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Gung-ho Orlando Cops Shooting Unacceptable

The Orlando SAPS members who ” mistakenly” shot Mduduzi Nkosi 3 times on Monday evening must be disciplined.

Two officers, dressed in plain clothes in an unmarked vehicle approached Mduduzi’s vehicle; who upon thinking he was being hijacked drove off. Following the arrival of a JMPD vehicle, Nkosi then climbed out of his car and told them his driver’s license was in his car, was then shot him 3 times by the police who were dressed plain clothes who failed to establish his identity or identifying themselves.

Shooting an unarmed, unidentified man, without identifying oneself as a police officer is unacceptable.  The SAPS alleged that a murder suspect with them had identified Nkosi’s car as a place where weapons were hidden.  One would assume this information should be verified in some way before shooting someone.  There should be procedures in place when handling a matter such as this.

This gung-ho attitude on the part of police cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.  IPID must be called in to investigate the matter and this should have been explained to Nkosi’s family by the Orlando Station Commander on trying to lay charges against the officers involved.

It is highly suspicious that cartridge casings were allegedly removed from the street and no crime scene analysis was conducted.  Are the SAPS protecting their own in this matter?

Sloppy police work and an abuse of power are evident in the way this matter was handled.  These officers must be held to the highest account for not following procedure.  It is only through luck that Mduduzi Nkosi survived.

 

Media enquiries:

Kate Lorimer MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety

083 642 2727

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Ekurhuleni’s R90 million music festival alienates residents

The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) would do well to take heed of the disastrous Dinokeng Tribe One music festival that failed to take place in Tshwane last year, before it commits to spending R90 million on the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD).

The Tribe One festival, which was cancelled at the last minute, at a cost of Tshwane R70 million, was footed by residents of Tshwane.

This money would have been better used to uplift the lives of those in poor communities.

Similarly, the proposed R90 million spend on hosting WOMAD in Ekurhuleni would be more beneficial if it were to be directed at increasing service delivery.

Last year, Gauteng experienced catastrophic water shortages – with Ekurhuleni being one of the hardest hit areas.

R90 million would be better spent on repairing dilapidated infrastructure to ensure that residents of Ekurhuleni are not treated as second class citizens.

Wisely spent, this money would have a knock on effect – creating jobs in a Metro that has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

It will be the act of an irresponsible administration that chooses to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a music festival while those in desperate need of services and jobs remain neglected.

 

Media Enquiries:

Fred Nel MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC of Co-operative Governance

083 263 2427

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Phansi nge E-tolls.

Friends and Fellow Democrats,

We are here today to voice our objection to the tolling of the existing Gauteng highways via the exorbitantly expensive e-toll method.

We agree that the highways have been improved so why are we not happy to pay these tolls?

Firstly, there remains uncertainty about exactly how much money will be generated by these tolls. It is also uncertain as to how much of that money will go overseas and who exactly will benefit from the profits. Is it only the Austrian company Kapsch or are ANC big-wigs also in line to augment their bank accounts?

Secondly, we are opposed to any government plan which requires the motorists of Gauteng to pay billions of Rands in collection costs when the alternative fuel levy route will cost nothing. We support the raising of funds via a national fuel levy which is ring-fenced solely for transport needs. Those in other provinces who state that they should not pay for Gauteng road upgrades must understand that Gauteng is the guinea pig regarding e-tolls and that should it succeed here e-tolls will soon ring all cities. At present their highways are paid for by the fiscus and we find it unfair that only Gauteng roads are not funded by national government.

Thirdly, we note with regret that the victims of apartheid spatial planning will pay relatively more in fuel levies because they cover greater distances. However this is also true for the proposed e-toll collection method as those in outlying areas will pass under more gantries. In fact, until the inequalities of apartheid are eradicated, those in former townships will pay more whichever method is used unless the e-tolls are paid for by national government or scrapped.

Fourthly, the alternative method proposed by the e-toll advisory panel, which was vehemently rejected by those who attended the consultative forum at Gallagher’s recently is based on:

  • A retained but reduced e-toll component which has been rejected by the majority of Gauteng motorists.
  • An increase in motor vehicle license fees. This suggestion must be rejected because licenses have been used to generate money for the fiscus which does not fund roads. Recent increase in licence fees have outstripped inflation by large percentages and although the DA is not married to a user pays principle the ANC is, and this stealth tax catches everyone with a vehicle in Gauteng. Strangely out of province and foreign vehicles escape this tax. Yesterday a provincial gazette was distributed which seeks to increase licence fees yet again.
  • Increased tyre tax. This is another stealth tax which can be increased at will and which defies the user pays principle.
  • Another suggestion that the South African Revenue Service and the electronic National Traffic Information service data bases should be combined must be rejected because eNatis is fatally corrupt and will contaminate the SARS system. It also infringes tax confidentiality which is unconstitutional.

The advisory panel states that it costs R6.25 billion per annum to run the e-tolls which cost R20 billion all-in to build. How is this possible? If we use the example of a 20 year house bond of R 1 million we would not be required to pay back R 312500 annually. Yet the government and its agent SANRAL, with superior bargaining and purchasing power is happy to force its citizens to pay this ridiculous amount annually. Are state lawyers useless or are connected cadres getting even richer?

Friends, SANRAL now admits that it paid more that it should have for the Gauteng Freeway upgrades. We told them this years ago but they denied it. SANRAL is making noises about reclaiming money for overpayment but why did it not question this when the cost was quoted.

SANRAL was chastised by the panel for not adequately informing the public. They are still not informing us.

We reject e-tolls because they are more costly than they need to be.

We reject e-tolls because we were inadequately consulted and then ignored before the system was introduced.

We reject e-tolls because they harm the Gauteng economy. 

We reject e-tolls because government does not practice cost containment but profligacy and thinks that citizens can just continue paying unfair taxes.

Phansi nge E-tolls.

Viva democracy.

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Gauteng’s ineffective bus subsidy killing off public transport

Inefficiently utilised bus subsidies granted directly to Gauteng by the National Department of Transport (NDOT) have started to have a detrimental effect on bus operating companies – and ultimately bus commuters in the province.de-Goede-Justus

 

The situation, created by the Department’s system of using short-term funding, for monthly contracts and annual contracts, has made long-term planning by bus operators virtually impossible.

 

For years the DA has emphasised the point that has now created a huge problem for many of the 80 000 commuters who use buses every day.

 

Companies like PUTCO have been incurring losses and rising operating costs have now simply made operations on many routes unsustainable.

 

The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport (GDRT)or even the municipalities should administer the subsidy grant ,  which, as international best practice has indicated , is a better targeted and much more efficient way of applying the subsidy.

 

PUTCO will be followed by other operators who cannot continue to operate at a loss.

 

NDOT and GDRT must now pay attention to representations by bus operators before a total breakdown of bus services occurs.

 

At a recent meeting of the Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Roads and Transport, bus operators, including PUTCO, voiced their frustration about the subsidy system and called on MEC  Ismail Vadi, to add his voice to the reasonable suggestions from these important players in the transport industry.

 

Gauteng is the first province to feel the backlash from an outdated and bureaucratic system and should be at the forefront of suggesting solutions to NDOT Minister Dipuo Peters.

 

While Minister Peters spends all her time and energy attempting to force e-tolls on residents of Gauteng, pressing public transport issues fall through the cracks to the detriment of the province’s residents.

 

Media enquiries:
Justus de Goede MPL
DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Transport
060 558 8305

 

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John Moodey to Stage Picket Calling for Provincial Referendum on e-tolls

Tomorrow, Wednesday, 4 March, DA Gauteng Provincial Leader John Moodey MPL, accompanied by Neil Campbell MPL, Solly Msimanga MPL and Khume Ramulifho MPL will stage a picket outside the Office of Gauteng Premier David Makhura in response to the premier’s failure to call for a provincial referendum on e-tolls during his State of the Province Address.

Moodey-John 200

Date: 04 March 2015

Time: 10:00

Address: Office of the Premier, 30 Simmonds Street, Johannesburg.

 

There will be ample opportunities for interviews and photographs. Members of the media are welcome to attend.

 

Media enquiries:

Tanya Heydenrych

Provincial Media Officer

0737016729

 

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Gauteng Budget Does Not Finance Premier’s Promises

Gauteng Finance MEC Barbara Creecy’s budget speech today was an attempt to steer the provincial budget ship in a new direction to reprioritise expenditure to new programmes as government tries to placate unhappy ANC voters.

 

However, many years of poor ANC policy and direction means that there is no more fiscal space to meet Premier David Makhura’s new promises.

 

MEC Creecy has made no attempt to announce efficiencies on salaries, and the DA believes that the wage bill may erode the ability of the government to fulfil its programmes should there be a public sector wage strike.

 

Furthermore, the MEC has tried to create value for money by mentioning certain reductions, no announcement was made on the use of consultants. This in effect means that government pays people to do the job that those it is already paying are supposed to do – putting more pressure on the fiscus.

 

While the DA welcomes certain reductions in administration fees and expenditure on venues and facilities, we note with increasing concern that travel and subsistence allowances have been reduced by only 1,5%, despite Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s call for a 7% reduction.

 

Of further concern is government’s advertising budget only being reduced by a paltry 0,5%. Will Gauteng residents see yet another flurry of billboards in the ANC’s black green and yellow proclaiming government successes as we head for the 2016 local government elections? Only time will tell.

 

So too is the announcement of an additional R45 million allocated to the Legislature’s public participation budget. What more convenient manner to bring senior provincial ANC politicians to the people without dipping into the ANC’s election budget.

 

The more one digs into the budget, the more evident it becomes that the ANC is in full campaign mode.

 

Development corridors should focus on economic development, industrialisation and the creation of jobs, not only on the delivery of houses. Housing development must be accompanied by economic opportunity, which this budget does not do.

 

Development corridors were announced as a way to bring economic transformation, today all we heard was houses without jobs. This while the total infrastructure spend is R13 billion including conditional grants‎, but a lot is refurbishment and social expenditure rather than economic infrastructure.

 

Scant attention is paid to township development, with very little plans or details on bringing business to townships. MEC Creecy only made available R140 million for this purpose, down 20 million from the R160 million promised in October last year, and nowhere near the R300 million promised by Premier Makhura last Monday.

 

While the 2015/16 Gauteng budget may have the hallmarks of an execution plan for the agenda of achieving transformation, modernisation and reindustrialisation, it in fact remains business as usual while the ANC tries to placate disgruntled voters.

 

Media enquiries:

Adriana Randall MPL

060 556 4342

DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Finance

 

Ashor Sarupen MPL

060 558 8303

DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Finance

 

 

 

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Gauteng Department of Community Safety dithers on drug master plan

The Gauteng Department of Community Safety has spent nearly an entire year promising the completion of a drug master plan to effectively deal with the scourge of drugs across the province.

In an about turn, the department now claims that the drug master plan falls out of its purview, and is the responsibility of the Gauteng Department of Social Development.

This was revealed in a written response to a question I posed to Gauteng Community Safety MEC, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane.

However, at the recent Provincial Youth Summit, MEC Nkosi-Malobane stated that her department will be reinstating specialised drug units to deal with drug abuse.

The MEC’s department is responsible for the Drug Law Enforcement Framework, which will only be due in September 2015.

If Community Safety is charged with completing the framework by which the law is to be enforced – surely it would follow that they too would be responsible for the production of the provincial drug master plan?

The mixed messages emanating from the MEC leave little confidence in this ANC-led provincial administration to treat substance abuse with the gravitas it deserves.

The DA will continue to drive this issue, failure to do so will only allow this scourge to perpetuate while the ANC sticks its head in the sand.

 

Media enquiries:

Michele Clarke MPL

DA Gauteng spokesperson on Community Safety

060 558 8309

 

 

 

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Gauteng Health Pays R276m for Medical Negligence

The Gauteng Health Department paid R276 million over two years for 110 legal claims, the vast majority for medical negligence at hospitals.

This is revealed in documents I obtained from the department after making an application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

The highest pay-out was R16.5 million in the case of Kutloano Ntsebeng Makgomarela, who was brain-damaged when she was born at the Tembisa Hospital.

The Sheriff of the court visited the department seven times in 2013/14 because of overdue payments, and R4.4 million was wasted in paying interest on overdue accounts

R155 million was paid for 59 legal claims for the 2013/14 financial year and R121 million in the previous year for 51 court cases,

The upward trend in negligence cases is worrying, as is the department’s poor handling of these cases as it has lost every single case in the past four years.

I hope that the court cases spur action by the department to root out bad medical practices that injure patients.

 

Media enquiries:

Jack Bloom MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health

082 333 4222

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Criminal Gauteng SAPS members continue to serve

There are 271 South African Police Service members in Gauteng who continue to perform active duty despite having been convicted of committing criminal offences.

Of these, 248 have been convicted of committing serious crimes.

This was revealed by the MEC for Community Safety, Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane, in a written response to a question I posed to her regarding this matter.

Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, in his State of the Province Address indicated that he would take a tough stance on crime and rebuilding confidence in the SAPS.

It is hard to imagine how this will be achieved when there are convicted criminals within the ranks of the SAPS.

Closer scrutiny and background checks should be done to ensure that the good guys in blue are not tarnished by nefarious characters.

The DA will demand that MEC Nkosi-Malobane takes steps to have these individuals relieved of their duties.

Media enquiries:
Michele Clarke MPL
DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Community Safety
060 558 8309

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700 000 Human settlement backlog contradicts Premiers megacity promise

During the 2015 SOPA debate,  Human Settlements MEC,  Jacob Mamabolo failed to explain why the 700 000 housing backlog has not yet been dealt with.

 

As it stands the current the Human Settlements Department’s capacity is 30 000 houses a year.

 

At this rate the department will take 23 years to deal with the current backlog.

 

The MEC’s inability to respond to the when the backlog will be dealt with is startling –  given Premier David Makhura’s promise of building five new megacities.

 

Such cities are usually characterised by growing infrastructure which equates to increased communities. Failure to address the human settlements backlog will see a domino effect of failed development of the Gauteng City Region.

 

The repeated failures by the Human settlements department to achieve its own grand goals will not go unnoticed. Gone are the days where the electorate will be hoodwinked by the ANC’s empty promises and it will face the voters’ wrath at the 2016 polls.

 

Media Enquiries:

Mervyn Cirota MPL

DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Human Settlements

060 558 8312