DA initiates a process to build national consensus against the Expropriation without Compensation Bill

Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Dr Ivan Meyer, DA Federal Chairperson and Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, as well as a soundbite by Noko Masipa MP.

  • Also find attached pictures here and here.

Today, the Democratic Alliance (DA), initiated a process to build consensus and achieve convergence with civil society organisations concerned about the ongoing push by the ANC/EFF coalition to amend Section 25 of the Constitution to allow for expropriation of property without compensation.

In a joint press conference held in Cape Town and chaired by the DA’s Dr Ivan Meyer, represented organisations comprising the Free Market Foundation (FMF) and Sakeliga laid bare the disastrous implications that the Bill will have on the rule of law, right to own property and the economy should it be passed into law.

The full briefing document can be accessed here

The emergent theme from the presentations that were given was that the Bill poses an existential threat to South Africa’s constitutional democracy and should never have been brought to Parliament in the first place.

In the past few weeks, the country has watched in dismay as the ANC/EFF coalition has made it clear that not only do they want to deny South Africans the right to own property, their ultimate goal is to nationalise all land in the country and exclude the courts from adjudicating on land expropriation cases.

It is an unprecedented assault on our Bill of Rights which guarantees every citizen’s right to property ownership and administrative justice.

The DA warned that the ANC/EFF bid to place land under the custodianship of the State will effectively “nationalise” the land under the control of the State – a disastrous move that will lead to economic devastation and escalating poverty, as it has already done in countries as diverse as Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

Sakeliga pointed out that the government’s intentions, expressed through the Bill, are the ‘confiscation’ or seizing of property without being required to provide compensation. Sakeliga went on to add that ‘confiscation’ was incompatible with constitutionalism. Their view was that ‘the protection of private property rights is a necessary precondition for a citizenry that is not dependent upon government favour. It is also necessary to provide the material basis upon which an independent civil society exists.’  

The FMF also cautioned against the amendment stating that it will not achieve rule-of-law based restitution and land reform. FMF explained that such an amendment will discourage security of tenure, cast doubt on property rights and dissuade both local and foreign investment.

Dr Meyer then made the point that the success of land reform projects in the DA-run Western Cape has shown that no constitutional amendment is necessary for substantive land reform. Providing ongoing support to farmers, eliminating corruption and leveraging support from the private sector were key drivers in achieving successful land reform. In comparison, the national land administration system is in shambles to a point where the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is constantly engaged in endless litigation with frustrated communities who feel hard done by the Department’s incompetence.

If the ANC pushes through with this amendment, the DA warned, the party will not hesitate to take the fight to court, including presenting our case to the international community. Land reform failure in South Africa has not been triggered by a Constitutional failure, but it most certainly has been a glaring governance failure.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Is the national grid about to collapse? 

Please find attached soundbite by Ghaleb Cachalia MP.

The DA calls on Eskom CEO, Andre De Ruyter, to take the nation into his confidence over the true state of South Africa’s electricity grid.

In light of Eskom’s announcement of stage 4 loadshedding yesterday and stage 3 loadshedding today, it would appear that the grid is on the verge of imminent collapse.

Apart from daily updates on various power stations and announcing rolling blackouts without any warning, Eskom has largely been economical with the truth on the current state of the national grid.

If we are already on stages 3 and 4 in June, could South Africans be in perpetual darkness by August?

Both De Ruyter and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan appear to be hiding behind a veil of secrecy as Eskom plunges our economy and healthcare system further into the abyss.

Should De Ruyter and Gordhan fail to play open cards, the DA will request that the pair along with Minister Gwede Mantashe, who holds the keys to the doors that are blocking Independent Power Producers from coming on board with the required MWs to meet the crisis, be summoned to Parliament to account before the Portfolio Committee of Public Enterprises.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Stage 4 Rolling Blackouts: South Africans must register to vote to keep the lights on

Please find attached soundbite by Ghaleb Cachalia MP.

On 2 September 2015, then Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa told the National Council of Provinces that “[in] another 18 months to two years, you will forget the challenges that we had with relation to power and energy and Eskom ever happened.”

This was a blatant lie.

Today, almost six years down the line, it is clearer than ever that the ANC couldn’t overcome the crisis then and it certainly can’t overcome it now.

The announcement of stage 4 rolling blackouts by Eskom once again shows how desperately South Africa needs change. And the only way to achieve this is to vote the ANC out.

Only the DA can keep the lights on, and we call on all South Africans to vote for the DA in the local government elections on 27 October.

To do this, South Africans who will be 18 or older by 27 October, must ensure that their names are on the voters’ roll. And they can do this on the registration weekend of the 17th and 18th of July, when all polling stations will be open for voter registration.

The DA was the first out of the blocks this week when it launched its voter registration campaign in the run-up to the local government elections in Nelson Mandela Bay yesterday. And today we have started flighting our registration posters in all nine provinces of the country.

While the ANC dithers on how to fix Eskom and whether the elections should even go ahead, the DA is marching full steam ahead to the ballot box, ready to provide the country with a credible offer on how to fix Eskom and turns things around.

It will only be through the ballot box and by voting in a capable party such as the DA that South Africa’s rolling blackout woes will come to an end.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

SAPS must speed up investigation into DA’s VBS charges against Malema and Shivambu following Brian’s secret deal 

The DA calls on South African Police Services (SAPS) to provide updates on the charges that we laid against Julius Malema, Floyd Shivambu and his brother Brian, in November 2018, concerning allegations that they corruptly received money from VBS Mutual Bank.  

This follows a report by Daily Maverick which reveals that Brian Shivambu signed a secret contract admitting to having received R4.55 million in VBS loot and that he had promised to pay back the money.  

The cloak of secrecy surrounding the admission is revealing and effectively nullifies claims by the EFF that it was not involved in the looting of pensioners’ money. Now that Malema and Shivambu’s cover appears to have been blown – the DA expects SAPS, to expedite its investigation so that the EFF leadership is brought to book for their alleged looting of VBS at the expense of the poor and elderly. 

It has been more than two years since the DA laid charges against EFF and to this day, we have not received any communication from the SAPS. SAPS must stop dragging its feet, and stop protecting Melema and his acolytes.  

The DA will not stop when it comes to rooting out corruption, we will continue to pressurize the police until they put corrupt politicians and officials behind bars. 

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Lotteries Commissioner doesn’t want to tell Parliament who scored a Covid-19 tender

In response to parliamentary questions posed by the DA, the Commissioner at the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), Thabang Mampane, has chosen to hide behind Regulation 8 of the Lotteries Act in order to avoid telling Parliament who scored a Covid-19 tender (See attached).

The tender issued by the NLC was for a service provider to conduct research on the social, economic and operational impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on funded organisations.

According to the NLC, the tender’s value was set at R460 287.50, not an insubstantial amount of taxpayer money to spend on an exercise in vanity (See attached).

In essence, the services required were to inform the NLC as to how they go about spending the R150 Million they had allocated to their Covid-19 Relief meant for distressed organisations.

The NLC last appeared before the portfolio committee on trade, industry and competition in September 2020 and informed us that only R32 million of the R150 million had been disbursed to beneficiaries.

It is clear that whoever the service provider was, they did not assist the NLC in allocating much-needed funding to organisations who were already in severe distress.

It is clear that the NLC and by extension its commissioner, have not learnt from their attempts to conceal grant beneficiaries in 2020, when Parliament’s legal advisor found their use of regulation 8 to defend their actions was in fact unconstitutional.

Therefore, the DA will be submitting a PAIA application to the NLC to obtain this information as we firmly believe that is in the public interest.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Midvaal’s clear blue water

Nothing could better underscore the importance of voting – and voting DA – in the upcoming local government elections than yesterday’s news that dairy group Clover has decided to close South Africa’s biggest cheese factory, in the North West town of Lichtenburg.

This decision comes on the back of large financial losses due to poor or non-existent service delivery by Ditsobotla Local Municipality. The frequent water and electricity supply disruptions and crumbling municipal infrastructure including the practically impassable road leading to the factory means it is no longer feasible for Clover to operate there.

Clover is consolidating its production activities in its Durban factory, a move which will cost Clover R1.5 billion. This is a massive vote of no confidence in Ditsobotla municipality and a massive blow to the community. Some 330 breadwinners will lose their jobs. Other smaller businesses in the municipality will suffer a drop in demand for goods and services.

On the other side of the spectrum lies Midvaal Municipality, the only local government in Gauteng that the DA runs with a full mandate.  A decade of solid delivery under the capable leadership of DA mayor Bongani Baloyi has attracted investment to the area and boosted local economic activity, giving rise to its reputation as the fastest-growing municipality in Gauteng.

Unsurprisingly, Sedibeng Breweries, South African distributors for Heineken chose to establish its national office there, bringing with it new opportunities for job creation and small business. Other major organisations operating there are Ferrero Roche, New Hope, BSI Steel, South 32, Paramount Trailers and the Oprah Winfrey School. You will not find any of them closing or moving because of poor municipal service delivery.

Midvaal is rated one of the top five best-run municipalities out of 278 municipalities in the country, by independent ratings agency Ratings Africa. It is also the best-performing municipality in Gauteng, and the only one that can boast seven consecutive years of clean audits, meaning public money is reliably spent on the public.

This tale of two municipalities shows the clear blue water between DA- and ANC-run governments. It also makes clear the relationship between local government performance and the area’s ability to attract and retain investment.

More investment means more jobs, more economic activity, and more revenue that can be spent on things that improve people’s lives, such as electrifying informal settlements and building community sports facilities. DA-run Midvaal Municipality does these things and much more.

Local government is the coalface of service delivery and is therefore especially important to vulnerable communities. It is also the essential foundation on which our country’s economy is built. Businesses like Clover vote with their feet. No business will risk investing in a municipality that can’t guarantee delivery of the most basic services required to run a business profitably – water, electricity, roads, sanitation, refuse collection.

It should therefore come as no surprise that the broad unemployment level in DA-run Western Cape province, where most DA-run municipalities are located, is 17.5 percentage points lower than the average for the other eight provinces. This is according to Statistics SA’s recently released figures for the first quarter of 2021, which show unemployment at 27.9% in the Western Cape and at 45.4% in the rest of South Africa.

The DA is the only party with a proven track record of delivery. If we want to revive the dying economies of our towns and cities, we have to install DA governments in municipalities and metros across the country. The upcoming local government elections on 27 October 2021 is a crucial opportunity for voters to do this.

Yesterday, the DA was first out of the blocks with its voter registration campaign, fixing DA registration posters to street poles in Nelson Mandela Bay. DA registration posters will be going up across the country from this week, calling on all South Africans who will be 18 years or older by 27 October to use the registration weekend of 17 and 18 July to make sure they registered to vote DA.

If we want South Africa to work, we need to fix it. There is no more powerful action step you can take to fix your town or city than to vote DA on 27 October 2021, because the DA gets things done.

Socio-Economic Impact Assessment on Expropriation Bill wholly flawed 

Please find attached soundbite by Samantha Graham-Maré MP.

South African property owners are staring down the barrel of a gun as the public hearings on the Expropriation Bill 23 of 2020 moves to the 7th province.

It is evident that the average person has absolutely no idea of what the purpose of the Bill is or what the impact will be on the citizens of this country. The hearings create the false impression that this Bill will result in wholesale expropriation of land without compensation. It creates false hope in the minds and hearts of the landless majority that parcels of land will be dished out for free once this bill is enacted. The blind support of the Bill from ANC followers and rural communities is much less about their belief in the Bill but indicates that the ANC government failed in its land reform and restitution efforts. During each of these public hearings, very little has been done to remove the false impression that this Bill is not going to bring about the much-needed successful reform of land and restitution that the people are begging for. Our people do not realise that they are being used as voting fodder in an election year to pass a Bill that is a direct threat to individual and private property rights. And that this Bill is not about the allocation of land to victims of forced removals, but about giving the State unfettered power to take control of land, as well as other property. The tragedy is that our people are being misled by the constitutional dictum of expropriating land and property “in the public interest and for public purpose”; this is nothing but justifying the unjustifiable.

The lack of proper engagement on the Expropriation Bill is also an indication of the failure of government to ensure proper public participation. Poor attendance at the hearings in the Eastern Cape this past week, was evidence of a lack of adequate advertising of the event. Many people, including traditional leaders, complained of only having sight of the Bill as they registered at the public hearing venue.

How can we expect people to engage on a complex piece of legislation when the people have no time to prepare?

Of further concern is the fact that the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure had to be compelled to release of the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) that was done on the Expropriation Bill. During the briefing by the Minister and the Department in November 2020, the DA specifically requested access to this document. The Minister gave her assurance that the document would be provided to the Committee. By the time the first public hearings started, it was still not available. Public stakeholders had to use legal means to get access to the SEIA. This, while it should be standard practice that the SEIA should not be hidden from view but be provided together with the proposed Bill to all interested parties at the time of being tabled in Parliament. And it should not take a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) process to acquire the document.

It is evident however, why the SEIA was withheld. The document is chronically flawed as the basis for the decision-making on a Bill that has the far-reaching consequences of expropriation without compensation. Furthermore, the SEIA was finalized in 2019, prior to the NEDLAC engagements which would have further emphasized the immense impact this Bill will have on the socio-economic environment in this country. The SEIA is a whitewash of the true concerns raised during the process of public participation undertaken in 2019 and gives very little indication, particularly of the impact on the economy that a legislated nil compensation and speculation in property mandate will engender.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that this government views its constitutional mandate to ensure public participation as nothing more than a box-ticking exercise. And it shows disrespect to the people who suffer at their hand of non-delivery on a daily basis.

The DA will be lodging an objection with the Minister with regard to the procedural irregularities, as well as the lackadaisical approach of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure towards public participation on the Expropriation Bill. Our people deserve better.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

DA to report Minister Mkhize to Parliament’s Ethics Committee over R150m Digital Vibes scandal 

Please find an attached soundbite by Siviwe Gwarube MP

The DA will lay a complaint with Parliament’s Ethics Committee against the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, for his role in the awarding of a multi-million rand contract to Digital Vibes.

Reports have indicated that Minister Mkhize personally signed off on the submission that contained the contract to this company ran and owned by close associates of his.

The DA is of the view that Minister Mkhize’s conduct  may be in contravention Section 5.2.2 of the Code which states that a Member may “not use his or her influence as a public representative in his or her dealings with an organ of State in such a manner as to improperly advantage the direct personal or private financial or business interests of such Member or any immediate family of that Member or any business partner of that Member or the immediate family of that Member”.

In addition, section 5.2.7 states that a Member may “not lobby for any remuneration or receive any reward, benefit or gift for that Member or for the immediate family of that Member or the business partner of that Member or immediate family of that Member, for making such representation as a Member on behalf of any person or body”.

The possible contravention of Section 5 by the Minister is a serious offence and Parliament’s Ethics Committee is duty-bound to, as a matter of urgency, investigate this matter.

The Portfolio Committee on Health has failed to do its work in holding Minister Mkhize to account as the ANC has used their majority to close ranks and prevent the Minister from facing the music last week during the committee’s meeting.

The DA therefore urges the Ethics Committee to investigate this matter.

Over the past few months, the Zondo Commission of Inquiry revealed how Parliament’s lack of oversight at the height of state capture was tantamount to aiding and abetting the loot.

Parliament cannot dare to fail in this regard again and we must take our oversight responsibility seriously.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

The DA is first out of the blocks with its registration campaign

Please find attached the following:

Photo, photo and photo

English video; Afrikaans video

English soundbite; Afrikaans soundbite

Today, Tuesday 8 June, the DA’s first registration poster for the 2021 Local Government Elections was fixed to a street pole in the Gelvandale in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The DA is ready for these crucial elections on 27 October and our campaign is ready to roll.

Launching our “first poster” is like the “starter’s gun” for the DA. It symbolizes that we have begun the election campaign in earnest.

As always, the DA’s posters will be in multiple South African languages, and I will be joined by Nqaba Banga, the DA Eastern Cape Provincial Leader and NMB Mayor, and Dr Ivan Meyer, the DA Federal Chairperson, to launch our posters in Afrikaans, isiXhosa and English.

From the middle of the week onwards our provincial leaders will be launching DA registration posters, in appropriate languages, in the other eight provinces.

It is critical that all South Africans who will be 18 or older by 27 October, ensure that their names are on the voters’ roll. They can do this on the registration weekend of the 17th and 18th of July, when all polling stations, across the country, will be open for voter registration.

Anyone who has not yet registered, can take their identity document to the nearest polling station on the weekend of 17/18 July, and register to vote in the October 27 elections. You can also use the opportunity to check whether your name is on the roll.

It is very important to remember that in a local government election, voters can only vote at a polling station where they live, which makes registration particularly important for a municipal election.

Please make use of what may be a once-off opportunity to register. So far, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has not yet announced a second registration weekend, so the weekend of the 17/18 July may be your one chance of being able to register easily and properly.

There is no greater power or responsibility in a democracy than voting. It is your voice. The last thing you want to discover, on election day when you want to vote, is that you are not registered and therefore cannot vote.

This is a local election, when people will be voting for those who govern our municipalities. We all know that the majority of municipalities in South Africa are collapsing because of inept and corrupt local government. The voters put these governments in power, and the voters can take them out of power. That is how important your vote is, and that is why every South African over 18 should make sure they can vote by being on the voters’ roll.

Local governments are responsible for basic services, such as water, sewage, potholes, street lights, refuse removal and other things that make life decent and bearable.

Delivering good services is also the way to bring investment and jobs to towns and cities.

And it is also important to remember that the five best-run municipalities in South Africa, are all governed by the DA.

That will be the DA’s message as we take our campaign to voters across the country over the next four and a half months: If you want to fix your town or your city, your vote gives you a chance to keep the DA strong in your town, or to bring DA government to your town. That is why your vote is so important.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.

Clover disinvestment sends a message to loyal ANC voters

Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cilliers Brink MP.

The decision by Clover to close down its factory in Lichtenburg (the largest of its kind in the country) due to the collapse of municipal services sends an important message to loyal ANC voters.

The ANC-controlled Ditsobotla Local Municipality should’ve done everything in its power to address the water and power interruptions afflicting Clover’s business.

But the ANC doesn’t care – not about investment and jobs brought by companies like Clover, and not about the 330 people who will now lose their jobs.

ANC factions in the North West are currently at war over who has control over taxpayers’ money. But the province is not an outlier.

Given enough time and votes the ANC will eventually do to all towns and cities under its control what it has done to Lichtenburg.

The same pattern of greed and destruction that drove Clover out of Lichtenburg can be discerned in Kgeltengrivier, Madibeng, Lekwa, Maluti-a-Phofong and Johannesburg.

Where the DA governs, however, we get things done by driving investment opportunities and creating jobs.

Just last month Amazon announced that it will establish its South African headquarters in the City of Cape Town.

The project will see the creation of 19 000 potential jobs and an estimated R4 billion injection into the local economy.

In contrast the ANC’s control of local governments isn’t just depleting taxpayers’ money, it’s killing and driving out the businesses who sustain municipalities.

This is what the ANC means when it talks about “Radical Economic Transformation”.

Local Government Elections are coming up in 2021! Visit check.da.org.za to check your voter registration status.