Mbalula must step out of his Twitter universe and prioritise fixing SAPS

Please see the attached sound bite in IsiZulu and English.
The DA’s visit to the Boitekong and Phokeng police stations in the North West province today showed a reflection of the common picture of severe under-resourcing that exists at station level around South Africa in general and the Boitekong station in particular.
The Boitekong police station operates in an area with a very high murder rate and insufficient rural safety, and is increasingly struggling to police the precinct in the context of growing informal settlements and extreme poverty.
Our main observations of the Boitekong police station were that:
· It is clearly overdue for expansion and upgrade, having been upgraded from a satellite station to a fully-fledged station in 1992;
· There is abundant use of prefabricated units and containers as extra office and storage space; and
· It is an ‘urban-rural mix’ station that has not fully implemented the South African Police Service (SAPS) Rural Safety Strategy as has been claimed by Police Minister Fikile Mbalula, especially in staffing terms.
With as many as 66 people murdered during the last year, there was an average of one person murdered every week in this community of 80 000. The highest murder rate in the North West is experienced in the area serviced by the under-resourced Boitekong police station.
The under-training, under-staffing, under-resourcing and under-equipping (the 4 U’s) of the SAPS at station level has exacerbated the difficulty faced by the police to bring down the murder rate.
This crisis has been deepened by inadequate support from Crime Intelligence in addressing the organised crime elements of the high crime levels.
Only Mbalula has the power to fix the resource allocation in the police portfolio so that we can address the 4 U’s at station level.
Mbalula must urgently redirect his efforts from his Twitter universe and ministerial overreach in operational matters of the National Police Commissioner to adequately training, staffing, resourcing and equipping the SAPS.

Marikana: 5 years later, and we’re still waiting for justice

The following remarks were made today by the DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at the Nkaneng Koppie in Marikana, to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Marikana Massacre.
My fellow South Africans,
I greet you with a deep sense of sorrow and loss, as tomorrow marks exactly 5 years since the tragic killing of some 34 men – brothers, fathers, and sons – who were gunned down by the South African Police Service (SAPS) at this very site.
That dreadful day will long remain as a stain on the collective conscience of our country.
Today marks 1826 days since our fellow citizens were killed in broad daylight by the very members of government who are meant to protect them. Yet, to this day, no justice has been brought to the victims’ families, loved ones, and to the town of Marikana. Sadly, the name of this town has come to represent all which is unjust in our society, and in the ANC government.
Walking around this town, as I did today, one struggles to find any meaningful development over the past 5 years, despite the myriad of hollow promises by the ANC government. There are no new houses, roads, clinics or basic services that were promised by the various government departments over the years. The ANC government has truly forgotten about Marikana. ‘
No one has come to apologise for the tragedy, no one has taken accountability, and no one has come forward with solutions.
We are left asking,
Where is the political responsibility?
Where is the compensation and reparations?
Where are the houses and local infrastructure development?
Where are the jobs?
It is an insult that five years later not a single person has been criminally prosecuted or taken political responsibility for the tragic events. Whether you are a Police Commissioner or the Deputy President of South Africa, we maintain that those involved are to be held to account for that fateful day.
The Farlam Commission Report was released over 2 years ago, but nothing has been done since then to provide closure on the greatest tragedy of our young democracy. In fact, those responsible have continued to evade accountability, while the poor of Marikana suffer. The R153 million Commission uncovered the truth, but has so far not led to justice, closure or compensation.
Today, those directly involved in the massacre walk free.
Nathi Mthethwa, then Minister of Police, is still in the Zuma cabinet. Section 206 of the Constitution is clear: political responsibility for the actions of the SAPS falls squarely in the hands of the Minister of Police. Yet instead of Minister Mthethwa being removed from cabinet and criminally charged, he came to Parliament last week to defend Jacob Zuma and all his stealing and corruption in the Motion of No Confidence debate.
What about the North West Police Commissioner Zukiswa Mbombo? She got to comfortably retire even before the Farlam Commission report was released, without any accountability.
Riah Phiyega, then National Police Commissioner, walked off scot free.
And Cyril Ramaphosa refuses to even visit Marikana 5 years on, nor take responsibility for his role, yet believes he ought to be the next president of South Africa.
These politicians and public servants get to carry on with their lives, while the people of Marikana are left without justice and without answers.
Fellow South Africans, I don’t blame you for being angry. The anger you feel is righteous anger indeed. Anger which is fuelled by injustice. If the ANC government walked into my town and murdered citizens using live ammunition, I would be filled with anger. But anger does not bring about justice.
Fellow South Africans, I appeal to you: hit them where it hurts the most. Come 2019, I want you to remember what happened here on that fateful day in August 2012. Take their power away and vote them out of office. Because this ANC government treats the workers of our country like their lives don’t matter. This ANC governs like black lives don’t matter. And we cannot continue to be subject to this any longer.
Today I visited several homes in the Nkaneng informal settlement just across the field. I visited women who have been unemployed for years and are desperate for work. The women of Marikana truly are the forgotten victims. Many lost husbands, fathers, brothers, and breadwinners in their homes. And many still continue to feel the burden of loss, be it emotional or financial.
While the ANC steals your money and gives it to the Zumas and the Guptas, the people of Marikana go hungry.
In fact, the lives of mineworkers will only get worse under Mining Minister Mosebenzi Zwane. A now well-known Gupta-stooge, Zwane is hell-bent on killing jobs in the mining sector in order to enrich his political masters.
The mining sector is an integral part of our economy as almost 450 000 South Africans work directly for the mines, and at least as many work in associated industries. Yet Minister Gupta – against all good sense – introduced a new Mining Charter which has cost the economy R50 billion and sent the mining sector into disarray. Since then, mining companies have been forced to retrench workers in order stay afloat and remain profitable. Sibanye Gold is set to slash over 7000 jobs, AngloGold up to 8,500 jobs, and Bokoni Platinum over 3000 jobs.
While the ANC says they care for the people, their actions show that their care about their own profits. We can’t trust them anymore.
I’m here to tell you, don’t lose heart. Real change is on its way. The DA has a plan to reverse this decline and put South Africa back on the path to prosperity. Our people have had enough of the ANC taking advantage of us, and placing patronage and profits over the people.
When I was here last year, it was just days after the people of Marikana took to the ballot box and shattered the ANC’s majority in the Rustenberg Local Municipality on 3 August 2016.
And come 2019, the people of Marikana, and all across the North West Province, will punish this corrupt and morally bankrupt ANC at the polls, and usher in a new beginning for our people and for our country.
We have given the ANC too many chances, and the ANC has failed us too many times. It’s time for total change.
It’s time for real justice for the people of Marikana.
Amandla!

[IN PICTURES] Mmusi Maimane’s visit to Morokweng

The #Change19 tour moved to Morokweng, in the North West where DA Leader Mmusi Maimane continued to engage with community members during his door-to-door visits and public meetings.

I was left saddened and angry at the conditions that many people here have to live in.

– Mmusi Maimane

https://twitter.com/Our_DA/status/892327498259812352
https://twitter.com/Our_DA/status/892371628646178816
https://twitter.com/Our_DA/status/892374148793683968
The leader went on to remind the people of Morokweng how the ANC government has proven, over and over again, that it does not have the will to kick a corrupt president and his corrupt cronies out, and that their only hope lies in a fresh start under a new government.

Until we rid our government of the parasites that suck our country dry, communities like Morokweng will always suffer because it’s impossible to serve both the Guptas’ greed and the people’s needs.
-Mmusi Maimane

He also assured the community that should they lend us their votes in 2019, we will make their needs our priority and we will not forget them like the ANC government has done.

Use your vote to change your future

The following remarks were delivered today by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at a public meeting in Stella, North West Province, as part of the #Change19 Tour.
My fellow South Africans,
It’s great to be here in the North West Province, speaking to you about what we can do to build the kind of South Africa that works for all.
Today in this province, in the North-West High Court in Rustenburg, the trial of 19 men accused of killing non-striking miners in Marikana resumes. This trial will bring some closure for the families of the victims and the community of Marikana.
All those responsible for the terrible events that took place in Marikana must face the full might of the law, and their victims must never be forgotten.
My fellow South Africans,
I have been meeting with residents of this Stella community this morning in their homes, speaking to them about the issues that their families are facing. And what I saw and heard here today has saddened me.
If this is the best that this ANC government of Naledi Municipality can do for you, then you need a new government here. The sooner the better. Because what I saw here this morning is not how citizens of this country are meant to live 23 years into our democracy.
I met families struggling to put any kind of food on the table – some even resorting to collecting expired meat dumped by the local butcher.
I met families who have to walk 500m to the only tap in the area to fetch water for their homes. And very often this tap would be dry.
I met families of three generations where the only income is a child support grant – families that can’t afford the basic school uniforms or books, not to mention any kind of studies after school.
I met people still waiting for electricity, taps, flushing toilets – all the things that a caring government is meant to provide for the people they serve. But that doesn’t happen here, because this ANC government has stopped caring a long time ago.
Throughout this municipality, young people have had to abandon their hope of achieving more, because just surviving from day to day is hard enough. We tell our children they can be whatever they can dream, but we forget how impossible this can seem when you can’t see a way out of your current situation.
This can’t be the way forward for the young people of South Africa. We cannot accept that a whole generation will have nothing to look forward to except unemployment, crime, drugs and teenage pregnancy. We cannot tell our children that they must limit their dreams to the size of a social grant.
No, my fellow South Africans, you are not getting the service you deserve from your government, and you must not accept this.
You must not accept that a single Jojo tank has to provide water to a community of 3000 people. And if it wasn’t for the efforts of the former DA candidate here, Don Diedereck, along with your current DA candidate, Alfred Lekgetho, there wouldn’t even be this one tank.
You must not accept the slow pace of housing delivery here. You must not accept the unfair way in which these houses are handed out. And you must not accept that many of these houses don’t even have taps.
You must not accept the fact that many of you don’t have electricity and that many of you have to share pit toilets.
You have every right to expect more from your government. And if you think the government you voted for has let you down, you have every right to change your vote in Wednesday’s by-election and vote for a government that will serve you.
That’s the benefit of this by-election – it allows you a rare second chance to decide what you want for this community here in Ward 1, and for your municipality.
I want to assure you today that if you put your trust in the DA and in our candidate here, Alfred Lekgetho, we will work hard to repay that trust. We will listen to your concerns, we will respond to your needs and we will make sure that the will of the people of Stella is truly represented in this local government.
And if you then feel that a DA ward councillor has made a positive difference to your community, you can go one step further in two years’ time and vote for a DA government here in the North West province, and in South Africa.
Because the big issues that people face here and across the country – unemployment, poverty and lack of opportunities – need to be solved in national government.
We know by now that this ANC government will not and cannot do so. It is time for change – for a new beginning – and only you have the power of the vote to bring that change.
Thank you.