Home Affairs admits that it is incapable of solving refugee crisis

The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has openly admitted to not having the legal capacity and resources to enforce the country’s immigration laws and ultimately avoid the issues which have resulted in the ongoing sit-ins at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offices in Tshwane and Cape Town.

This was revealed in the DHA’s affidavit submitted to the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday following an application by the Brooklyn and Eastern Areas Citizens’ Association and the Waterkloof Homeowners Association.

The incapacity of the DHA to deal with this issue has resulted in the UNHCR and relevant metropolitan municipalities being expected to do Home Affairs’ job. The DHA cannot do this alone but have the responsibility to lead the process. The DA, therefore, calls on the DHA to immediately strengthen their capacity by implementing a far more efficient asylum seeker system that works to ensure that refugees are able to live in South Africa legally and deal with corruption in the immigration system decisively. Furthermore, the DHA must ensure that asylum seekers are timeously documented and that refugees are differentiated from economic migrants. By doing this, the DHA would help prevent African foreign nationals from being targeted as a group by threats of violence from those who accuse them of being illegal immigrants.

It is unfortunate that the current xenophobic crisis we face is compounded by the fact that Home Affairs does not have the capacity to deal with the pressing challenge of securing our borders. There is no evidence that the costly Border Management Agency will solve issues of corruption and lack of urgency in protecting our borders. This ultimately damages social cohesion between South African citizens and foreign nationals.

The Mayor of Tshwane, Stevens Mokgalapa, has reiterated these calls through the City of Tshwane, by writing to Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, and Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, to request the initiation of the process of collating information about undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers in efforts to arrest those participating in unlawful activities and to document or deport those who are undocumented.

The responsibility of managing South Africa’s borders, registering asylum seekers and relocation of undocumented immigrants remains under the purview of the DHA and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco). This is a shared responsibility with the South African Police Service (SAPS) to ensure that law and order is maintained. Without the relevant Departments and Cabinet Ministers’ commitment to the above project, xenophobia will continue to be a threat in a South Africa where South African citizens feel that undocumented immigrants have unfair access to opportunities.

Basic Education Committee Chairperson refuses public participation in CSE curriculum

The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that the Committee Chairperson for the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Bongiwe Pricilla Mbinqo-Gigaba, has essentially refused to accede to the DA’s calls for further public participation and review of the proposed Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE) curriculum for next year. This is tantamount to blocking public participation in the processes of parliament.

In a letter written to the Chairperson on 29 October 2019, the DA had requested an urgent meeting of the Portfolio Committee to discuss the new CSE curriculum with relevant stakeholders who have shown great concern with the content of the proposed CSE. Chairperson Mbinqo-Gigaba’s response on 1 November 2019 left much to be desired. The Chairperson indicated that the Department of Education had already given the Committee a detailed presentation on the matter. The DA has since written to the Chairperson of Committees, Cedric Frolick, notifying him of the issue and further clarifying our stance.

While the DA is aware that the Department has already briefed the Committee, the outcry and concerns among parents and teachers alike require a meeting of all the relevant stakeholders and not simply a briefing from the Department. It is thus essential for the Committee to allow other relevant, and concerned stakeholders, the opportunity to display their own presentations to the Committee.

There has been much outcry over the CSE from parents and other civil organizations regarding the curriculum’s content.

The CSE clearly requires an open dialogue between all the relevant stakeholders to give those who are concerned an opportunity to make presentations and to give the Department and indeed Parliament an opportunity to hear their concerns. Chairperson Mbinqo-Gigaba’s dismissal of such a request is tantamount to the active prevention of public participation in Parliament and prevents any form of open dialogue from taking place with concerned citizens.

The DA is of the view that sex education must strike a careful balance between equipping young people with the information they need to make the right choices, without unintentionally over-sexualizing learners.

Freedom Park management serves whistleblowers with suspension letters

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been reliably informed that several whistleblowers who exposed alleged corruption and mismanagement at Freedom Park have been served with suspension letters. These purported suspension letters are tantamount to intimidation and are in violation of the Protected Disclosure Act, which has been put in place to protect people who raise concerns about possible wrongdoings in the workplace.

The DA has written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture to request an urgent oversight inspection to Freedom Park in order to get to the bottom of the corruption allegations as well as the allegations of management intimidating whistleblowers.

Freedom Park is a memorial that was set up in honour of the heroes who sacrificed their lives to fight for freedom and democracy in South Africa. The entity has a budget to the tune of R84.2 million. This is a large sum, and the public needs surety that their money is being spent properly. Unfortunately, Freedom Park management has seemingly failed to create safe mechanisms for their employees to speak up against wrongdoing, instead, whistleblowers have now allegedly been served with suspension letters.

We have seen corruption and maladministration increase annually across most Government entities, despite the tough talk, there have been no proper interventions to hold wrongdoers to account.

In terms of the Protected Disclosure Act, whistleblowers are inter alia protected from being subjected to any disciplinary action; from being dismissed, suspended, demoted, harassed or intimidated; and from being otherwise adversely affected in respect of his or her employment, profession or office including employment opportunities and work security.

The fact that these whistleblowers are now allegedly facing suspension is an indictment to the management at Freedom Park.

Harassment of whistleblowers destroys any confidence an employee may have to raise red flags of alleged wrongdoing. It is in violation of their right to report unlawful or irregular conduct as set out in the ‘Whistleblowers Act’.

Our country is being hemorrhaged by the scourge of corruption that remains unabated. For a long time those who have been accused of wrongdoing never suffer the consequences, instead they  are rewarded with lucrative positions.

The DA believes that management has a responsibility to create a conducive environment for whistleblowers to disclose information of improprieties without fear of harassment. This is supported in the official Annual Report of Freedom Park, but it seems not to be implemented.

Employers need to create a culture of accountability by allowing whistleblowers to share any information relating to suspected criminal and other irregular conduct in the workplace in order to promote the eradication of such criminal and other irregular conduct.

President Ramaphosa must rebuke his deputy Mabuza for failing to stand up against human rights abusers

During yesterday’s oral question session in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Deputy President David Mabuza refused to publicly condemn the attacks and human rights abuses being levelled against members of the LGBTQI+ community across the African continent.

In response to a question by DA MP Tim Brauteseth as to whether he will take a principled stand and condemn human rights abuses across Africa, Mabuza responded by saying ‘let’s be decent and keep our mouths shut’ – refusing to denounce the immoral and unjust behaviour of fellow African states towards members of the LGBTQI+ community.

It cannot be this government’s stance to keep quiet in the face of an assault on the rights of fellow Africans. As a leader on the continent, South Africa ought to be a vocal champion of human rights and a torchbearer for progressive, compassionate politics. The Deputy President’s conduct in Parliament yesterday smacks of cowardice. Our nation and our continent deserve much better.

Moreover, this is in direct violation of one of the responsibilities assigned to the Deputy President by the President, namely to “assist the President in efforts towards building a better Africa”. President Ramaphosa assigned this function to Deputy President Mabuza in terms of section 91(2) of the Constitution, and it appears that Mabuza has chosen to “keep his mouth shut” instead of performing his responsibility.

Therefore, I call on President Cyril Ramaphosa to strongly rebuke Deputy President Mabuza’s remarks and blatant refusal to condemn these actions, and to break this government’s silence by taking a strong public stance against the attack on LGBTQI+ Africans in many countries on the continent.

The DA will continue to fight for the rights of all, both at home and abroad, especially those who have been ostracised and condemned in the past. This is crucial to our mission of building One South Africa for All.

African Continental Free Trade Area agreement crucial to the realisation of the AU Agenda 2063

The following speech will be delivered in Parliament’s debate on
Advancing the African Union Agenda 2063 today and is under embargo until delivery.

Honourable Speaker,

The ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement by 27 member states is a victory for the market-based economy and is crucial to the
realisation of the African Union Agenda 2063.

The AfCFTA will consist of a market of 1.2 billion people and a Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of $2.5 billion across 55 member states. This makes the agreement
the largest free trade area post the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

For far too long, African countries have closed themselves off to their African
neighbours – the time has come for this to change

This is supported by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa who state that
“businesses face higher tariffs when they export within Africa than when they export outside it
”. However, the AfCFTA will go a long way in ameliorating this in the shortterm and vastly improving our continent’s fortunes in the long-term.

Moreover, it is argued that this agreement has the potential to improve intra-African
trade by up to 52.3% through the elimination of import duties and the minimization of non-tariff barriers. This would provide a marked improvement for Intra-African trade which only accounted for 16% of Africa’s total exports in 2017.

As one of the largest and most diversified economies on the continent, South Africa,
is in pole position to benefit from the AfCFTA. However, we should not be under the
assumption that continental trade policy is able to compensate for poor domestic policy choices.

This means that a renewed focus on solving the energy crisis, shutting down talk of
nationalisation and a clear action to trim the public wage bill are crucial. Moreover,
there needs to be an investment injection to infrastructure and logistics routes that
allow for seamless supply chain management.

According to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Rankings, South Africa, places
at 145 out 190 countries in terms of ‘Trading Across Borders’.

This poses a particular challenge in the context of the AfCFTA by virtue of the fact that these indicators are linked to the cost, time and cumbersome compliance items related to exports.

Earlier in the year, President Ramaphosa appointed a working group in collaboration with the World Bank to address these poor rankings. In lieu of this, the DA will be watching with a keen eye to see whether or not structural reforms are effected to improve this ranking and respond accordingly.

As one of the largest economies in Africa it is totally unacceptable that we find
ourselves in the position we do!

As the AfCFTA negotiations are still ongoing and member states’ are in process of
deciding on product-specific rules of origin, the DA urges decision makers to craft rules that prevent ‘fronting’ by extra-continental trading partners.

Furthermore, we call for the negotiations on investment, competition and intellectual property to be expedited and, that decisions made are true to market-based principles including the primacy of private property, fair competition and economic growth.

The AfCFTA provides an opportunity for South Africa to reestablish itself as a leader
on the African continent – we cannot allow this opportunity to be missed.

Advancing the AU Agenda 2063 may remain an idyllic pipe dream

Introduction

Ben Okri says that “the magician and the politician have much in common. They both have to draw our attention away from what they are really doing”.

Unfortunately for us Agenda 2063 seems like an idyllic pipe dream of which there is more fantasy than reality. It seems to be an agenda created to grow hope and keep the people complacent whilst the common occurring tragedies continue to befall our continent.

Facing climate change, terrorism and migration the politicians have come out with a distraction or delaying tactic to buy time and favour whilst the outlook remains negative and stagnant. The DA realizes that Africa needs hope and we are committed to being part of the solution that turns hope into reality. We believe that South Africa has a great opportunity to push the process of implementation and monitoring the agenda on a continual basis.

We offer four key elements that can get us closer to that reality:

Commit to strengthening regional structures that commit their agendas to AU 2063

Being part of SADC the Africa Liberal Network and having served on the ACP, we are not short of plans and ideas, but we are poor on implementation.

All structures seem to work in isolation and have not aligned their output to that of
Agenda2063. South Africa must use their memberships on all regional bodies to ensure that  those plans speak to the ultimate AU vision and that we are constantly benchmarking performance to target.

Election observations and human rights monitoring

As a country and as a region, we need to be consistently speaking out against any election infringements, attacks on democracy in terms of free and fair elections; ensure regular elections and limited terms of office for leaders.

It is sad to note that this year SADC was not able to monitor elections in our region even though some were considered high risk. We have a duty to all citizens in our region to police the politicians and parties to ensure that the choice of the people is upheld. More importantly we should be more vocal and vigilant when citizens of other countries are attacked and abused by the very people in power to protect. We must be guided by principle and not friendships. We must also be fearless and broad in our approach.

We must live in the present and plan for the future even if it means challenging former allies

We have been blindly loyal to allies of the ANC for far too long. This has led to hypocrisy in our foreign affairs approach. In some instances, we cozy up to the identified aggressor and in others we cry with the perceived victims. Our approach needs to be helpful to the growth of Africa and for the safety of South Africa. We can play a constructive role in securing unity from South to North and West to East by selling the SADC vision of role model law and by ensuring peace in our continent first. The DA have well researched ways to bring finalization to the
Moroccan issue and would gladly partner with government to bring about a fair end to this highlighted region.

For agenda 2063 to be successful we need a united and peaceful Africa cohesive in their trade and approach to lift Africa.

We need to fight terrorism, migration and climate change together. Terrorism is affecting many Countries in Africa. The latest news informs us that terrorists have been active in Mozambique only a few kms away from us.

Terrorism has a huge cost burden to it and forces poor countries to spend more on defence and policing and less on social and human development. No Country in Africa can turn a blind eye to the plight of their fellow members and make it a “their problem” rather than an “our problem”. Piracy, terrorism and ongoing wars will keep Africa down and open to exploitation.

The vultures have been circling since post-colonialism and have already made a few key swoops to endear their prey.

Secure borders and domestic safety

It is therefore important for us to ensure that we know who comes in and who goes out our Country. That our borders are secure and that whilst people are in our country, they feel protected and are safe.

We cannot harbour international fugitives or allow them to leave our country. We need to work more intently with international bodies and respect the judgements and penalties meted out. Citizens and tourists must welcome at all times and criminals should be the ones feeling scared and targeted.

As the African proverb teaches us: Milk and honey is different, but they share the same house peacefully. Africa is home to all that live, invest and contribute to making it grow.

Taking loans, grants and “gifts” from certain countries could place the continent at risk of another rise of colonisation. It would be sad to invest time, effort, funds and energy into something that could be taken or stolen away from us just before the finish line.  With this in mind hear the call of the DA that says if we do not learn from our history, we will repeat our mistakes.

The DA commitment to the AU agenda 2063

The Democratic Alliance is committed as a party and through its vast network of sister parties and other political bodies to help find the solutions and to be a proactive and productive participant to help drive projects that will bring us closer to making the dream of AU Agenda 2063 a reality. We believe that the future of Africa transcends political parties and that we are stronger together.

As President Barack Obama once said:

“In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power – including strong and principled diplomacy”

South Africa we have a chance to lift Africa – let us be on the right side of good decisions.

Thank you

NYDA agrees to DA’s proposal to tackle scourge of suicides at Universities

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has agreed to implement the Democratic Alliance (DA)’s proposal to focus on young people’s mental health challenges. In a recent Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, the DA made a request that the NYDA implement programmes at Universities and other institutions of higher learning to curb the rise in suicide deaths on our campuses. Suicide has increasingly been on the rise among young people across the country and on tertiary campuses.  

According to NYDA, the only programme currently accessible to young people battling with mental health issues is the Higher Education and Training HIV/AIDS Programme (HEAIDS), which offers a life-skills training programme that includes a module on ‘Mental Toughness’.

The DA argued that this is not enough and there must be more programmes that look at directly assisting young people with psychologists, therapists and councillors. A programme that is able to assist the untold number of young people struggling with their mental health.

As things stand, access to mental health practitioners by young people in the country is almost non-existent and many young people are unable to afford these services, thus the NYDA must make this a priority.

The DA welcomes the fact that following this discussion, the NYDA will be taking up our proposal and will seek to create and implement programmes focused on access to mental health practitioners to ensure that young people at universities, TVET colleges and urban and rural areas will get assistance. This is a victory for young people across South Africa.

The DA is of the view that the help of young people dealing with mental issues cannot be limited to a single module as is currently the case, especially at a time when suicide is one of the leading causes of death amongst university students.

The reality is that mental health is something that almost all of us deal with at one point or another, and there must be a deliberate attempt to address this problem. Young people, especially those at Universities, continuously struggle with mental health issues such as depression and anxiety and have no access to mental health practitioners due to the costs involved.

The DA welcomes the fact that something more will be done to give young people the right kind of support and treatment they need to manage mental health conditions. Just like physical conditions, mental health conditions can be managed with the right support and treatment.

We will keep an eye on these developments and we will insist on timelines by which the NYDA will implement these mental health programmes. Enough is enough, young people should no longer have to face mental health challenges alone.

Foreign governments owe Eskom more than half a billion in outstanding payments

In a reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) Parliamentary question, the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, revealed that Eskom is owed R632 million in outstanding payments by foreign state-owned power utilities. A breakdown of the debts can be seen below:

While the Minister might be of the view that this R632 million will have a minimal impact on Eskom’s cash flow, the reality is that every cent counts when the power utility has a mountain of debt in the area of more than R420 billion. Half a billion Rand is an astonishing amount of money and could, in the long term, go a long way in stabilising the financial woes at Eskom.

As such, the DA has written to Minister Gordhan to request that he makes public the payment plans that Eskom has with these foreign governments which owe the utility millions in unpaid debt. The public needs surety that Eskom and indeed National Government is truly doing the necessary work to ensure that these outstanding debts are being collected.

In addition to this half a billion Rand owed by foreign governments, the power utility is also owed close to R20 billion in outstanding debt from municipalities across the country. Clearly Eskom is incapable of collecting debts both at home and abroad. This begs the question, does Eskom actually have plans in place to collect debts owed to it? If not, the utility will never be able to stabilise its cash flow, and the taxpayer will continue to pay for bailout after bailout.

The Minister has cited economic and political challenges as well as financial constraints as reasons for the non-payment . However, at the end of the day it is inconceivable that Eskom is willing to hold South Africans to ransom with the burden of rolling blackouts while it is supplying electricity to foreign governments who are not even paying for it.

With the threat of rolling blackouts ever present, Eskom should first meet its obligations here at home before it can ever think of overextending itself through power supplies to other countries.

It is also telling that the foreign governments which are failing to settle their Eskom debts, are governments with close ties to the ANC. The DA warns the governing party against allowing its mindless pursuit of regional solidarity to push Eskom further to the brink of collapse.

DA proposes four steps Government can take to bring relief to drought-stricken areas

This week, during a presentation to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, it was indicated that over R1.3 billion is needed to contain the effects of the ongoing drought crisis and its impact on the agricultural sector. The cost outlay for the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape alone stands at over R1 billion. Rural populations and their livelihoods are at risk if no immediate action is taken.

In many towns across the nation the taps have quite literally run dry. Businesses are unable to continue with their operations, jobs are being shed and farmers are unable to irrigate their land and feed their livestock.

As such, the Democratic Alliance (DA) proposes four steps that Government can take to bring immediate relief to drought-stricken areas.

1. Declaration of National Drought State of Disaster

The DA has been left with no option but to request that President Cyril Ramaphosa acts to facilitate the declaration of a national drought state of disaster to mitigate the effects of the ongoing national drought crisis. Repeated requests for such a declaration to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, have been ignored. The Minister’s indifference is appalling in light of this crippling drought disaster.

The need for immediate action to avert a national disaster has never been this urgent. Declaring a national drought state of disaster will mean that national and provincial government departments will have to reprioritise spending, in existing budget allocations, to provide the requisite assistance to struggling farmers, farmworkers and local rural economies. For farmers, this financial assistance is needed for livestock feed, water infrastructure, borehole drilling, desilting of dams, replanting costs and servicing of agricultural loans.

Following a declaration of a national drought state of disaster, the DA proposes the following interventions:

2. Temporary Jobs Fund

The provision of a temporary transition compensation fund to prevent a job’s bloodbath, particularly in the agricultural sector, is critical. As a result of the crippling drought across the country, farmers have been forced to lay off workers to cut costs to ensure they remain in business. Since January 2018, agriculture has shed 31 000 jobs in provinces severely affected by drought. Failure to protect jobs in the agricultural sector will worsen poverty levels and the plight of residents who rely on agricultural jobs in rural provinces such as the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and North West.

The DA proposes that a temporary jobs fund is set up to assist with the paying of wages of some of the worst-hit farms. A temporary jobs fund will not only help prevent further job losses but it will help free up much-needed funds to provide for livestock feed, water infrastructure, borehole drilling, desilting of dams and covering any replanting costs.

3. The Cape Town Model

National government should consider the key lessons offered by the City of Cape Town in dealing with water crises. At the heart of the City’s response to its Day Zero crisis were key interventions, such as the effective demand management and maintenance interventions for the water reticulation system and a dedicated communication campaign, accompanied by an incentivisation programme which encouraged residents to adapt to climate change. The City of Cape Town also repurposed rates-funded budgets to fund water projects and water resilient strategies, through the introduction of Level 6B water restrictions.

4. Intensifying Water Infrastructure Projects

An inter-departmental effort should be set up between the National Treasury, Department of Water and Sanitation, Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to develop a strategy for the completion of big-budget water infrastructure projects. Government’s chronic inability to manage big-budget capital projects has largely contributed to the ongoing water crisis.

National government can no longer continue burying its head in the sand while a humanitarian crisis is unfolding across the nation. Droughts across the country have reached disaster levels and are fast becoming one of the biggest challenges facing our country. President Ramaphosa should show leadership on the drought crisis and ensure immediate assistance is given to affected communities.

Minister confirms that Uyinene’s murder was the consequence of a collapsed public service

Please find an attached soundbite, by Dr. Leon Schreiber MP, the  DA Shadow Minister of Public Service and Administration

Just one day after the first court appearance of the accused killer of Uyinene Mrwetyana, who was raped and murdered following the simple act of visiting a post office, the Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that the government has no central system in place to identify and screen public servants with criminal records.

In the wake of Uyinene’s murder, which was allegedly committed by a post office employee who had a previous criminal conviction for armed robbery, the DA immediately sought to find out how it was possible that such a dangerous convict could be employed in the public service. Today we got our answer, as Public Service and Administration Minister, Senzo Mchunu revealed in response to our parliamentary question that information on criminal records “is not captured on the PERSAL system.” PERSAL is the central Personnel and Salary System used by all national and provincial government departments to manage human resources.

The Minister’s answer confirms that Uyinene’s tragic murder was the consequence of a collapsed public service. It vividly illustrates that the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment, which deliberately enables unqualified and even criminal elements to be appointed to the public service, has not only resulted in billions of Rands being stolen but also has deadly consequences as services collapse and criminals hijack the state.

In his answer, the Minister indicated that – 25 years into democracy – his department will now “be embarking on a number of initiatives to address the matter…[including] the creation of a database of employees who have criminal records.”

The Minister’s shocking admission that the government does not have a functional way of screening and preventing criminals from becoming public servants is too little and too late for Uyinene. It is also too late for the hundreds of victims of Life Esidimeni and Marikana, and the 3 832 patients who died last year in Gauteng hospitals – all of whom died as a direct result of cadre deployment and the resultant state collapse.

This only strengthens the DA’s resolve to introduce a new Professional Public Service law that will take all powers of appointment away from politicians and give it to an independent and strengthened Public Service Commission. We call on all political parties to support our pending legislation as a way of honouring the memories of Uyinene and the thousands of other victims of our collapsed state. It is the only way to build a skilled, professional and competent state where public servants empower citizens instead of killing them.