Not on my watch as Premier of Gauteng will our people be killed by government

We stand here again to call for justice and accountability. Those who killed our people should be in jail, not the Offices of the Premier or MECs. We cannot, in good conscience, allow the ANC to get away with killing our people.

As the Premier of Gauteng, I will commit to putting the people first, every day and every hour of my term in office.

I stand here to declare to the people of Gauteng that as Premier of Gauteng the first item on the agenda will be to ensure that the 144 families who lost loved ones to the Life Esidimeni massacre are fully compensated. It is the least that can be done for families who have suffered a loss at the hand of an uncaring government

Why must our people suffer further at the hands of this uncaring ANC government? This sordid chapter should have long been closed, instead our people are sent from pillar to post to get what is owed to them by a government that has caused them so much pain and suffering. This will not happen on my watch as Premier of Gauteng.

The DA is committed to ensuring that justice prevails. No stone must go unturned until those with blood on their hands are in orange overalls. We cannot allow the ANC to get away with killing our people! Not on my watch.

I am committed to building a just and fair society, where the most vulnerable amongst us a cared for by the government. This is my pledge to you, the people of Gauteng.        

Twenty-five years ago, South Africans stood together to reject a murderous and callous apartheid regime that put self-interest ahead of building One South Africa for All.

We stood together, with the promise of building One South Africa for All where the people come first; where the most vulnerable among us are taken care of. We chose life over death and murder.

The snaking voting queues, where young and old; rich and poor; black and white, stood side-by-side represented hope for a better tomorrow that ensured that the lives of our people are treated with dignity.

Never did we expect that a so-called government of the people would mobilise a militarised police force to gun down breadwinners, whose only cry was for a wage that enabled food to be put on the table and children to go to school.

Never did we believe that our children would be left to drown in pit latrines because an uncaring government chose to ignore the plight of rural communities. As a father, I do not believe I would recover if such an avoidable tragedy were to hit me and my wife.

Never did the people of Gauteng and South Africa vote for a government that would kill 144 mental health patients whose lives were placed in the care of the state.

As we stand here today, 21 families still do not know where their loved ones are. As we stand here today, the failing ANC government of David Makhura has not fully compensated the families whose lives were lost at the hands of a failing government.

The uncaring ANC deliberately sent 144 people to die. They cannot claim to have not known, because the DA and Jack Bloom warned them on 30 November 2015.

Honourable Bloom said the following in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature: “The department has made a colossal mistake in cancelling the contract with Life Healthcare Esidimeni for about 2000 psychiatric patients.”

It is clear that the Life Esidimeni factor could have been avoided if the uncaring ANC government had listened.

Honourable Bloom went on further to say: “It’s a looming disaster. Does the Honourable MEC really want hundreds of people on the streets or with families who cannot care for them?” The uncaring ANC and Makhura did not listen.

My Colleague, Honourable Bloom, then made a final plea: “Please, please reconsider.” This fell on deaf ears. Makhura and the ANC did not listen. The ANC sent 144 people to an early grave.

We cannot allow those with blood on their hands to claim the moral high ground. Not on my watch will a government kill its people. Not on my watch will the people of Gauteng suffer. I am committed to serving the people.

With the right leadership, Gauteng can truly be a place of hope and promise. Gauteng can become a place where indeed “motho ke motho ka batho babang”. The people of Gauteng deserve real change that puts them first.

My government, in service of the people will ensure that our people are able to access job opportunities so that they do not depend on the state. As Premier, I will work to build an honest and professional service that keeps our people safe and restores order, so criminals do not terrorise our communities or occupy high office. I am committed to speeding up the delivery of quality of services, so that our clinics and hospitals are places of healing; so that every tap has water and every home has electricity.

Not on my watch will the government kill its people. Only when we vote for real change can we ensure that a massacre like Life Esidimeni never again befalls the people of Gauteng.

This weekend the people of Gauteng and South Africa have the opportunity to start the process of ushering real change by registering to vote in the 2019 General Elections. The power build One South Africa for All is in the hands of every registered voter.

The people of Gauteng have two choices in this critical election: vote for an ANC government that kills its people; or vote for a DA government that puts the people and their needs first.

DA Debates Women’s Month: Honouring Women Is A Celebration Of The Future Of SA

Speech by: Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL

“Honouring women is a celebration of the future of SA”

  • Today, I honour women who on a pension grant will raise a community – these are the real heroes.
  • In many occasions in this house, I have highlighted the challenge of the girl child – poverty.
  • Being a professional blessee is even beginning to be an aspirational career for young women – rake in a rich blesser and the woman is set: the chance to wear designer clothes and be set up in a Sandton apartment.
  • I am saddened, when in Marikana, a brother who had lost his job on the mines asked his sister to prostitute herself because this was the only way they knew how to raise money so that they could eat and return home to the Eastern Cape.
  • Women have choices because the constitution dictates so, however in practice these rights are violated on a daily basis. Women endure violence and are violated

The full speech can be obtained here.

 

Media Enquiries:

Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Social Development

060 558 8297

[Image source]

HONOURING WOMEN IS A CELEBRATION OF THE FUTURE OF SA

Thank you madam speaker,

In this month we should celebrate yet at the same time use this time to remind ourselves how far we have come as women in this country and how far we still have to go.

I wish to honour my mother for raising me to be the woman that I am today. Then I wish to honour women who today who are making great strides to ensure that they are heard in whatever challenges they deal with.

Let me start by dedicating my speech today to the young ladies of my alma mater Pretoria High School for Girls – who stood their ground in wanting to wear their hair natural – setting the future tone for multi-racial schools.

Madam speaker, it is today that I honour women who on a pension grant will raise a community – these are the real heroes.

Those who have so little are usually the ones most willing to give. I honour the woman who earns a pension grant but runs a feeding scheme for the children in her neighbourhood.

I wish to highlight the plight of young girls: let us not forget that in parts of Gauteng our girls miss school because of their menstrual cycle. These young women deserve nothing less: that time of the month shouldn’t mean missing school. Statistics have shown that girls miss on average as many as 50 days a year due to the cycle visit.

In many occasions in this house, I have highlighted the secondary challenge of the girl child – poverty. A girl coming from a poor home lured by a richer older man to have sex in exchange for material goods.

Sadly the price of this relationship is one which often than not, the teenage girl will contract HIV or some sexually transmitted disease or in some instances, a baby which then steers her away from her studying or finishing school.

Most of the time, once the baby is born, the girl is responsible for looking after her child and doesn’t return to school. This is the price that our girls pay for expensive clothes and smart-phones. Joining the ranks of being “drop-outs”.

Then the sugar daddy wants nothing to do with them because most of these older men are husbands and chose to protect their marriages.

If the father is a boy of the same age, it is the girl that is left with the baby – having to leave school in order to give birth while the boy continues to study and don’t suffer the same consequences for their actions.

They don’t have to loose on valuable study or school time. Many of these pregnant girls rarely go back to school to complete their studies – robbed of their futures and dreams.

Where is the boy (father) one wanders? Sometimes off with the next girl. If the girl is lucky, the boy might play a supportive role.

When girls makes it through high school and get into tertiary education, they face another wave of challenges. South African institutions of higher learning have become hunting grounds for rapists.

I remind you again of the role poverty plays on women, especially mothers who will do just about anything to put food on the table for their families. This situation has made poor women easy prey to blessers.

What about the so called male stokvels that are organised and women become the prize at the end of the evening: the host determines what the price is for the women to be paid in the morning when they depart from the blessers, around R200.

Being a professional blessee is even beginning to be an aspirational career for young women – rake in a rich blesser and the woman is set: the chance to wear designer clothes and be set up in a Sandton apartment. But – not set for life because the blesser is a married man.

I am saddened, when in Marikana, a brother who had lost his job on the mines asked his sister to prostitute herself because this was the only way they knew how to raise money so that they could eat and return home to the Eastern Cape.

Madam speaker South Africa’s women still suffer many challenges but the worst is from a very patriarchal society: where the majority of women still earn far less than their male counterparts, and yet in this same society it is the mothers that look after families and raise the children.

A woman in the work place is asked whether she intends having children or more children. If the response is yes, implicit discrimination is practised because she will commit the unsaid crime of being pregnant and going on maternity leave and so she is overlooked for that promotion or position.

In old age, you have the grandmothers of our society whose pensions are taken by the very grand-children whom they raised.

These wise women if not found are left to live in horrendous conditions where they are poorly fed while their grants are used to buy the much loved drug – nyaope.

Equally concerning is gender based violence. In rural communities, we have seen older women being raped by their grandsons.

Women have choices because the constitution dictates so, however in practice these rights are violated on a daily basis. Women endure violence and are violated.

Let me remind us all – women are the bearers of all nations.

Then, madam speaker, I challenge all the men of this house to stand in solidarity with women in two ways:

  1. One – just because you are not a woman doesn’t not mean that you can’t fight for women’s issues.
  2. Two – Adopt an attitude that says “As a man, not in my name will a woman suffer”

Madam speaker as I close, I wish to highlight the challenges I face and those who see themselves in me irrespective of their gender or age or race. Yes, madam speaker, I am a young, black, woman.

I encounter the “triple-challenge” in life: I am black, I am a woman and I am young. Because of this, society imposes a “triple-prove-yourself” mentality.

Having said that, I see it fitting to address fellow women – it’s not pretty when a woman puts down another woman. Women should learn to build each other and not pull each other down.

The latest criticism is that “I wear a doek like I will be serving tea”.

My response is simple. I am Sotho and I choose to wear a Seshoeshoe outfit with a doek and “if serving democracy is my tea, then I am very happy to serve”.

I thank you.