Optimum Mine victims suffer the effects of State Capture in silence

Today, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Team One South Africa Members Natasha Mazzone and Geordin Hill-Lewis and the DA Mpumalanga Premier Candidate, Jane Sithole conducted an oversight inspection at Optimum Mine in Middelburg and engaged with the Pullens Hope community, to see first-hand the effects of State Capture.

The Optimum inspection was motivated by the ongoing investigation into State Capture through the Zondo Commission and it was further prompted by the latest rounds of power outages which have shaken South Africa as of late.

Optimum was leveraged out of Glencore’s hands by failing ANC officials straight into the hands of the Guptas’, Tegeta. The mine is now in business rescue and in addition to this, the instability at Optimum Mine has put its coal delivery to Eskom at risk.

Eskom has a serious coal shortage with a number of power plants having less than 10 days of coal left. The power utility has been paying the mine nearly R1 billion for coal that hasn’t been received, despite Eskom flagging that its coal supply was at record lows which has fuelled the risk of load shedding.

“Tegeta has pillaged Optimum. There are workers here that haven’t been paid for 2-3 months, we’ve seen retrenchments of workers and the country is experiencing load-shedding because coal is not being mined. We are here because Optimum Coal Mine is the face of state capture” said Mazzone.

December will be the third month with no pay for these workers and the consequences of this extend far beyond a barren Christmas dinner table and a silent new year spent indoors.

Mazzone commented that “It is also of utmost importance, that these rich fat cats are brought to book – they have been earning money while workers who have done their jobs diligently have not been paid.”

“Under a DA-led government, all those who are found guilty of corruption spends a minimum of 15 years behind bars. We cannot allow those implicated in corruption get off scot free, whilst the victims of their crimes suffer in silence. We will absolutely raise this in Parliament, the DA is the voice of the people and we will represent those who are suffering as a result of State Capture”.

State Capture under the watch of the failing ANC has had crippling effects on our economy, our electricity supply and affecting ordinary coal workers who cannot afford to put food on their tables or books in their children’s school bags.

South Africa needs real change that puts the people first by stopping corruption and building One South Africa for All.

Ramaphosa refuses to put South Africa first over Jacob Zuma

The State and former President Jacob Zuma’s lawyers have today agreed that his application for permanent stay of prosecution will be heard in May next year. It is inconceivable that yet again the people’s money will be wasted to fund another one of Jacob Zuma’s frivolous court battles.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) maintains that Zuma should have his day in court and should fund this on his own. This postponement will mean that once again, Zuma’s lifeline has been extended instead of facing the criminal charges against him.

It is our belief that President Cyril Ramaphosa should have made it clear and publicly endorsed the NPA’s bid to oppose this application. He would not be interfering with the process of the judiciary, however, would be making it clear that his government would want to see former President Zuma face prosecution.

However, we know that President Ramaphosa would be reluctant to support the NPA on this matter, because Zuma is the centre of the ANC’s campaign in KwaZulu-Natal.

Ramaphosa is quick to talk tough on corruption, yet when it comes to Zuma, he goes above and beyond to use the people’s money to pay for Zuma’s next lifeline. This is proof that Ramaphosa prioritises the interests of his party above the interests of the country.

Just recently, reports emerged that Ramaphosa has approved Zuma’s application for funding to the state attorney to defend himself at the Zondo Commission. This is a massive insult to the people of this country who still bear the brunt of the failing ANC’s legacy of the past 25 years.

The DA has, for over a decade, fought tooth and nail to ensure that Zuma not only has his rightful day in court, but also pays his own legal fees defending himself. These cases alone have already cost the public purse R15 million in legal fees while the ANC leadership- including Ramaphosa himself- propped him up and defended him for years.

The failing ANC’s dogged defence of Jacob Zuma is an insult to South Africans.

The DA is committed to building One South Africa for All where all those who are found guilty of corruption spends a minimum of 15 years behind bars.

To be free, Africa must be liberated from its liberators

The following speech was delivered yesterday by Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at the 62nd Liberal International Congress in Dakar, Senegal. Maimane received the 2018 African Freedom Award on behalf of the DA.

The Honourable Prime Minister of Senegal, Mr Mahammed Dionne

The President of Liberal International, Mr Juli Minoves

The Chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and Vice President of Liberal International, Professor Karl-Heinz Paqué

The Regional Director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Mr Jules Maaten

Delegates

Distinguished guests

Fellow liberals

Good evening,

I am honoured to stand before you today to address Liberal International’s 62nd Congress. And I am deeply honoured to receive this year’s African Freedom Prize, on behalf of my party, the Democratic Alliance.

I would like to thank the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, not only for this award, but also for the work they do in promoting liberal values, particularly here in Africa. They are an important ally in the fight for a free and open society.

The DA and its predecessor parties have been fighting for a free and open society with opportunities for all for the past 60 years. Today we are the only party in South Africa trying to build such a society.

Recognition for this Freedom Award is only possible because the party I lead today stands on the shoulders of giants who came before me.

Leaders like Helen Suzman, who stood bravely for 13 long years as a lone voice of opposition to Apartheid legislation in a hostile parliament.

Leaders like Tony Leon who, at the dawn of our democracy, chose opposition instead of position – knowing that his contribution to his country would be greater outside the Government of Unity than inside it.

Leaders like Helen Zille, whose running of the flagship Western Cape Province continues to set a benchmark in clean, accountable governance unmatched by anyone.

On behalf of the DA, I extend my heartfelt appreciation for this prestigious recognition.

There is a profound symbolism to receiving this award here in Senegal. Not far from here is the island of Goree where Africans were sold as slaves. It is a place where so many people lost their freedom.

When they were sold into this system, they were no longer seen as human – they became mere commodities. Stripped of their own freedom, they built another economy while they suffered in hunger and poverty.

They were prisoners in the land of liberty and they lost the dignity of being human – of being fathers, wives, daughters and sons.

Our story in Africa has been a recycling of oppressive regimes, one after the other, in search of resources that can be exported to enhance the freedoms of others. Back then it was human capital and today it is our mineral resources.

These are still difficult times on this continent. We are rich in resources, but hungry for food and development. We still attract aid ahead of trade. We have leaders who are rulers of the law rather than ruled by the law.

Some still speak of the dark continent. But it is up to us to disprove this. We must rewrite Africa’s story.

In many ways the pursuit of African freedom is the restoration of the dignity of being an African.

Almost a year ago, in Johannesburg, I handed this same Freedom Award to my brother, Hakainde Hichilema from Zambia’s United Party for National Development.

He is a man who has been arrested, detained and tortured for daring to stand up to an authoritarian government.

A man who now faces the real prospects of being re-arrested as his government tries to stifle multi-party democracy and shut down dissenting voices.

What Mr Hichilema is going through in Zambia is a constant reminder to us that freedom on this continent is still far from won for many of its people.

To receive the same award as someone who has had to endure so much fighting for his country’s democratic and economic freedom is indeed an honour.

Ladies and gentlemen, what is freedom?

One definition, given in the Oxford dictionary, describes freedom as the power of self-determination; the quality of being independent of fate or necessity.”

In other words, freedom is being able to live a life of your own choosing. A life not restricted or determined by the circumstances of your birth.

It has many other definitions too, but that is the one I want to focus on.

My country, South Africa, can tell you a thing or two about freedom. Ours was one of the longest and most well-documented struggles for freedom in recent history.

The culmination of our struggle, which brought to an end the Apartheid era and three centuries of colonial rule, was meant to have delivered our freedom.

Until then, our people had been imprisoned in their own country. They were confined to homelands, made to carry passbooks, made to work for exploitative wages.

They were told they were second-class citizens, told they couldn’t vote, couldn’t own property, weren’t entitled to a decent education.

They were told where they could live, walk and sit. There were rules about whom they could love and marry.

They were denied all the liberties we take for granted today. And because of this, the concept of freedom permeated the language and symbolism of the struggle.

On 26 June 1955, an alliance of struggle organisations adopted the Freedom Charter in Kliptown, Johannesburg. This historic document would become the platform for a non-racial South Africa with equal opportunities for all.

In the years that followed, the slogan “Freedom in our Lifetime” would become a rallying cry of the struggle against an unjust and oppressive regime.

And when millions of South Africans lined up to vote on 27 April 1994 in our first ever democratic election, we turned this day into a national holiday and called it Freedom Day.

People wrote songs and poems about our hard-fought freedom, and the world celebrated along with us. But in truth, these celebrations were premature.

While April 1994 was a powerful moment that symbolised our transition from a brutal minority regime to a fully-fledged democracy, it didn’t bring about real freedom.

Our people might have won the right to vote, but they were still shackled by extreme poverty and inequality.

Going back to that definition of freedom, they were not yetindependent of fate or necessity”. They were not free to pursue their dreams and live a life they value.

Real freedom – economic freedom – did not follow our symbolic freedom.

Nelson Mandela recognised this right at the start of our democracy when he said: “The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed.”

Yes, there was progress for a while. More houses and schools were built after 1994. More areas were connected to the electricity and water grids. More hospitals and clinics were opened.

But the important numbers that would indicate true freedom – the rate of poverty and the rate of unemployment – continued to move in the wrong direction.

Today, almost quarter of a century into our democracy, our statistics on poverty and unemployment make for shameful reading.

More than half our people live below the poverty line.

2.3 million children in South Africa live in households that reported child hunger last year.

Almost 10 million South Africans cannot find work.

We are the country with the highest youth unemployment in the world.

That’s not freedom. That’s the opposite of freedom.

Our situation in South Africa is not unique. We have been following in the footsteps of so many post-colonial nations in Africa.

It’s the same pattern: First comes the era of colonial rule – unjust and exploitative. Then comes independence along with a new, democratically elected government. And then follows years, even decades, of oppression by the very same people who were meant to deliver freedom.

This is the story of our continent: liberation movements that fail in their role as governing parties.

We have seen, time and time again, the liberators come to power amid fanfares of revolution, only to bow to the temptations of patronage and corruption.

We have seen a litany of Big Man Presidents amassing wealth on a scale unimaginable to ordinary citizens.

We have seen decades of one-party rule, across the length and breadth of our continent, obliterate any sense of accountability to the people.

What we’ve also seen, and continue to see, is the emergence of so-called opposition parties from within the ranks of the ruling party – people who break away to form new parties when they no longer enjoy access to resources.

We must not fool ourselves into thinking this is real opposition. There is no contestation of ideas here. It is simply a race to resources.

Whether it’s a breakaway party, or one faction replacing another within a ruling party, voters are tricked into believing that this represents a new dawn for the country.

But this is simply not true. It is still the same party with the same ideology and the same policies. All that has happened is that a new faction now gets to decide who benefits from the state machinery, and who gets prosecuted.

Real democracy is when you swap parties, not factions. And for this to happen, we in this room have to become a lot better at crafting and explaining liberal solutions.

Because the alternative is what we’re seeing in South Africa right now. Twenty-four years of various factions of ANC government has been terrible for South Africa’s democracy, its economy and its people.

In this time, we became a nation of economic insiders and outsiders. On the inside: all those with the right contacts, the right party membership and the right family connections. And on the outside: everyone else.

With every passing year, the gap between the insiders and the outsiders grew wider. Soon freedom in our lifetime” seemed like a distant dream for millions of our people.

This was not meant to be our story. We were the miracle democracy – the so-called Rainbow Nation. Ours was meant to be a story of overcoming the odds and building a prosperous and shared post-Apartheid society.

But, as is the case with so many liberation movement-turned-governing-parties, our government was simply not up to the task.

The lived reality of most of our people did not change. For millions of South Africans who find themselves locked out of the economy and locked out of opportunities, Apartheid never ended. Its legacy still dominates their lives every day.

The question many people ask me is: Why?

Why was a government returned to power, again and again, despite clearly failing in its duty to its people?

The answer lies in the emotive power of the struggle narrative. For years the ANC could overcome their failure as a government by reminding people of the other ANC – the one that spearheaded the struggle all those years ago.

By constantly re-living the past and glorifying past heroes, they effectively masked their systemic corruption and their failed policies.

But even that couldn’t last forever, as people’s mounting anger grew stronger than their historical allegiances. And so the ANC today has turned to the only avenue left to cling to power: Populism.

Frightened by the prospect of losing support, they have chosen to follow a radical fringe party down a populist dead-end ahead of our elections next year.

Land expropriation, free tertiary education and the nationalisation of key sectors like Healthcare, the Reserve Bank and ICT – these are policies that will kill our economy, bankrupt our state and drive even more people to poverty and unemployment.

They are the same failed populist policies that ruined countries like Zimbabwe and Venezuela, but even this recent evidence has not stopped the ANC from setting off down the same road.

That cannot be the future of my country. I cannot stand by and watch as the dream of freedom is crushed for millions of people simply in order to save the ANC.

If we’re going to speak about the pursuit of freedom here in Africa, we need to reflect on the words of Coretta Scott King: “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”

The struggle for real freedom for our people is far from over. That is why my party, the Democratic Alliance, exists.

That is why we get up and go to work every day. That’s what we fight for. Real economic freedom in our lifetime.

This year marks the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela – a man whose life came to symbolise the transition from colonialism to liberation. He recognised that Apartheid, just like slavery, was a system that could be broken.

Nelson Mandela is a hero to me, and many others, not only because he liberated Africans, but also because he helped to liberate the oppressors. He was that rare leader who could free both the jailed and the jailer and unite them in a new mission.

This is, in a sense, what the DA is trying to achieve. To build a party of all races who recognise the injustice of our past, but who know that our only hope of breaking down the system of economic exclusion is if we unite and pool our efforts.

And here, again, we can look to the Senegalese for inspiration. For a country that is over 90% Muslim, to have elected a Christian President as their first democratic leader shows what is possible when values are placed ahead of religion, race or language.

In South Africa, it is only the Democratic Alliance that is pushing for such a society. No other party is even trying, and they aren’t trying because it is hard.

Our project, in the DA, is unprecedented. We’re trying to build a strong centre – a political home for all South Africans, regardless of race or language.

We’re offering voters the option of an alternative government that is based on shared values rather than shared race or ethnicity. And, in our historical context, this is very difficult.

We’re asking South Africans to look beyond their differences and their historical allegiances, and to work together to rebuild our country.

We are trying to strengthen our democratic institutions like our judiciary, our free press and our bodies of investigation and prosecution, while others have done all they can to subvert them.

We are trying to protect our Constitution and the rights contained therein, while others are doing their best to chip away at it.

We are trying to break down the walls between the economic insiders and outsiders – walls that were built through years and years of patronage politics.

We are trying to build a free and open society with opportunities for all – opportunities that arise from enterprise, trade, increased investment and entrepreneurship.

A society that can only be realised in a liberal democracy with a market economy, a capable state, a zero tolerance for corruption and a Constitution that guarantees its people their rights, including the right to own property.

A society that rejects nationalism, racism, cronyism and populism.

This is the road we have chosen. And it is a far harder road to travel than the one chosen by the populists. But it is our only hope.

Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot do this alone. And neither can any of you.

Our success in South Africa, and your success in your countries, will require many allies. Together, we can rewrite Africa’s story.

If our continent is to overcome centuries of exploitation and misrule and claim its rightful place in the global economy, it will be because our liberal ideas and our liberal values prevailed.

We can’t wait for people to come over to our way of thinking. We must go out and make the case for a prosperous Africa we want to see. And we must simply ensure that we paint a more compelling picture than our opponents are doing.

Populists win because they offer dangerous answers to legitimate questions. They don’t make up these questions. They latch onto real issues that aren’t being answered well enough by anyone else.

They recognise the importance of economic inequality to further advance their message.

And they get away with preying on people’s fear, anger and exclusion because there seems to be no compelling alternative.

We cannot allow that to happen. We must join those conversations – no matter how difficult they may be – and ours must simply be better answers.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We’re not fighting separate battles across Africa. Ours is a common goal that becomes more and more achievable with every ally that joins us.

Just as my party is the last line of defence against the creep of populism and the tyranny of corruption in South Africa, you, as the defenders of liberal values in your own countries are our continent’s hope.

While the old guard is still turned to the past, we are the ones facing in the right direction.

Africa does not need backward looking leaders or parties that were once glorious. We need people and parties who can imagine Africa’s future and potential.

We don’t need politicians who are only in it for themselves – big, self-important men who see government as a way of becoming rich. We need selfless leaders who understand what it means to serve.

We don’t need populists who prey on people’s anger, fear and frustration. We need enlightened and pragmatic leaders – protectors of our constitutions and defenders of human rights.

We don’t need nationalists and racists who try to use our differences to pit us against each other. We need men and women from all walks of life whose only goal is to unite us as a people and fight for everyone’s future.

We need an Africa where trade and venture capital replace aid and charity.

We need an Africa that invests in the infrastructure that will allow us to trade better among ourselves, so that goods don’t take an eternity to reach our neighbours. Yes, we still need European and Asian markets, but we must use the huge potential at our own doorstep.

We need an Africa where basic human rights are sacrosanct. An Africa with strong institutions that will relegate dictators like Omar al-Bashir to history.

I know there is a new generation of leaders in Africa. I see many of them here in this room. This is our time to stand up and make a difference.

The struggle for independence has come and gone. Ours is the next struggle. We are the generation that must liberate Africa from its liberators.

If the 20th Century was the century of African independence, then the 21st Century must surely be the century in which Africa gains its freedom.

Thank you.

Failing ANC has left the borders broken and the SANDF thinly spread

Over the past month, the Democratic Alliance (DA) embarked on a border tour in order to assess the true state of our country’s borders. The findings of this tour are alarming and paints a grim picture of how the ANC has failed in securing our country’s borders.

The DA inspected the Limpopo – Zimbabwe border, KwaZulu-Natal – Mozambique border and North West – Botswana border, where we uncovered a number of issues, including:

    1. Illegal cross border trading;
    2. Alleged social grant fraud;
    3. Porous borders, no fence;
    4. Poor military patrolling;
    5. Hijacking syndicates.

These are the broad issues we found at each of the border posts:

Musina, Limpopo / Zimbabwe

On 12 November the DA visited the Beit Bridge border in Limpopo between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Astoundingly we came across areas of the fence which had been cut through, as well as a big open and unmanned gate large enough for a truck to drive through. Standing along our border, we were able to capture footage of people on the other side of the border watching the South African side. From there, they could see SANDF patrols arriving and leaving, and thereby ascertain the best time to cross undetected.

KwaZuluNatal / Mozambique

On 13 November we visited the Manguzi Border in KwaZulu-Natal between South Africa and Mozambique. SANDF members we spoke to here indicated the crucial need for a proper fence, but also to clear the area 100m from the fence, for watch towers, infrared equipment and drones. We were able to cross into Mozambique, buy fish, and cross back into South Africa.

We also engaged with terrified communities who are being taken advantage of by carjacking syndicates. It emerged in our conversations with SANDF members we encountered that there may well be powerful law enforcement individuals working with the syndicates, making it impossible to effectively police these crimes and end the syndicates.

We also learned that there are people coming across the border to collect social grants and shop in South Africa before returning across the border. This issue is not tied to people who wish to stay in South Africa, but rather people whose unimpeded movement into our country allows them to exploit benefits intended for South Africans. The DA  therefore calls for an urgent investigation by the SAPS on the alleged social grant fraud.

This is happening at a time when South Africa is experiencing widespread problems ensuring that lawful grant beneficiaries receive their grants timeously. We will therefore be partnering with our Shadow Minister for social development to look into the credibility of these complaints.

North West / Botswana

On 28 November we visited Skilpadshek Border in the North West on the border with Botswana. We spoke to a SANDF official off the record who revealed that the road along the border is inaccessible for the military, essentially making it impossible for them to patrol. It was also revealed that the border was not fenced with appropriate border fence but rather with agricultural fence.

The ANC has left our borders in disarray and strong action has to be taken to ensure that our borders are fixed. It is for this reason, the party has undertaken to request an urgent meeting with the SANDF chief to discuss the concerns and challenges the army face in securing our borders. We also challenge the newly appointed Home Affairs Minister Siyabonga Cwele to accompany the DA to see the effect of Home Affairs corruption at the borders.

The DA is the only party that is capable of fixing our porous borders. The DA will secure our borders and stop illegal immigration by:

  1. Arresting, detaining and deporting those who repeatedly enter our country illegally
  2. Ensuring undocumented immigrants are regularised or assisted in leaving the country if they do not meet the criteria for remaining in the country.
  3. Strengthening our border posts. Through proper control and order, we can create corruption-free and effective border security and control.
  4. Eradicating the corruption and inefficiency endemic to Home Affairs.

Together with the push to secure our borders and regularize migrants, we are equally committed to:

  1. Assist, support and care for legitimate refugees and asylum seekers.
  2. Attract foreign nationals with scarce skills to South Africa to help us grow our economy and create jobs.

Only the DA’s plan takes a holistic approach. There are humanitarian reasons for allowing migrants, whether refugees or economic migrants, into South Africa. More importantly, there are developmental reasons if we are to build the diverse country we want, and to attract the skills we need.

By allowing migrants into our country, we take upon ourselves the duties set forth in our Constitution to provide services to the new entrants. The only responsible way to do this is to have a sound approach to recording and monitoring migration. This will give us the ability to plan effectively for the services we must provide, as well as to guarantee the security of everyone who finds themselves within our borders at all times.

SAA – Flying into a crash landing

The following speech was delivered in Parliament today. 

Madam Speaker,

South African Airways has, as a result of political interference, poor management and rampant corruption, consumed R 31,4 billion in “bailouts” that could have been used to stimulate the economy and to create jobs for South Africans.

There have been bailouts of:

  • R 0,7 billion in 2007;
  • R 1,6 billion in 2010; and
  • a staggering R 10,0 billion in 2017

Now SAA want yet another R 5,0 billion.

None of this huge amount of R 5,0 billion will be used to buy new aircraft or even to pay for a month or two’s jet fuel or salaries.

All of the R 5,0 billion will go straight to the banks and financial houses who have already lent the R 5,0 billion to SAA who have already spent all R 5,0 billion! There will be nothing left for SAA to use to fund the further losses they project for the rest of the financial year.

In reality SAA are extorting R 5,0 billion from service delivery to poor South Africans. Banks and other finance institutions, comprising of ABSA, Ashburton, Firstrand, Investec, MMI, Nedbank, Sanlam and Standard, have been complicit in this extortion. They lent R 5,0 billion to SAA knowing full well that SAA are running at massive losses and have no way of repaying the banks by the 30th of November 2018.

In the six months to the end of September 2018 SAA had already racked up losses of R 2,2 billion and they forecast a loss of R 5,3 billion for the full 2018/19 financial year.

What parliament should now do is to force the banks and other financial institutions who have lent R 5,0 billion irresponsibly to SAA to call in the government guarantees that underwrite their loans to SAA. Let the banks and finance houses face public exposure for their irresponsible lending to SAA.

Now we are told that SAA will be forced into liquidation if they do not receive another R 3,5 billion before the end of March 2019.

We were told that borrowing this additional R 3,5 billion from the banks was not possible as the banks required additional commitments. These additional commitments are presumably more unilateral letters of commitment from Finance Minister like the one that Minister Nene issued on the 26th of March 2018. This “letter of commitment” was clearly the basis on which banks and finance houses made the irresponsible loans of R 5,0 billion to SAA.

If the banks are not an option to provide the R 3,5 billion in cash required to keep SAA flying in the thunderstorm then what are the options for the government to provide the R 3,5 billion to SAA to prevent a crash landing.

Unless the Finance gets his way to shut down SAA, which seems unlikely given the smackdown that he received from President Ramaphosa, there are two clear options that the ANC government are likely to consider.

The one option would be to embark upon yet another dodgy section 16 of the Public Finance Management Act payment of the R 3,5 billion directly to SAA from the National Revenue Fund. This would follow the precedents set by the then Minister of Finance, Malusi Gigaba who made a pretense that the SAA funding requirement was an emergency matter in order to activate section 16 to pay SAA R 5,3 billion in 2017.

The second option would be to secretly approach the PIC to get the PIC to provide a loan to SAA in the same way that the PIC pulled ESKOM back from the brink of liquidation in early 2018.

Given the controversy surrounding the PIC and the appointment of an acting CEO such a move to raid the funds of pensioners to try to prevent an SAA crash landing would simply be immoral.

Of course, we should not forget the 2017 secret cabinet memo option of selling Telkom shares!

Right now, SAA is insolvent and is trading recklessly.

Under the present circumstances it will not be possible for the Board and management to stand any chance of nursing SAA back to profitability. They are spending all their time jumping from one funding crisis to the next with the false hope that poor South Africans will be happy to provide, like some rich uncle, the R 21,7 billion that SAA say they have to have in order to possibly, with no guarantees given, return SAA to profitability.

Apparently, the Auditor General has refused to accept that SAA is a Going Concern. Consequently, the SAA annual report that should have been tabled in parliament by the end of September 2018 has still not been tabled.

But even if parliament approves the R 5,0 billion bailout it will still not make SAA a Going Concern. In order for SAA to be a Going Concern, it needs to be able to trade for 12 months. This is not the case as SAA needs another R 3,5 billion just to enable it to trade until the end of the current financial year on the 31st of March 2019.

SAA cannot continue to be a drain of desperately needed money for poor South Africans. A line must now be drawn in the sand! The liability to the taxpayer must now be limited to the foolish government guarantees of R 16,8 billion issued by the ANC and not a cent more must be taken.

If SAA and the associated nearly 10 000 jobs are to be saved, SAA must be put into business rescue without delay. It will take robust action to cancel corrupt contracts and to right size operations and employee costs in order to prepare the airline for privatisation and recovery.

Allowing the Guptas to get away with Estina is a crime against beneficiaries

The Democratic Alliance (DA) takes note of the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to provisionally withdraw the case against the accused in the Estina matter.  The reasons provided on the decision to withdraw the matter are flimsy at best, and wholly unconvincing.

The DA will take it up with the current acting National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Dr. Silas Ramaite.   The NPA has no forensic accounting capacity, and never has had.   This function has always been outsourced to private companies, by the SAPS.  This is a function of SAPS.  State capture is a crime committed against the people of South Africa. The Estina matter is a particularly good example of the impact that this phenomenon has on the most vulnerable members of our society. The Gupta family and their associates still in the ANC parliamentary benches, in this instance, literally stole from the poor to give to the rich and line the pockets of those politically connected to the ANC.

Allowing those implicated to get away with this will be an even greater crime. It will send out the message that South Africa is a country in which there is no accountability for the powerful and connected political elite and no redress for those without the financial muscle to litigate alone.

The NPA is clearly in urgent need of a new direction and sound and independent leadership. The President is currently still mulling over who to appoint as the new NDPP and his deadline is drawing closer. With the recent revelation that was made concerning the President’s own connections to questionable characters in the Bosasagate scandal, even more rides on who will fill this position.

The DA has a plan to turn around our disintegrating justice system and hold those responsible for the capture of the state accountable. This includes introducing mandatory lifestyle audits for political office holders and ensuring that the use of public money is done in a transparent fashion.

South Africans deserve better than being robbed and then having to watch the thieves run off into the sunset while a leaderless NPA sits by and does nothing.

ANC and EFF rejected R355 top up for pensioners in SA

The following speech was delivered in Parliament today. 

  1. Introduction

We have powers, in terms of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act (No. 9 of 2000), to amend the Adjustments Appropriations Bill [B35-2018] in Parliament.

  1. Proposal

Which is why we proposed five amendments to the Adjustments Appropriation Bill [B35-2018] to support senior citizens, improve road maintenance and improve rail transport in South Africa.

We specifically proposed an amendment to the Adjustments Appropriation Bill [B35-2018] to increase the appropriation of the Department of Social Development [Vote No. 17] by R1.2 billion to provide recipients of the “old-age grant” with a R355 end-of-year “top up”.

We did so following a submission to the finance committee from a forum of women pensioners.

They travelled by road, all the way from Pietermaritzburg, to propose an end-of-year “bonus” because:

With our pensions we must cover the usual expenses plus the extra expenses of school uniforms, shoes, stationery and extra food because our grandchildren are on holiday and they are always hungry.”

  1. Funding

We proposed to fund the amendment to the Adjustments Appropriation Bill [B35-2018] by decreasing the appropriation of the Department of Public Enterprises [Vote No. 9] by R1.2 billion, which was earmarked for the bailout of South African Express Airways.

The fact is that South African Express Airways could be shut down almost immediately, opening space for private-sector operators who do not cost taxpayers billions of rands in bailouts.

We trust that the minister, who strongly supports shutting down South African Airways, will also strongly support shutting down South African Express Airways.

  1. Rejected

However, after nearly three hours of deliberations at an appropriations committee meeting, which mysteriously did not appear on the “Z-List”, the ANC and EFF voted against our proposal, and rejected the R355 end-of-year “top up” for pensioners.

Shockingly, they turned a deaf ear to the pensioners who must find money for the extra expenses of school uniforms, shoes, stationery and extra food because their grandchildren are on holiday and they are always hungry.

Which was easy for them to do because most members of the governing party who serve on the appropriations committee are pensioners.

But they are receiving a pension equivalent to the salary of a full-time Member of Parliament.

  1. Conclusion

What this proves in the end is that:

  • when it came to a choice between supporting pensioners who are struggling to make ends meet and bailing out a zombie state-owned airline, the ANC chose to bail out the zombie state-owned airline; and
  • when it came to a choice between supporting pensioners who are struggling to make ends meet and bailing out a zombie state-owned airline, the EFF chose to bail out the zombie state-owned airline.

Which is a disgrace considering how pensioners are battling to make ends meet in South Africa.

Minister Masutha must prioritise victim-friendly facilities at Khayelitsha Magistrates Court

Note to Editors: Please find attached a soundbite in English by DA Spokesperson on Corruption, Phumzile Van Damme MP. Pictures can be downloaded here and here.

Today, the Democratic Alliance (DA) conducted an oversight inspection at the Khayelitsha Magistrates Court to assess the status of victim-friendly facilities.

In 2017, Khayelitsha was among the ten precincts with the highest number of reported sexual offence cases in the Western Cape. Despite the high instances of sexual violence in the community, the Khayelitsha Magistrates Court has not been declared a sexual offences court.

The DA met with the court administrators, who expressed their concerns regarding the safety and protection of rape survivors.

Rape survivors and young children who are victims of sexual offences are forced to walk past the accused, or even wait in the same space. This is due to the limited space at the court.

The court’s administration has proposed separate entrances for victims of sexual violence, however, progress in this regard has been hampered due to red tape.

The DA was told that counsellors often counsel sexual abuse survivors in a room shared with other court staff or in a tiny interview room in the holding cells below the court.

The conditions at that court have essentially created an environment where sexual abuse survivors experience secondary victimisation and point towards the need for the court to be declared a sexual offences court.

The DA calls on the Minister of Justice, Michael Masutha, to not only prioritise victim-friendly facilities at the Khayelitsha Magistrates Court, but at courts across the country.

Victims of sexual and gender-based violence must feel safe and be able to testify in a friendly environment given the trauma they have experienced. Improved, safe and friendly facilities will also encourage those afraid to report abuse to do so.

Victims of sexual violence and abuse deserve to be treated with the utmost care and dignity and it is incumbent upon the ANC national government to ensure that these facilities are up to standard.

Tito Mboweni should take on the wreckers and nutters in the governing party in SA

  1. Introduction

The new Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, delivered his “maiden” medium-term budget policy statement four weeks ago in Parliament.

The metrics were bad and took the markets by surprise, and as a result, the rand tanked and bond yields spiked.

But there were elements of the medium-term budget policy statement that were courageous.

To his credit, the minister took on the wreckers inside the governing party, warning them not to attack the mandate and independence of the reserve bank.

Which is exactly what the wreckers inside the governing party needed to be told as they force us closer to the brink.

  1. Economic Trouble

We are in deep economic trouble and the minister was absolutely right when he warned that we are at a crossroads.

We have a growth problem, with an average economic growth rate of 2% expected over the medium term between 2019/20 and 2021/22.

We have a revenue problem, with a revenue shortfall of R57 billion expected over the medium term between 2019/20 and 2021/22.

We have an expenditure problem, with an expenditure overrun of R23 billion over the medium term between 2019/20 and 2021/22.

We have a state-owned enterprises problem, with zombie state-owned enterprises requiring billions of rands in bailouts between 2019/20 and 2021/22.

We have a deficit problem, with our fiscal deficit expected to blow out to R251 billion, or 4% of GDP, by 2021/22.

We have a debt problem, with our national debt expected to reach a staggering R3.7 trillion, or 59% of GDP, by 2021/22.

And we remain a small open economy with “twin deficits” making us vulnerable to external shocks.

  1. Debt Ceiling

Which is why we welcome the minister’s announcement that it is now time to consider a new “fiscal anchor”.

The aim of fiscal policy has been to stabilize national debt, which has been a spectacular failure given the fact that national debt will increase from R627 billion, or 26% of GDP, in 2008/09, to a staggering R3.7 trillion, or 59% of GDP, in 2021/22.

What this means is that we will be spending a staggering R247 billion on debt service costs in 2021/22, which is the equivalent of what we will spend on basic education this year, in 2018/19.

We think the solution is a statutory fiscal rule and we are in the advanced stages of preparing a Private Members Bill, called the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, which will make provision for a “debt ceiling”.

  1. Wreckers

We cannot go on like this and we hope that the minister will not allow himself to be muzzled and will continues to take on the wreckers inside the governing party.

He started off well by:

  • by saying that zombie state-owned enterprises like South African Airways should be shut down; and
  • by saying that those who support land expropriation without compensation are ill informed.

Which, of course, was greeted with horror by the wreckers inside the governing party, because they still reminisce fondly about the good of days of Check Point Charlie and Aeroflot.

The minister needs to take on:

  • Jeremy Cronin, who is still shackled to the idea of a Soviet-style central state planning commission and who thinks the National Development Plan consists of “some useful insights and recommendations, intriguing but untested proposals, summaries of programmes long under way, and much else”.

He needs to take on

  • Rob Davies, who is still shackled to the idea of a Soviet-style smokestack economy with workers toiling around blast furnaces happily singing “Arise ye workers” as they deliver a perfect rendition of the “The Internationale”.

The minister needs to take on:

  • Ebrahim Patel, who is busy weaponizing the competition commission to stamp out monopolies in the private sector, while doing everything in his power to protect monopolies in the public sector, including desperately clinging on to the biggest monopoly in the country, Eskom.

Of course, there is one wrecker the minister does not have to take on and that is Yunus Carrim, because he is a “Communist of a Special Type”.

He fights the struggle of the working class, not from the factory floor, or from the plains of Outer Mongolia as he often claims, but from the lobbies of the most lavish hotels in Washington.

And that is because his best kept secret is … wait for it … that despite being a leading member of the Communist Party, he serves as a board member on the parliamentary network of …wait for it … the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

  1. Nutters

Oh, and the minister should not forget Nomvule Mokonyane, who is more of a nutter than a wrecker, and who thinks that we can just “pick up the rand”.

  1. Conclusion

In the end, we welcome the fact that the minister:

  • has decided to remain on Twitter; and
  • has decided to be more careful on Twitter.

We know he has had a bad start, but things will get better and we look forward to debating the best ideas to take us forward in South Africa.

The DA to seek legal advice on the NHI rush job which seeks to nationalise healthcare

If the ANC government continues to push through the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, without proper public participation and consultation – the Democratic Alliance (DA) will seek legal advice regarding the highly irregular process followed in revising the NHI Bill. This follows an announcement by presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko that the NHI Bill will be tabled before cabinet next week.

Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi is more determined than ever to push through the National Health Insurance scam, by side-stepping public participation processes and consultation with Treasury and Health Department officials. The Minister’s backdoor dealings subsequent to the closure of public comment period, effectively mutes any input from the public, as the proposed changes are substantive, and the public and other stakeholders have not had an opportunity to raise their concerns.

The NHI Bill in its original form and even more so in this revised form will do nothing to address the collapsing healthcare system. It is a blatant attempt to nationalise the private healthcare system and to remove funding and functions from provincial departments.

The wave of electioneering has clearly reached the policy development realm in the ANC, casting aside the long-term sustainable solutions for quick political wins, no matter the cost.

The DA has launched a plan for universal healthcare in South Africa, which we have titled Our Health Plan (OHP). We believe our offer is the most credible and workable option that seeks to ensure that no person is denied quality healthcare because they are poor.

The revised National Health Insurance Draft Bill should be made public and the public participation process should be immediately reopened. The dodgy revised Bill would put the needs of South Africans on the backburner yet again, the DA will not allow this to happen.

Only the DA has a workable healthcare plan that will speed up the provision of quality healthcare to all South Africans. Now is the time for change that builds One South Africa for All.