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Tshwane deserves better than Sputla’s ANC infighting

The accusation of factionalism against Mayor Ramokgopa today by SACP regional secretary, Apson Makaung, confirms what the residents of Tshwane already know: ANC candidates would rather distract themselves with infighting and jockeying for positions, than focussing on governing.

Under Sputla, key indicators in Tshwane point to a City in decline:

  • Unemployment is up from 24.2% in the 2011 Census, to 26% in the latest quarterly labour force survey. In total 517,000 people in Tshwane do not have jobs or have given up looking.
  • For the past five years, Tshwane has not received a clean audit. Last year R1 886 200 000 was lost to financial misconduct according to Auditor General through unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
  • According to the Non-financial Census of Municipalities, Tshwane has more people than any other metro that have to go more than 200m to reach a water point with 113,212 consumer units receiving water provision at a distance – for the DA-run Cape Town, that number is zero.
  • According to the General Household Survey, Tshwane has the lowest percentage of households with access to a basic sanitation facility at 82% in comparison to 91.4% in Cape Town.

It is no coincidence that the City described by SACP provincial secretary, Jacob Mamabolo, as the “one city where we see the most vicious alliance fights in the province, even within the ANC,” is also the worst performer in terms of various service delivery indicators.

Clearly it is the people of Tshwane who are suffering while Sputla and his colleagues fight it out for control of the City’s resources.

Sputla, a known Zuma ally, failed to make the top spot on the ANC’s list. Despite this, no announcement of his successor as mayoral candidate has been made. This has raised serious questions about his position, and particularly whether his relationship with Accused #1 is what is standing in the way of his deposition.

Today, DA National Spokesperson, Phumzile Van Damme MP, publically called on the ANC to announce its Mayoral Candidates, which it has lied to South Africa about announcing since December 2015.

Until the ANC has resolved their internal battles, voters in Tshwane will be denied the opportunity to interrogate their choices for mayor. This is contrary to the spirit of democracy and another example of how the ANC puts itself ahead of those it is meant to serve.

Voters must know who they are voting for. That is why the DA has run the most democratic, transparent and open candidate selection process of any party and made our lists public. We challenge the ANC to do the same.

Solly Msimanga

DA Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane

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Fixing broken lives: creating jobs to fight drugs

 

Note to editors: The following is an extract from a speech delivered by the Democratic Alliance’s Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate, Herman Mashaba, during a march against drugs and crime in Bosmont, Johannesburg. Mashaba was joined by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, DA Gauteng Provincial Leader, John Moodey MPL, DA Johannesburg Regional Chairperson, Khume Ramulifho MPL, Gauteng Shadow MEC for Safety & Security, Kate Lorimer MPL, and DA Political Head for Roodepoort, Anchen Dreyer MP.

Today, we march against the scourge of drugs that plagues our City.

We march for the lives lost to the evil of drugs.

We march for the broken families, torn communities and the brokenhearted.

I have seen the spark die in too many young people’s eyes, and it is time to reignite their hopes.

As a parent, I have had enough of how drugs are destroying the lives of many of our young people.

Too often, their schools are the street corners and their educators are the drug lords.

When elected on 3 August, we will act immediately.

We will launch targeted campaigns to help those with substance abuse.

There will be 24-hour drug helplines and treatment for addiction at dedicated centres.

We will replicate what the DA-led City of Cape Town has done, helping thousands with its helpline and Matrix treatments sites.

On average, 24 000 people in Cape Town use the helpline each year.

We cannot shut out the problem by ignoring it – we need to decisively tackle it head-on.

We will create specialised units within the Metro Police to tackle drugs and gangs across the city, as is done in the DA-governed Cape Town.

I will establish a permanent ‘Don’t start, be smart’ campaign. Like in Cape Town, this campaign will drive out the stigma and silence surrounding drugs and alcohol abuse.

We are in this together. We can only beat this scourge together.

Many families have a member living with a drug and alcohol problem. We are all affected. We all have a drug problem.

We will also communicate real stories from users who have travelled the hard road from addiction to recovery.

Like in Cape Town, we will use murals and other arts across the city to tell their stories, and show others how they have found help.

To reach as many residents as possible, the campaign will use radio, print media and bus shelters.

We will also establish a dedicated 24-line for members of the community to report drug lords and dens.

There will be no safe haven for drug lords under a DA government in Johannesburg.

The drug criminals will be evicted if they live in City owned properties, and face the full wrath of the law.

The community must play an active role. Because the courts are very reliant upon the evidence gathered for City evictions from city-rental properties.

We must be vigilant. We must be strong.

Next, we need to provide proper social support structures to those caught in the vicious cycle of drug abuse.

We need to fill the gap that is often left between the state and the family.

With the first combined drug abuse treatment facility in Johannesburg only due to be completed in 2018, we cannot rely on the ANC government for support.

We must develop smaller, community-run structures that can react comprehensively to patients.

As Mayor, I will work closely with the private sector to seek sponsorship and support for these facilities.

But we cannot ignore a profound truth that lies beneath the surface.

More than any other problem, the drugs epidemic is representative of our city’s deep social divide.

In our vibrant melting pot of different races, cultures and languages, we still know little about each other.

We still remain divided by the circumstances of our birth, the healthcare we receive, the schools our children go to.

A taxi ride between Bosmont and the suburbs of Randburg should not be a journey between two different worlds.

But it still feels like that.

The truth is that Johannesburg is caught in a terrible situation. There are 869 000 unemployed people in this city. 66 000 of whom were added to the ranks of the unemployed in the first quarter of 2016.

Unemployment is increasing the epidemic of drug abuse and alcoholic addiction.

Time and time again, I have seen how the Nyaope pandemic is driven by a sense of despair for those struggling to find work. Drugs hollow out lives, materially and spiritually.

While I realise that drug abuse cannot be reduced to a single factor, unemployment is a significant contributor.

Through job creation and the proactive anti-drug strategies I have outlined, the DA will help Johannesburg’s residents to realise their full potential.

A report recently stated that “youths in Africa’s most developed economy suffer from an unemployment rate hovering around 50%, among the highest in the world, and the situation has deteriorated in the last five years.”

The same report stated that “the lack of jobs and Nyaope’s easy availability have combined to devastating effect in poor communities.”

We know that Parks Tau is in denial of the scale of the problem.

When drug lords move into a community, shops, small businesses, training enterprises, and youth projects move out.

The link between the lack of jobs and drug abuse is staggering.

While unemployment in Johannesburg has risen to over 30%, drug abuse cases in Bosmont rose from 95 in 2005 to 1515 in 2015 – a 1600% increase. More than 692 houses experienced burglaries in the same year.

However, in the more affluent suburbs of Randburg which have a lower rate of unemployment, drug abuse cases rose slowly from 75 in 2005 to 114 in 2015.

In far too many communities drug lords are taking over, while the City Council and JMPD sit back and wait for residents to protest.

Finally, we need to create the right environment for the creation of real job opportunities.

This can be achieved through a clean, streamlined city administration that meets the needs of investors, actively partners with SMMEs and budding entrepreneurs, and delivers services as promised to all residents and businesses.

There is a concrete link between unemployment and drug abuse, and the only solution for Johannesburg is a DA administration that will create jobs.

We can only do this by changing the government on August 03.

Combatting substance abuse is not a task that government can take on alone. We need a whole of society approach: the parents, the schools, the police and the communities need to work with us to take back our communities from drug dealers and help our children.

It is only by working together that we can end the drug epidemic.

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The Department of small and broken promises leaves Tshwane unemployed

Note to editors: The following remarks were made by the DA’s Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane, Solly Msimanga, while addressing a picket outside the Department of Small Business Development today. Msimanga was joined by DA National Spokesperson, Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL and DA Youth Chair, Yusuf Cassim MP.

Audio clips are available in Setswana and English.

Photos from the event can be found here.

Tshwane is in the midst of an unemployment crisis. Over half a million people or a total of 517 000 residents do not have a job to support themselves or their families.

At the heart of this problem is Mayor Ramokgopa and the ANC’s failed economic policies that have consistently failed to turn Tshwane into a City at work.

We have come to the Department of Small Businesses today to protest against the strangling red tape that is holding back the businesses in this City.

The government department that ought to be at the forefront of red-tape reduction is dropping the ball, and this is having a massive effect on the private sector’s ability to create jobs.

This must be stopped. Red tape must be cut to release the residents of this City from the stranglehold of unemployment.

Unemployment among young people has gotten so bad that half of those under the age of 35 are now are without work or the hope of finding work. As tens of thousands lose their jobs in Tshwane, it should be Sputla who loses his job.

When Mmusi Maimane was in Tshwane last week he made it clear that when I become Mayor, if I do not do a good job of turning Tshwane around, I would be out of a job.

That is why I have a plan to get this City to work. We will create jobs by:

  1. Broadly empowering businesses, through Red Tape Reduction Units to create a regulatory business environment that promotes growth, innovation and facilitates job-creating investment.
  2. One of the biggest hurdles young people face is the struggle to get work experience. That is why I will endeavour to establish an internship program in the City to allow matriculants and graduates to gain workplace experience in government.
  3. Increase the budget for programmes to assist young people to become employed. In the 2015 financial year the DA-run City of Cape Town spent R71 million to assist unemployed matriculants or young people to gain employment, this was more than Johannesburg and Tshwane combined.
  4. Establish functional Job Centres located across the City to serve as contact points between employers and jobseekers. This will promote social capital and enable thousands of unemployed residents to earn a living.
  5. Establish City Improvement Districts to breathe new life into the city centres of Pretoria and Centurion. This will rekindle the business and cultural life of these spaces and draw in young people where they will find work and make a life for themselves.
  6. Implement an e-portal for various services to accommodate its young and vibrant population, to bring Tshwane into the 21st century.

The City of Tshwane has enormous potential but under Sputla and the ANC’s control that potential is being wasted just like the R1.8 billion wasted in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. This is money that could have gone to supporting small to medium sized enterprises which are drivers of job creation.

In the DA-run Western Cape, our dedicated Red Tape Reduction Unit continues to successfully assist small businesses in navigating regulation they encounter. Our “Cut Red Tape Hotline” for businesses has received thousands of complaints with an 80% resolution rate. When the DA wins Tshwane, we will roll out Red-Tape Reduction Units in our city to help SMME’s to create the jobs the people if this city deserve.

Together we will turn this city around and enact a programme of action to make sure that the corruption and joblessness that is synonymous with Sputla’s government is put to an end.

The failure of Sputla’s government to empower the youth of Tshwane MUST be stopped.

I am here to tell you that with the DA’s Manifesto for Change, we can stop the jobless rot that has set into our city.

It is our plan to see Tshwane start making progress again and to make this City great!

In the City of Cape Town we have shown how a DA-run government can succeed in creating jobs.

Cape Town’s expanded unemployment rate is the lowest of any metro at 21.7%, almost 15 percentage points below the national average.

This is the DA difference – and it is your choice to vote for change and bring that difference to Tshwane.

It will take time, but a DA-run City of Tshwane will work every day to bring the necessary change.
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Mashaba: Together, let’s make Johannesburg a city of golden opportunities

Note to editors: The following is an extract from a speech delivered by the Democratic Alliance’s Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate, Herman Mashaba, during the unveiling of the DA’s candidate councillors in Johannesburg.

The 3rd of August 2016 is going to be one of the most important days in our lives.

It is the day that, as a team, we begin our journey to bring change to the City of Johannesburg.

I am not going to be satisfied with mediocre change.

I am not going to accept sufficient change.

Johannesburg needs phenomenal change.

It is going to be our job – yours and mine – to deliver that change.

We must celebrate our diversity as we come together on this important mission.

Philosopher Sun Tzu observed that “there are not more than five musical notes [and] the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.” 

I want to hear our voices create a harmonious rhythm that gets the City back on its feet.

It thrills me that before me I see candidates that represent the country’s demographic diversity.

It is absolutely vital that diversity in all aspects of social, religious, and personal philosophy must exist if the City is to undergo a healthy transformation – everybody who lives in our city must be represented.

I am proud to be here today with candidate councilors who represent such diversity.

You have all undergone a rigorous screening process.

Together, we have been called to be servants of the City.

I feel uncomfortable with the term ‘politician’ due to the current negative connotations associated with it.

This term fails to highlight the essential service component of our job description.

We must strip ourselves of artifice. We must strip ourselves of arrogance. We must reduce our notion of ourselves to that of service.

Instead we must firmly establish our motivations for service.

I have worked and campaigned in the City for five months, and it has been a humbling experience.

The people who call Johannesburg home have been hardened by the stalled progress and the absolute disregard that the current administration has for them.

The people of Johannesburg are tired of lip service. They observe us with jaded eyes as we approach their communities. They’ve heard the lies and they’ve fallen for the empty promises.

But no more. Now they are demanding action.

Such action demands that we, as servants of the city, serve the needs of our constituents.

We have to become listeners. We have to become order-takers. We have to take community demands to the City.

I know the hardship that many of you have endured to be sitting here today.

I know that many of you have been intimidated by other political party members.

I accompanied one of our candidates to the Kagiso police station to lay a charge against an ANC member who held a gun to her head.

Rather than have to defend their own party’s dismal record, the ANC is going to do everything to intimidate us.

Don’t let them derail you.

Stand in the power of representing a political party that doesn’t have to grind anyone else into the ground to showcase its greatness.

We cannot allow a dying ANC to clutch at our throats and drag us down with it.

When elected into office after the elections on the 3rd of August, job creation will be our number 1 priority.

There are 6 areas that our administration will focus on for the purpose of creating jobs for the 869 000 unemployed members of our city:

  1. We will immediately professionalise the public service. Every public servant will understand how his or her role relates to job creation.
  2. To attract investment and create jobs, we are going to invest heavily in infrastructure. We are all aware how our aging infrastructure needs urgent attention, and we also need new infrastructure to meet our growing population.
  3. We need to create an enabling environment to allow entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. I want to give entrepreneurs the opportunity to start new businesses that help grow the City’s economy and create jobs.
  4. As a matter of urgency, we need to stop corruption and wasteful expenditure. Businesses will never invest in cities where corruption is widespread or where public money is mismanaged. We must all commit to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to corruption and wasteful expenditure.
  5. We must expand employment opportunities to our unemployed members of society. Local government should play a role in helping its youth find employment, and keeping them away from a life of crime and drugs. We must budget money for programs to assist them to navigate this challenging task.
  6. We must strive to deliver basic services for all. As Mayor, the strategic direction of my administration’s budget is going to be orientated towards delivering essential services and infrastructure, particularly in our deprived informal settlements. Those communities deserve a better life than the one they are subjected to under the ANC government.

I am excited to undertake this massive but possible task.

Together, let’s make Johannesburg a city of golden opportunities.

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Sputla’s government loses R5 million a day while Pienaarspoort residents suffer

Note to editors: The following remarks were made by DA Tshwane Mayoral Candidate, Solly Msimanga MPL, at a public meeting in Pienaarspoort, Mamelodi. Msimanga was joined by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, DA National Spokesperson, Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL, DA Gauteng Leader, John Moodey MPL, and Constituency Head for Mamelodi, Natasha Mazzone MP.

Audio clips are available in Setswana and English.

We have come back to Pienaarspoort today because the residents of this community have been forgotten by the ANC government in Tshwane.

They have been forgotten by a government that is drowning in corruption while the people of this community, and Tshwane at large, struggle on a daily basis without jobs and the most basic services.

In the last financial year, Sputla’s ANC in Tshwane lost R1.88 billion to unauthorised, irregular fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

That means that every day that passed in the last financial year, R5,167,671 was lost by the ANC government in Tshwane.

To the residents of Pienaarspoort, that means the difference between living a life of dignity, or continuing to struggle without adequate housing and access to water and sanitation.

For every month that the ANC governed Tshwane, the people of Pienaarspoort were deprived of R157,183,333 that could have been used to develop this community and move it forward.

That is R157,183,333 lost every month that could have been used to:

  • Build 75 clinics, 130 schools, or 15,000 RDP houses; or
  • Employ 9,500 nurses or 13,000 police officers.

Every cent that is lost or wasted by the ANC government is a cent that is stolen from the people of Pienaarspoort.

The ANC in this City governs like the poorest in our community do not matter. We cannot accept this.

We cannot accept that they work to enrich themselves while those they are meant to serve have nothing.

Corruption in South Africa has become so widespread that many have grown to accept it as a way of life. I reject this. The DA rejects this.

In the last financial year, the ANC government lost R645 for every person in this City.

In comparison to this, the DA government in the City of Cape Town lost just 27c per person, for a total loss of only R1 million.

This shows that with the political will to fight corruption, one can bring change. The DA can bring change.

That is because the DA believes in honest and responsive government. We believe in working harder to bring the change we need to build a fair and prosperous South Africa for all.

Change that stops corruption.

Change that delivers better services.

Change that creates jobs.

Today I commit to bring the change this City needs.

I commit to not stop working until we have delivered Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity to all the people living in Tshwane.

 

Media enquiries:

Motheo Mtimkulu

Media Manager: Tshwane Mayoral Campaign

083 728 0554

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Together we can revive the heartbeat of Ekurhuleni

It is a sad reality that today Ekurhuleni is the “Capital of Unemployment” in South Africa.

With 110,000 jobs lost just since January 2016 in Ekurhuleni, we are witnessing a full blown crisis of unemployment – and the ANC government has no solutions to this tragic situation. It pains me deeply to see so many of my fellow-Ekurhuleni men and women without work. And I am committed to turn this around and create jobs.

I have been privileged to work in businesses where I have created jobs before. Thousands of jobs, through commitment and dedication and through a thriving, functional Ekurhuleni Metro, can be created and I pledge to do so. I pledge to bring the change we need to move Ekurhuleni forward again, under the DA, as Metro of Jobs, not as the “Capital of Unemployment” any longer.

Ekurhuleni used to be the industrial hub of South Africa, but now it lays bare, stripped of opportunities. Empty warehouses like this one where we are gathered today, which once employed over a hundred people, now stands derelict and abandoned. This has become common sight throughout the metro, stalling any hope for job creation and economic growth.

After years of mismanagement and corruption, the ANC has caused many thriving businesses, like Ferrero Roche and Heineken to look elsewhere, because it simply cannot deliver on its mandate of economic growth. The ANC doesn’t have the will or the plans to create jobs and solve unemployment.

Mayor, Mondli Gungubele, tries to sell the tale of a thriving Ekurhuleni as a good story to tell. But he is disconnected from the communities who form the backbone of Ekurhuleni. Many citizens of this boundless metro are unemployed, living in inhumane conditions, forgotten by the ANC.

With over a 34 percent unemployment rate and a youth unemployment rate in excess of 30 percent, the metro hasn’t just failed our generation, it’s failing our children – who, without hope for the future are turning to crime and drugs.

Our CBDs are turning into slums of decay, our road networks, which are the veins of this great city are crumbling with potholes.

Daily, communities throughout Ekurhuleni are thrust into darkness as aging infrastructure fails, leaving residents without power for days on end due to the lack of maintenance and the underspending on upkeep by the ANC.

How are businesses meant to survive in these tough economic times when the ANC cannot even keep the lights on for them?

Currently, we have people living in Daveyton who depend on sporadic delivery of water by water tankers. And these communities are not alone, over 40 percent of the people of Ekurhuleni do not have a tap in their own home.

15 percent of the people of Ekurhuleni do not have a flushing toilet and many have to endure the indignity of using a pit latrine every day. Nearly 24 percent of households in this city do not live in formal dwellings.

But today I present a document of hope and a promise of a better future for Ekurhuleni. Today we launch our Manifesto for Change in Ekurhuleni, and it is our promise to bring the DA brand of good governance, and the best service delivery, to Ekurhuleni.

When I accepted the Democratic Alliance’s nomination to serve as the DA candidate for Mayor of Ekurhuleni, I made a promise that I would embark on a 30-day listening tour of all the wards in Ekurhuleni.

I have heard you, Ekurhuleni, and your issues and concerns have filled this Manifesto for Change with promises to bring the change you’ve asked for to move Ekurhuleni forward again.

The Manifesto highlights the following:

Jobs

We will make it easier to start and grow a business.

We will tear up old by-laws that stop businesses starting and we will pass laws that incentivize businesses to grow and create jobs. This would include eliminating excessive red tape and simplifying regulations, especially those relating to zoning, planning approvals, health and safety, traffic and licensing.

This allows us to create an environment that attracts people with skills and capital, and enables them to start or expand their own businesses.

By establishing Local Economic Development one-stop-shops throughout Ekurhuleni, this will allow us to provide information services on investment opportunities, licensing, land use, planning approval procedures.

Job creating proposals to the City will be prioritized by ensuring that building plans and land use applications are approved even faster that the legislated time frames and where possible, and we will implement e-planning systems so that local economies grow as quickly as possible and create more employment.

This will boost manufacturing in our towns and cities, and help existing businesses determine the best markets for growth, by giving them municipal incentives to grow and invest.

Safety

To fight crime, we will create easy and speedy access to justice; we will establish effective municipal and community courts to handle prosecutions for traffic offences and by-law contraventions to reduce pressure on magistrate’s courts. We will fund extra court staff and magistrates to help the Justice Department establish more and more courts.

We will launch technology that monitors crime hotspots and gunshot sounds, and link these directly to the Metro Police, and will provide real-time crime statistics are readily available internally and to the public.

We will create special EMPD units for drug crime and gang crime, and they will work every day to reduce these.

We will assess each EMPD officer’s fitness on a quarterly basis.

We will partner and work proactively with communities, faith, and non-governmental organisations to promote our young people staying away from crime and drugs.

We will expand the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) programme – by developing safe community areas we will make communities safer.

Service delivery & Housing

The DA already provides the most comprehensive basket of free basic municipal services for all qualifying households where we govern, and we want to do the same in Ekurhuleni.By implementing an indigent policy, the DA will provide relief to those residents who are unable to afford basic necessities This basket would be funded, in part, through the implementation of sustainable and fair cross-subsidization of rates and tariffs.

The DA promises to implement integrated planning and careful monitoring in the setting and achieving service delivery targets that are essential for maintaining safe public spaces.

We will deliver more quality housing opportunities, by working with the Province and National Government, and by appointing excellent building contractors. There will be no contracts for friends in the housing department.

We will prioritize the upgrade of informal settlements and the provision of serviced sites so that all residents can access basic services, as a key issue for the DA.

We will transfer title deeds to housing beneficiaries without delay by cutting the red tape and ending the roadblocks, to allow residents to have legal ownership of their homes.

The DA will keep the streets and public spaces clean so that they enhance the wellbeing of all residents by committing to the weekly collection of refuse and conducting systematic area cleaning where required.

We will set environmental targets to improve water service standards, to ensure our residents have access to good quality cleaning water and that waste water is efficiently and safely managed. We will complete for Blue and Green Drop status every year, and will achieve these like the DA has in government elsewhere.

The DA is committed to increasing the availability of affordable clean water through recycling, cutting unnecessary consumption and the installation and maintenance of bulk infrastructure.

We will hold polluters accountable by passing and enforcing by-laws that control industrial emissions and other forms of pollution to ensure a greener city.

A Metro that cares and Stops Corruption

The DA is committed to stopping Ekurhuleni corruption. We are committed to honest government, where the needs of the people are put first.

We will open the tender system to public view – we want ever resident to see where their tenders are being awarded and why. And we will cut tenders up into smaller parts so that even the smallest business can get a tender.

We will criminally prosecute officials in the Metro government who have benefited from corruption – and we will claim the money back from them.

We will make it illegal for councilors, officials, their family and friends to do business with the Metro.

We will be responsive to the needs of our people by ensuring there is a proper ward committee system in place with a member that is truly representative of their local community.

We want to hear from you and engage with communities, therefore we will acknowledge all correspondence within 48 hours and establish a customer service improvement programme, which includes resident satisfaction surveys – we want to hear from you how we are governing.

This manifesto is my promise to you, the people of Ekurhuleni. It is my pledge to you, to ensure good governance and create an accountable government.

Let us become the drivers of change that moves us forward again.

Let us imagine this now empty warehouse, open for business once more. Servicing the community, employing workers who can once again provide for their family and allow them to live in dignity, ending the cycle of poverty.

Now is the time to vote out a party who is only interested in bettering the lives of a select few, and vote for a party with a record of delivery and a plan to bring change.

Now is the time to revive Ekurhuleni.

Now is the time to vote DA.

 

Ghaleb Cachalia

DA Mayoral Candidate for Ekurhuleni

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Rooiwal still polluting Tshwane as City wastes R1.8 billion

I today visited the community of Hammanskraal, where untreated run-off from the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) continues to pollute farmlands as well as the Apies River, placing the community at risk.

The Rooiwal plant is a prime example of how the ANC government in the City of Tshwane has mismanaged the City’s service delivery infrastructure at the expense of the health and wellbeing of its residents. This while billions have been lost to unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Leon Basson MP, visited the plant on three occasions last year to perform oversight over the facility.

On his first visit in July 2015, Basson witnessed 104.8 million litres of untreated sewage spilling into the Apies River on a daily basis.

As a result of the non-functioning of the sludge plant, sewage sludge is being pumped straight onto adjacent farmlands that drain into a large wetland. Methane gas could be seen burning on the farmlands while sludge pools in the Apies River, and boreholes adjacent to the Apies River, were polluted with E.coli.

 

Subsequent visits in October and December revealed that nothing had changed. And almost a year later, I can confirm that the situation remains dire. In spite of the condition of the plant, the City has done nothing to address the situation.

A total of R1.5 billion in capital expenditure is now required to overhaul the dysfunctional Rooiwal WWTW, but only R1.55 billion has been allocated to the whole Water and Sanitation Department over the next three years. This is a fraction of what is needed to ensure that the residents of Tshwane have access to safe, drinkable water on an ongoing basis.

While, many informal communities, rural households, and backyard dwellers are still without access to quality water from reliable water pipes, R1.8 billion was lost by the ANC government in Tshwane to unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the last financial year alone.

The ANC in Tshwane does not care about quality of life of its residents, and instead work only to enrich themselves.

DA-run municipalities are committed to maintaining and renewing infrastructure to protect our residents and ensure the uninterrupted provision of essential services. And it is committed to providing access to safe and drinkable water for those who have been waiting for too long.

As Mayor I will prioritise essential capital projects that will boost service delivery in water, sanitation and electricity supply, to enhance infrastructure service delivery across the whole City.

A DA government in Tshwane will bring the change that this City needs; change that will move it forward again.

 

Solly Msimanga

DA Mayoral Candidate: Tshwane

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Tau must break silence on Joburg joblessness

Note to editors: The following is an extract from a speech delivered by the Democratic Alliance’s Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate, Herman Mashaba, during the march to Mayor Parks Tau’s office in Johannesburg.

Today we marched to Mayor Parks Tau’s office because the pleas of Johannesburg’s jobless has fallen on deaf ears.

We’re marching in solidarity with the 869 000 unemployed residents of this city who woke up today without a job. 66 000 of whom joined the ranks of the unemployed during the first quarter of this year.

We’re marching because we want Parks Tau to break his silence on the joblessness of Joburg.

Style over substance is the hallmark of Mr Tau’s leadership. He spends millions on advertisements and billboards to promote himself but offers nothing to solve the problem of rising unemployment.

During his State of the City Address last month, Tau mentioned ‘jobs’ once and failed to even mention the word ‘unemployment’.

Unemployment is a scar on Tau’s record; His silence on the jobs crisis is deafening.

Tau must be held to account. He has failed to use the power of his office to stimulate job creation.

Businesses are saying that they don’t have confidence in our country. Just yesterday it was announced that South Africa’s business confidence index had hit a new record low.

When I am elected mayor on 3 August, I will make job creation my number one priority.

As an entrepreneur I know what it takes to run a successful business and these are the skills I will use to grow Joburg’s economy and create jobs.

With jobs, people can buy their own homes. With jobs, we have more revenue to spend on the poor. With jobs, opportunities are created. With jobs, people have their dignity restored.

As Mayor, I will focus on six measures to create thousands of new jobs in my first term of office:

  1.    Professionalising the public service

To create thousands of new jobs, Johannesburg needs to be run like a world-class city.

My starting point as mayor will be to professionalise the public service, and to hire only the best new recruits. Every public servant will understand how his or her role relates to job creation – the overarching priority of my administration.

  1.    Investing in infrastructure

To attract investment and create jobs, I will invest heavily in infrastructure.

In 2014/15 the City of Cape Town spent R3 billion upgrading major roads. By comparison, the City of Joburg only spent R60 million. That is why unemployment in Cape Town stands at 21.7% compared to Johannesburg, which stands at 31.1%.

  1.    Enabling entrepreneurs to succeed

When I started my hair care business in 1985, I did it with a R30 000 loan. And over the last 30 years I employed thousands of people. I am living proof that entrepreneurs create jobs.

As Mayor of Johannesburg, I want to give entrepreneurs the opportunity to start new businesses that help grow the city economy and create jobs.

Support will be provided by removing the red tape that prevents young entrepreneurs from getting their businesses off the ground; subsidising the leasing of commercial spaces; and establishing Innovation Centres that provide information on investment opportunities, licensing, land use, planning approval procedures, regulatory compliance, investor information, and business start-up advice.

Importantly, I will carve up large tenders and prioritise small businesses in City procurement. In doing so, I will ensure that Johannesburg’s Black Economic Empowerment programme is truly broad-based.

  1.    Cutting corruption and wasteful expenditure

Businesses won’t invest in cities where corruption is widespread or where money is mismanaged. As a result, we are missing opportunities to create jobs in Joburg.

The ANC administration in Johannesburg, under Tau’s leadership, has incurred R5.3 billion in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure since coming into office in 2011. Over R4 billion of this was incurred last year alone.

This disgraceful misuse of public money by Mayor Tau’s administration has had a devastating impact on the lives of the people of this City.

I will adopt a ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to officials found to have wasted money, spent money irregularly or taken bribes. One strike and you’re out.

I will also open up the tender processes so that there is maximum transparency.

  1.    Expanding employment opportunities 

Local government should play a more central role in helping its youth find employment, and keeping them away from crime and drugs.

I will introduce a free transport allowance for job seekers, so that they can find work and get to interviews.

I will budget more money for programmes to assist unemployed matriculants and young people find jobs.

In 2015/16, the DA run City of Cape Town spent R71 million for this purpose, while the City of Joburg spent only R21 million.

  1.    Delivering basic services for all

As Mayor, the strategic direction of my administration’s budget would be orientated towards delivering essential services and infrastructure.

The City suffered from over 300 power outages in the past month. This is an average of at least 10 outages a day.

My administration will immediately budget for the employment of additional technicians and an artisan programme within City Power to train electricians and essential staff. The current allocation of two technicians per region, per shift is simply unsustainable.

An estimated R850 million worth of water was lost due to leaks in 2015. As mayor, I will increase the budget for maintenance work and introduce an artisan programme to train technicians and essential staff to ensure rapid response times to leaks.

Protracted strikes and general inefficiency is becoming the norm at Pikitup. I will break up Pikitup into a number of smaller service providers in each region so as to ensure an end to its monopoly on refuse collection and keeping our city clean.

Decisive action is required to stop the rot in Johannesburg.

If elected, my administration would act fast to implement changes such as those highlighted above.

Changes that are focused on doing what is right by the hundreds of thousands of Johannesburg’s residents who simply look for the dignity of a good day’s work.

We cannot allow the economic decay of Johannesburg at the hands of ANC mismanagement to continue.

For far too long Tau has promised to create opportunities and jobs for the people of Johannesburg.

His delusion of a “new economic democracy” for Johannesburg means nothing to the 869 000 unemployed residents of this City.

The truth is, Mayor Tau puts his cronies first and you last.

The DA is ready to bring change to Johannesburg; change that stops corruption, delivers better services and creates jobs.

Together we can revive the economy of this great city and stimulate job creation.

Together we can turn Johannesburg into a city of golden opportunities.

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DA holds affidavits detailing EPWP job allocation corruption by ANC

We have come to Temba police station today with a group of residents from Hammanskraal who have completed affidavits detailing corruption by the ANC in the allocation of EPWP jobs in the City of Tshwane.

The affidavits detail how the residents were refused EPWP jobs because they were not card-carrying ANC members, or were asked for bribes by ANC councillors in exchange for the jobs.

The corruption of the ANC is a cancer in the City of Tshwane that is preventing residents from accessing the opportunities they deserve.

Last month I put these allegations to Mayor Ramokgopa and he challenged me to bring the evidence.

Today I have the affidavits and I now put the challenge to the outgoing Mayor who has presided over this corruption – how will he explain the wide scale corruption in the EPWP program in the City of Tshwane?

The DA believes that the EPWP programme should benefit as many people as possible, with jobs being allocated in a fair and transparent fashion. This will not happen so long as the programme is used as a tool for the ANC to maintain its support.

A DA government in Tshwane would implement an impartial EPWP jobs allocation database, as we have done in the DA-run City of Cape Town, the only metro to have done so. This system has eliminated corruption by officials and councillors who hand out jobs to friends and family.

This is the change that Tshwane needs; the change Tshwane deserves.

There are currently 517,000 people in Tshwane who do not have jobs, or who have given up looking for jobs. This number grew by 40,000 in the first 3 months of 2016 alone.

The ANC has failed the people of Tshwane, 1 in 3 who remain unemployed as a result of their inability to create jobs and grow the City’s economy.

The EPWP jobs that should serve as a platform for residents to gain experience and skills are being reserved for card-carrying ANC members, and the friends and family of ANC councillors in Tshwane.

This is the corruption that is preventing Tshwane from expanding opportunities to all its residents. This is the corruption that is preventing this City from making progress.

Jobs provide more than just an income, but a sense of purpose and dignity, and transfer skills for people to seek out permanent employment. Without jobs, the City of Tshwane cannot move forward.

On August 3 the DA can and will bring change to the City of Tshwane; change that stops corruption, delivers better services and creates jobs.

We can make this City great.

 

Solly Msimanga

DA Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane

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Mashaba: I will put the ‘Job’ back into Joburg

Note to editors: The following is an extract from a speech delivered by the Democratic Alliance’s Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate, Herman Mashaba, during the unveiling of the DA’s new jobs posters in Johannesburg.

 

Today I take a stand alongside the people of Johannesburg against the continuous job losses which have plagued this city under Mayor Park Tau’s administration.

I stand with the 869 000 unemployed residents of this city, 66 000 of whom joined the ranks of the unemployed during the first quarter of this year.

Unemployment is a scar on Tau’s record and his silence on the jobs crisis is unacceptable.

When I am elected mayor on 3 August, I pledge to make job creation my number one priority.

As an entrepreneur I know what it takes to run a successful business and these are the skills I will use to grow the city economy and create jobs.

I will put the ‘Job’ back into Joburg.

With jobs, people can buy their own homes. With jobs, we have more revenue to spend on the poor. With jobs, opportunities are created. With jobs, people have their dignity restored.

I am running for Mayor of Johannesburg because I want to create opportunities for people to get jobs and make a better life for themselves and their families.

We cannot allow the economic decay of Johannesburg at the hands of ANC mismanagement to continue.

The ANC administration in Johannesburg, under Tau’s leadership, has incurred R5.3 billion in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure since coming into office in 2011. Over R4 billion of this was incurred last year alone.

This disgraceful misuse of public money by Mayor Tau’s administration has had a devastating impact on the lives of the people of this City.

Mayor Tau’s corrupt ANC government has failed the people of Johannesburg.

For far too long he has promised to create opportunities and jobs for the people of Johannesburg.

His latest, self-serving catch phrase of a “new economic democracy” is nothing but a fallacy. I ask you here today, economic democracy for who?

Mayor Tau puts his cronies first and you last. As a result jobs are not being created and service delivery remains a distant dream for too many residents of this city.

It is time to say enough is enough.

The DA is ready to bring change to Johannesburg; the change we need to move forward again.

By assisting entrepreneurs to start businesses, helping job seekers to find work, cutting corruption and wasteful expenditure, and improving service delivery, I will create thousands of jobs to restore the hope of those who have been left behind.

Together we can turn Johannesburg around.

Together we can revive the economy of this great city and stimulate job creation.

Together we can turn Johannesburg into a city of golden opportunity.

On 3 August, vote for the change you want to see.

 

Herman Mashaba

DA Mayoral Candidate for Johannesburg

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