for the fight of our lives.

I am ready for it. Are you ready?

It sounds like you are!

Before me, I see a party ready to embrace its destiny.

A party ready to challenge for power. A party ready to build this nation. A party ready for government.

We have travelled a long road, Democrats.

We stand on the shoulders of stalwarts who fought for justice and human rights in our country’s darkest hour.

Stalwarts like Helen Suzman, Jan Steytler, Colin Eglin, Zac de Beer, Frederick Van Zyl Slabbert, Tony Leon and Helen Zille.

I see before me a party that has grown from the small but brave opposition that stood up to the National Party and their apartheid laws all those years ago.

I see a party more vibrant and more diverse than anything this country has ever seen.

I see a truly South African political party; of individuals who believe in something greater than themselves.

A party of true patriots who refuse to let their destinies be defined by the way they look, the colour of their skin, the language they speak or the God they worship.

I see before me the future of this country. Because we are writing a new chapter in the history of this nation!

Today the DA is a party that is working in every corner of the country and speaks for millions of people.

That is the DA I see from this stage.

To the delegation from the Western Cape led by Bonginkosi Madikizela, a big thank you, baie dankie, enkosi! And congratulations to the Provincial Government and our local governments across the province.

You have set the benchmark for good governance and job creation, and the trust and faith of Western Cape citizens are with you. We will see this next year when we retain the province with a third successive outright majority!

To the team from my mother’s home province of the Eastern Cape, led by Nqaba Bhanga. Enkosi.

To our colleagues from KwaZulu-Natal, led by Zwakele Mncwango. Ngiyabonga.

To the team from the Northern Cape, led by Andrew Louw. Baie Dankie. Ons kan en ons sal hierdie provinsie volgende jaar wen.

To the team from my father’s home province of the North West, led by Uncle Joe McGluwa. Ke a leboga.

To our colleagues from Limpopo, led by Jacques Smalle. Ndza nkhensa. The progress you are making amongst the youth is incredible. An inspiration.

To the delegation from Mpumalanga, vibrantly led by Jane Sithole. Ngiyabonga.

To our friends from the Free State, under the steady leadership of Patricia Kopane, Kea leboha.

And to our hosts, the dynamic delegation from Gauteng, led by the fearless John Moody. A big thank you. Next year, this province turns blue! Next year, we put in place a DA Premier of Gauteng!

Fellow Democrats,

Our country has changed so much since our last Federal Congress three years ago.

And much of this change is thanks to the hard work of the people in this room, along with our staff and activists spread across the country.

The DA went from governing one metro to governing four metros. More than 16 million people now wake up every day under a DA-run government.

During this time we’ve extended coalition politics to the national stage.

We’ve had to learn to set aside our differences and find common ground for the sake of the people.

Is it easy? I can tell you truthfully, not always. But is it the right way – absolutely – because it is democracy in action.

Even where our partners in government turned on us in the name of racial populism, we have prevailed. And we will continue to prevail, because ours is the good fight. Our cause is just and our principles firm.

We did battle in the courts, where each victory in the fight against corruption has helped secure the freedom of every single South African.

Ten years ago we said we will not rest until Jacob Zuma is held accountable for his crimes. For ten years we did battle against him in every court, and we won. Yesterday, in Durban, his trial started.

That is your victory. That is our victory. It’s not over yet, but at least it has finally begun.

The DA will not rest until we establish the principle in our country that every person is equal before the law.

We were a leading player in defeating an insidious racial propaganda campaign. The cynical PR firm Bell Pottinger had to close its doors thanks, in no small part, to the efforts of the DA. We are proud to be part of this South African victory!

Our governments in Cape Town and the Western Cape, along with the herculean efforts of the people of the Mother City, managed to keep the taps running throughout the worst drought on record.

We set about cleaning up our new metros. This is a massive and difficult task. But our Mayors are doing it with the pride and commitment that people can expect from the DA.

We exposed and rooted out corruption. We gave tens of thousands the dignity of title deeds to their homes, making them real home owners. We electrified neighbourhoods, fixed streets, deployed metro police and bust gangsters and drug dealers.

When I look back at all that we have achieved, I am filled with pride. What an honour to lead this movement.

My fellow Democrats,

Three years ago I stood before you in Nelson Mandela Bay and I said: “Our values will lead us to victory.”

I said this because, although the DA is changing, its values are not. We remain committed to the promotion of freedom, fairness and opportunity for every South African.

In the run-up to this Congress, I noticed that every candidate campaigned on values. I think this is because, although we may differ on many things, we all agree on our values.

It is our values that unite us.

It is our values that allow us to come together from across the divides of our painful history.

It is our values that make us different from every other party.

All of us here celebrate and champion diversity. That is why no other party is as diverse as ours. We are united in our diversity.

We are showing that, despite our country’s brutal history, we can work together to improve everybody’s life.

Because Apartheid didn’t end in 1994. We are still fighting its legacy today.

We are fighting against racism.

We are fighting against inequality.

We are fighting against poverty.

We are tearing down the emotional walls between people who were previously divided.

And we are doing it without defining people according to the colour of their skin.

For centuries, South Africa has been a battleground of competing racial nationalisms.

Wherever we turned, walls were being put up between us, separating us.

These walls kept us apart physically and socially. We grew up living in two different worlds.

These walls defined everything for us: the opportunities we would have in life, the jobs we could do, even who we could fall in love with.

So when other parties try to resurrect the walls between our people, we’ll be breaking them down.

When other parties say that only black people can speak for black people, and only white people can speak for white people, we’ll be speaking for all South Africans with one voice.

When other parties obsess about power, we’ll be obsessing about freedom. The freedom of every South African to be who they want to be, and to be the best they can be.

This week we opened our new campaign headquarters in Gauteng, and we named it Nkululeko House, Freedom House. Because that is who we are at our core.

This freedom for the people of our country and the people of our continent can only be achieved through liberal values. Values that put the individual first.

Fellow Democrats, we need to build liberalism in Africa, for Africa.

It is a pleasure to welcome here today some of our brother and sister liberal leaders from across the African continent, and I want to make special mention of my brother and friend, Duma Boko of Botswana, who is with us here today.

As African liberals, we have chosen a hard road.

We have chosen to stand up to dictators and bullies of all stripes, even when it is politically incorrect to do so.

We have chosen to defend the free expression of ideas, even for people with whom we disagree and whose views make us angry.

We have chosen to promote constitutional democracy at a time when some people are using the constitution as a scapegoat for our society’s problems.

We have chosen to fight for the principle of equality before the law, at a time when powerful people think that they are above the law.

And we have chosen to fight against the domination of individuals in the name of community, tradition and custom. Yes, our communities play a part in shaping us, but they do not determine who we are.
Only we can decide who we are.

I am a proud black South African. I am a proud Sowetan. I am a devout Christian. And I am the proud son of Xhosa and Tswana parents.

All of these things helped shape who I am today. But, in the end, I chose to be who I am.

Three years ago, in my first speech as DA leader, I spoke of being moulded by my experiences as a black man. I said if you don’t see that I’m black, then you don’t see me.

But the flipside of this is also true. If all you see is that I am black, then you don’t see me either.

My blackness doesn’t add to or subtract from my humanity. And it doesn’t define everything I am, because I am secure enough in my blackness to think for myself.

At the end of my life I will be judged on whether I was a good husband, a loving father, a loyal son, a patriotic South African, someone who contributed to society. None of those questions will be defined by my blackness.

But for many, this is a radical and subversive idea, because it is a threat to racial solidarity and groupthink. It is a threat to the politics of divide and rule. It is a threat to the old order of things.

But this must not deter us.

We must carve out a new agenda for African liberalism.

As African liberals, we understand that communities, customs and tradition play an important role in shaping individuals. We recognise the spirit of Ubuntu – that I am who I am through other people.

As liberals in Africa, we are not colour-blind. We understand that the racial domination and dispossession of apartheid and colonialism destroyed people’s freedom. We want to fix this injustice without reducing every person to their race.

As African liberals, we know that poverty is the greatest threat to individual freedom, because civil liberties mean nothing if there is no food on the table. A hungry person cannot claim freedom.

This is why we believe in social welfare and a growing economy that lifts people out of poverty.

Fellow Democrats,

I see before me today the people who will fix our country – the future of South Africa. I know the potential of this party, and I know what we can achieve in government.

I know that you and I share a vision for our country: a more equal South Africa; a non-racial South Africa; a South Africa where a person born into poverty has the opportunities they need to succeed in life.

I know we share a vision of a South Africa where the next generation will be better off than the previous one. A South Africa where each child is given a world-class education before stepping out into a world brimming with opportunities.

I know we all share a vision of a South Africa where extreme poverty no longer exists, and where the heavy clouds of unemployment no longer darken the horizons of millions of our people.

But it is not enough that we agree on this vision among us here in this room. What matters is that millions of South Africans out there share it too. It is our job to get them as excited about this future as we are.

Our task is to make sure every South African knows exactly who the DA is, and what they will get in a DA government.

Democrats, you know you are winning the battle of ideas when your opponents manufacture lies to try and discredit you. When they call you names.

You see, these lies are all they have left to defeat us.

They say we are the party of Apartheid, because they know that we are the only party uniting South Africans of all races.

They say we are a white party, because they can see we are growing in every village and township. They can see – as I do when I look around this hall – a party united in its glorious diversity.

They even say that I am a puppet of white people and, if we win an election, I will be replaced by a white person.

The truth is that I will never be black enough for them. Because they don’t want black people to think for themselves.

They want black people to remain trapped in the politics of race because this is what keeps the ANC in power.

That is the truth, Democrats.

They are afraid of us. They are afraid of a new generation of black South Africans who think differently to them and want to choose their own futures.

Just as the Apartheid government feared white South Africans who rejected their racial nationalism, this ANC government is afraid of those who reject their own nationalism.

They are afraid of South Africans of all races who work together to help poor, black people.

Because this doesn’t fit in with their narrative of our history, and it doesn’t help them stay in power.

Every single black leader in this room is here because he or she believes in the DA’s project of building a better South Africa for all, and because he or she has the skills to help us achieve this.

And for those of you who still have doubts, I urge you to follow the example of one my predecessors in this party, Helen Suzman: Come and see for yourself.

Come to any DA rally anywhere in South Africa.

Come and see for yourself by joining a DA branch. Come and see how we care and fight for those excluded. Come and see how we fight to unite our country. One South Africa for all.

Let’s put the lies and deception to bed. Let’s engage with the issues that will move our country forward.

Let’s discuss who has the best vision for our country and the best solutions to our problems. Let’s interrogate policy, values and manifestos.

To all my fellow Democrats I warn you, the stronger we get, the more our opponents will lie and deceive.

We will fight those lies with our values. And we will fight those lies with the proof that, where we govern, our policies work.

If every person who voted DA in 2016 gets just one other South African to vote DA, we will replace the ANC in the Union Buildings.

That will be the fresh start our country has been crying out for.

We don’t need the empty promise of a new dawn. We need total change. We need to dismantle the corrupt system that continues to oppress poor people in this country.

How can we speak of a new dawn when our cabinet is still crammed full of corrupt ministers, and when our Deputy President has a cloud of allegations hanging over his head?

How can we speak of a new dawn when the same government that shot and killed 34 unarmed mine workers, and left 144 mental healthcare patients to die agonising deaths is still in office?

How can we speak of a new dawn when our children are still dying in pit toilets at schools across the country?

How can we speak of new dawn when our farmers continue to be brutally murdered?

This so-called new dawn will happily play along in removing a mayor who is eradicating bucket toilets and making his city safe simply because his skin is the wrong colour.

This so-called new dawn will see our Constitution taken apart and the property rights of all our people threatened simply to mask the government’s failure to return land to the people within the law.

We don’t need a new dawn. We need a plan to put millions of people in jobs. We need a plan to fight drug abuse and gangs in our towns and cities. We need a plan to shore up our borders and curb illegal immigration.

We need a plan that gives people ownership of their land, and then protects the property rights of all South Africans.

But most of all we need a plan to break down the walls that this government has erected between the insiders and the outsiders in our society.

This, fellow Democrats, is the single biggest challenge we face.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Don’t let those with destructive agendas and hateful ideologies define our country’s problems.

When they say they want to cut the throat of whiteness, or kick a hard-working mayor out of office simply because he’s white, they are dragging our country back to a place we should never return to.

Every day we spend putting out the fires stoked by racial nationalists is a day not spent fixing our real problem.

Our biggest challenge is that we are two distinct nations contained in one. There are those that exist inside our economy, and there are those who find themselves locked out.

On the inside are those with jobs, those with connections, those with privileges and opportunities.

And on the outside are all those who simply cannot get a foot in the door. The desperately poor, the unemployed, the unemployable. Those who knock on doors every day hoping for a way in, and also those who have given up looking a long time ago.

Until now, outsiders have been kept out by a system designed to protect the insiders.

Tenders and contracts go to people who have political connections. Housing lists are manipulated to benefit those with the right party membership. EPWP work contracts are handed out to those favoured by corrupt councillors.

Trade unions and labour legislation protect the employed at the expense of the unemployed.

Black Economic Empowerment is set up to re-empower the super-rich, rather than those who have been left out.

If you’re on the inside, South Africa is working for you. And if you’re not, there is very little chance right now of changing this.

Democrats,

We cannot trust this government to meet this challenge, regardless of who stands at the helm. This much we’ve learnt.

All we can do is focus on our own efforts, because we have also learnt that our own efforts can achieve mighty results.

We triumphed in the fight against a corrupt president and his handlers because we were angry at what they had done. We were angry and we believed that justice would prevail in the end.

We must now summon that same anger and direct it towards the system that keeps more than half our people trapped below the poverty line.

The fact that children go through twelve years of school only to find themselves completely unprepared to step out in the world and secure a job should make us angry.

The fact that half our learners drop out before writing matric, or that half our students drop out without completing their degrees should make us angry.

The fact that we have the highest youth unemployment rate in the entire world should make us angry.

The fact that 17 million social grant recipients can barely eke out a living on a tiny monthly income should make us angry.

The fact that investors are taking their money and their businesses elsewhere because they can’t trust our government to protect their rights and their property should make us angry.

We could be Africa’s biggest economy. We could set the tone for this continent’s development. We could eradicate extreme poverty in a generation.

The fact that we’re not doing these things should make us furious. This anger is an energy that we must channel correctly.

My fellow Democrats,

Our country needs a complete change. A new beginning. We need a tomorrow we can believe in.

I believe it is possible to break down the walls that divide our society. I believe we can open the doors of our economy to the millions who still find themselves locked out.

But it will only be done if we get three things right: One, we need to find ways to get South Africans onto the jobs ladder; two, we need to create an environment conducive to new jobs; and three, we need to have a plan for those who are at risk of being left behind.

The first of these tasks – getting people into work – is all about preparing South Africans for the world or work.

Ours is a cradle-to-career approach that includes early childhood development, fixing basic education, offering post-school opportunities for all, re-skilling older workers and harnessing the lost skills of those who have already retired.

But we cannot prepare all these people for jobs that don’t exist. And so our second task is to create an environment where job creation can flourish.

At the heart of this lies city-led economic growth.

All over the world cities are increasingly setting the pace for economic growth. Here in South Africa, 80% of our output is produced by cities and large towns, and almost 70% of our people live there.

The City of Johannesburg and the Western Cape alone contribute more than half our country’s GDP.

Local governments are better placed to deliver the infrastructure required for growth, and they are also more directly accountable to the people they serve.

Our challenge must be to enable our cities to drive economic growth, while also ensuring that our rural communities benefit from this growth.

But even with the best plans and execution, there will always be people who are left behind. And that’s where the third part of our plan comes in.

While the private sector must drive job creation, government still has a role to play in helping those left behind to secure a job and an independent income.

This role includes interventions like a national civilian service, an extensive government internship programme and the establishment of job centres.
This, fellow Democrats, is how we will empower people with the independence that comes with a job.

This is how we will build one nation with one future.

But to do so the DA has to be present and active in every single community.

Whether we are in government there or not, we must offer the kind of leadership that makes a vote for the DA next year the obvious choice.

If we want to be the government for all South Africans, then every action we take must demonstrate this.

We have always prided ourselves on our delivery track record. It is what sets us apart, more than anything else, from our opponents. People vote for us because of what we do, not what we say.

We have been gifted a rare opportunity to demonstrate this difference in cities and towns across the country. We dare not fail to live up to the high standards the public expect from us.

I know we will succeed in our mission because we will never abandon our liberal values. Our party has been built over many decades as a political home for all South Africans.

While others unashamedly drive wedges between races or speak only for minorities, we will never do so. This will always remain the clear blue water between us and our opponents.

Ours is a mission to unite the people of this great country.

Ours is a mission to build an economy and a society that is shared by all.

Ours is a mission to break down the walls that keep so many of our people trapped in a prison of poverty.

Ours is a mission to bring change.

It is a mission that will demand sacrifice and sweat from each and every one of you in this room.

It is a mission that will need you to be outraged by the daily hardship and struggles of so many of our brothers and sisters.

Martin Luther King once said: “If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.”

I want you to be angry, fellow Democrats. I want the blood in your veins to be stirred and your understanding sharpened when you think of the injustice in our society.

And then I want you to direct your anger towards building a South Africa that is free, fair and full of opportunities for all our people.

That is our mission. It is a mission that cannot and will not fail.

(Can I now ask all Provincial Leaders, the Federal Chair, the Deputy Federal Chair and Ancillary organisation leaders to please join me on stage?)

Change is coming, fellow Democrats!

Morena Boloka Setchaba sa heso.

God seën Afrika.

Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika.

Let us live and strive for freedom, in South Africa our land.

Amandla!

DA officially opens Nkululeko House – the Party’s new Headquarters in Gauteng

The following remarks were made today by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at the official opening of the Party’s new Campaign HQ in Bruma, Johannesburg. Maimane was joined by several members of the Federal Executive (FedEx). Please find attached pictures here, here, and here.

Fellow South Africans,

Today we officially open the Democratic Alliance’s new Campaign Headquarters (HQ) here in the heart of Gauteng, as we intensify the battle for victory in this province ahead of next year’s General Elections.

Named “Nkululeko House” in isiZulu, or Freedom House in English, this building will serve as the political and operational headquarters of the DA leading up to 2019 and beyond.

Since the party’s formation in 2000, our Federal Head Office has been in Cape Town, in a city and a province in which the DA enjoys considerable support. And for the past decade and a half this has served the party well, with our local and provincial governments – as well as our Parliamentary Operation – having all been in close proximity to the party’s Federal Head Office.

However, as a growing party now governing for over 16 million South Africans, our strategic footprint requires expansion. Indeed, the DA’s growth over the past few years has shattered the myth that the DA is a “regional party”, and this ought to be reflected in our operational structure. We are now well and truly a party for all South Africans, with a national footprint in towns, cities and provinces across the nation.

Nkululeko House will now be the party’s Campaign HQ, and home to large contingent of the DA’s Federal staff structures including the National Campaign “War Room”, the Polling and Research Department, the National Call Centre, the Leader’s Office, the Gauteng Provincial Office, and the party’s Corporate Services Directorate. It will also house a media briefing room, where national DA press conferences will be held. In the long run, we do hope that this building be too small to house our federal operation as we continue to grow.

Fellow Democrats,

The opening of Nkululeko House signals our intention loud and clear. Both its name and its location speak to the DA’s vision for the future. We plan to govern this province come 2019, and we plan to grow our support base in every other province across the country. We strive to become the leaders of a coalition government that will take over from the ANC in national government and bring true freedom to the almost 10 million unemployed South Africans, and over half the nation who still live in poverty. It is this fight for freedom on behalf of those who have been left behind that drives our organisation each day.

It is no secret that Gauteng is the great battleground come election time next year. As economic hub of our nation, it remains our utmost priority to wrestle power away from the ANC in this province. If we can do that – which I wholeheartedly believe we can – we can bring the DA’s brand of good, clean, job-creating governance to this province, ensuring that jobs are created, services are delivered, and the lives of those left behind are drastically improved.

In the last National Elections in 2014, the ANC held onto power in this province by the skin of their teeth. They were 3% away from losing Gauteng. That election began the province-wide movement to bring real change. In the 2016 Local Government Elections, the people chose new DA-led governments in the City of Johannesburg, and in the capital city of Tshwane. And I believe in 2019, the people of Gauteng will reject this ANC that brought them E-tolls, Esidimeni and unemployment, and choose a brand-new beginning for this beautiful province.

The people of Johannesburg and Tshwane can already see the change brought about in those metros since DA-led coalition governments took over 20 months ago. We want to continue that change, and bring it to Gauteng, and to the whole of South Africa.

As we go to our Federal Congress, to be held this coming weekend in Tshwane, we are confident we will elect leadership and adopt bold policies that will provide South Africans with a real alternative at the ballot box in 2019. This will be the biggest Congress in the DA’s history, with over 2000 delegates from across the country to attend.

An array of resolutions will be considered by delegates, focusing on tackling endemic poverty and rampant unemployment and joblessness. Congress will consider, deliberate and vote on resolutions on the economy, healthcare, crime, housing, social grants, education, as well as on national tragedies such as Marikana and Esidimeni.

The fight for an alternative, post-ANC South Africa is in full swing. We are moving towards the creation a shared future for all South Africans – a united, democratic, prosperous and non-racial South Africa.

I thank you.

Esidimeni: those responsible must be personally accountable

The following address was delivered by the Leader of the Democratic Alliance, Mmusi Maimane, at Talisman Foundation in Johannesburg today. The Leader unveiled a plaque to commemorate the hundreds of mentally ill South Africans who lost their lives at the hands of the ANC government in Gauteng. 
Today we pause to celebrate the inalienable Human Rights of all our people. On this day we commemorate the Sharpeville Massacre, where South Africans in pursuit of the basic rights and respect that should be afforded to all citizens, were instead killed by a callous, brutal government.
Never again can we allow that people’s rights are trampled by a callous government.
Our rights-based democracy requires that we protect every other person’s rights. That way, all of our rights are protected in an interlocking and reinforcing web of mutual protection.
Each of our 57 million people is guaranteed the same rights and the same protection from suffering and abuse.
But it is those who are often unable to claim these rights for themselves – the very young, the very old, the poor, the frail, the sick and the disabled – to whom we owe our protection as a society.
The 144 mental healthcare patients who lost their lives under exceptionally cruel circumstances in the Esidimeni Life tragedy were counting on others to look out for them. They were entitled to the same human rights as all of us, and they were told that their government had this covered.
We all know today they were lied to. Shipped off to ill-prepared, underfunded and understaffed facilities, they were simply left to die.
Aaron Motsoaledi has said that the death of these patients is a crime reminiscent of apartheid. He is right.
This week’s arbitration report by former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, in which he awarded R1.2 million to each of the claimants, is a welcome step towards justice in this issue. But there is no closure yet.
For as long as the individuals who were responsible for this crime against some of Gauteng’s most vulnerable citizens remain in their jobs and not in a courtroom, the families of the victims will never have full closure.
And we know exactly who these individuals are. The Moseneke Report goes into great detail setting out the roles of former health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, former Department of Health HOD Dr Barney Selebano and former Director of Mental Health Dr Makgabo Manamela in this tragedy.
There must be accountability for these people. They should not be appearing in fun-walks next to President Ramaphosa. They should be in prison.
Judge Moseneke states very clearly in his report that the ball is now in SAPS’s court to investigate speedily and institute the necessary criminal charges. This is the only way true justice will be served.
The total amount awarded exceeds R200 million, if you include the cost of a monument which the Gauteng government has been ordered to erect. While no amount of money can possibly compensate for the loss of loved ones, this is a vast improvement on the paltry R200,000 originally offered by the Gauteng provincial government.
But when only the public are made to pay for the crimes of those in government, this amount could be a million or a billion and it would make no difference to the perpetrators. True justice involves accountability. And this means personal repercussions for the guilty parties.
The very first step should be to fire the guilty from their jobs in government. Ideally they would have done the right thing and stepped down, but if we have learnt one thing from this ANC government it’s that shame and remorse very seldom guide their actions.
Following this, there must be some kind of personal, symbolic contribution to the awarded amount from their own pockets. That’s what accountability would look like.
But these three people are not the only ones who must face consequences. As the Premier of this Province rightly pointed out, the buck ultimately stops with him.
In Premier Makhura’s own words: “As the head of government in the province I have taken full responsibility and accountability for this tragic loss of life of our fellow citizens. I cannot pass the buck. I am the premier of this province. The buck stops with me.”
But what do those words actually mean? Surely “full responsibility” means an acceptance of any consequences. And in this case, where 144 innocent people lost their lives and dozens more are still unaccounted for, anyone who accepts full responsibility cannot remain in their job.
This is why the DA has called for a Motion of No Confidence in Premier Makhura. If he can’t do the honourable thing and resign, then the members of the Gauteng legislature must do it for him.
This is the ANC in Gauteng’s opportunity to show that “full responsibility” means just that. Because the families of the Esidimeni victims deserve a lot better than empty platitudes from those who brought about this tragedy.
Fellow South Africans,
Part of the purpose of Human Rights Day is for us to avoid repeating history. To look back on the terrible injustices of the past and to remind ourselves of our important responsibility to ensure that these injustices never, ever happen again.
Our country has a painful history, and we should be more aware and more protective than most of our precious Human Rights. That’s what makes the Esidimeni tragedy so painful to accept.
We have been through way too much, and we should have learnt our lessons about the sanctity of life and a government’s role in protecting it. It is shameful that this was allowed to happen at the hands of government in our modern-day democracy. We now owe it to everyone who lost a loved one in this tragedy to ensure that justice is done, and done swiftly.
Rights are not subject to majority whims. Some powerful people don’t have more rights than any other people simply because they are in power. That’s not how rights work. Everyone is equally protected, and we all must devote ourselves to the protection of others’ rights.
We must recommit ourselves to protecting the rights of those who are the most vulnerable: The rights of people living with albinism are trampled upon daily. The rights of children learning in horrendous circumstances. The rights of the women who earn far less than their male counterparts. The rights of the elderly made to queue for hours for basic healthcare. The rights of all South Africans to safety, living in a dangerously violent country.
Thank you.