It’s time for National Government to consider partial or full privatisation of SAA

The time has come for National Government to seriously consider South African Airways’ (SAA) future as unions have now threatened to extend their industrial action to include the entire aviation industry. If these intentions materialize, Government will sit with an even bigger problem on its hands than SAA losing an estimated R52 million per day, as it can potentially put our entire already ailing economy under further distress.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is of the strong and considered view that the airline be placed under business rescue, in order to mitigate any further loss of revenue and to ensure that the entity is a going concern. If not business rescue, the only viable option would be the partial or full privatisation of this entity.

NUMSA and its affiliates are out of touch with the genuine concerns of the workers they represent and do not care about the sorry state of our economy.

Bringing the entire aviation industry to a standstill will have devastating consequences on the tourism sector in particular. This time of the year, tourists flock to the country bringing much-needed capital and economic activity. Furthermore, reports indicate that unions are demanding an 8% wage increase from the cash-strapped SAA. If the airline cannot even afford to fund its daily operations, how can NUMSA ever expect SAA to afford an 8% wage increase?

Unions enjoy far too much power; their proximity to the governing party has allowed them to hold the country to ransom while inflicting an insurmountable amount of damage on the economy. South Africa will have difficulty  recovering from this kind of damage to the economy.”

SAA has become an albatross on our economy and South Africans derive very little benefit from this entity. The time has come for National Government to put its pride aside, do the right thing and begin the process of privatising the entity without delay.

SAA is in desperate need for reform and the only way to ensure positive reform is for National Government to take a stand against unions and making the tough decisions without fear or favour.

City celebrates land restitution with 86 claimant families in Bishop’s Court

In fulfilling its commitment to redress and reconciliation, the City of Cape Town recently celebrated a restitution claim milestone with 86 families who are the rightful owners of the land and who were forcibly removed by the unjust Apartheid regime between 1966 and 1969 under the atrocious Group Areas Act. These families and others who have passed on were moved from their land in Bishop’s Court to the Cape Flats to areas such as Lotus River, Steenberg, Grassy Park, Manenberg, Heideveld and Wetton.
This will ensure that members of these families can live on this land that was so wrongfully taken from their elders. The claimants of the prime land in Bishop’s Court, known as the Protea Village Action Committee, lodged their claim for their land in 1995 and have been on this journey for 22 years.
In 2006, the National Government, the City and claimant community signed a memorandum of agreement in which the City agreed to transfer 8,5 hectares of the land to the claimants at no cost. Today this land is valued at approximately R100 million. In terms of that agreement, the Department of Public Works also agreed to transfer 3,7 hectares of land that was in its ownership to the claimants at no cost.
The City assisted with all planning and legislative tasks related to the resettlement of the claimant community such as the subdivision process which has been concluded.
Meanwhile, the Department of Land Affairs appointed a service provider to assist the claimants with the community development plans.

In the coming months, we will be finalizing the transfer of land in Plumstead, Crawford and Heideveld to claimants. It is my commitment that we will continue doing all we can to ensure that the rightful owners are returned to their land that was so cruelly taken away from them.
–  Mayor of the City of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille

Find full article here

Just one Family, Child and Sexual Crime unit for every 6.5 police stations

The DA is deeply concerned by data released today showing that on average just one in every 6.5 SAPS Stations around South Africa have Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offence (FCS) units.
This shocking statistic is contained in in a report tabled by the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) entitled ‘Struggling to meet the ends of justice: Assessing Departmental Responses to CGE findings on the Victims Charter.’
Minister Mbalula has recently made many comments about the SAPS commitment to addressing the extremely high levels of violence against women and children, yet the fact that approximately one in six police stations have a FCS unit does not support his claims. In light of the current crisis of domestic violence and sexual offences, the DA believes there should be more FCS units, especially in hotspot areas.
These units are vital as they are the spearhead of investigating any reported child abuse or exploitation, rape and domestic abuse, to ensure that victims receive justice for the hurt of the ordeals they have been through at the hands of perpetrators, who are made to face the consequences of their criminality through convictions.
This is a direct failure of National Government, which, under the ANC has neglected the protection of women and children, and survivors of rape and abuse. The ANC government should hang its head in shame that a survivor is still unlikely to receive speedy justice and see their abusers appropriately punished.
I will request that Minister Mbalula urgently and fully account to Parliament for the ongoing gaps in FCS units investigative capacity.
The stark reality is that the SAPS are simply not equipped to effectively address violence against women and children, along with serious resourcing failings by government that hamstring the SAPS.
Mbalula must get his focus onto the resourcing of our SAPS, stop wasting time on objectiveless twitter campaigns, and get serious about what victims and survivors of crime need.
If we are going to bring down the unacceptably high levels of violence against women and children, we cannot accept that just one FCS unit has to cover 6.5 stations.