DA Leader Maimane challenges the President to oppose Zuma’s permanent stay of prosecution

It is unconscionable, and unacceptable, that the Presidency has agreed to pay for Jacob Zuma’s legal costs for his participation in the Zondo Commission, on top of the costs for his criminal defence that the state already pays. How long will this government make the public pay for Jacob Zuma? President Ramaphosa should cut off this obscene funding immediately, and in fact the President should be opposing Zuma’s application for a permanent stay of prosecution.

If President Ramaphosa is serious about showing real commitment to fighting corruption, there is no way that he should be allowing the public to carry the cost of Zuma’s legal defence – this is a corruption tax on the public. Ramaphosa should be using the Zuma case as an opportunity to demonstrate that no one will be above the law in South Africa. He should instruct the state attorney to oppose Zuma’s application for a stay of prosecution. The DA calls on Ramaphosa to do so.

Regardless of whether the President rises to the occasion or not, the DA will not let Jacob Zuma get away with corruption. We have instructed our lawyers to begin the process of joining the case as an interested party to oppose Zuma’s application for a permanent stay of prosecution.

Zuma has been running from charges of fraud, money laundering, racketeering and corruption for a decade. Every day justice is postponed is another day justice is denied for almost 60 million South Africans.

If Ramaphosa can be so quick to offer to pay back the R500 000 “donation” from corrupt facilities management company, Bosasa, to his ANC Presidency election campaign, he should have no problem in taking a stand against making the people of South Africa paying to keep Zuma out of prison. President Ramaphosa’s decision will serve as a litmus test for the “good” and “bad” ANC myth.

The state is not a bail out bank for corrupt politicians. The DA will ensure that that anyone found guilty of corruption spends a minimum of 15 years behind bars.

Whether it is President Ramaphosa and his family’s links to Bosasa or the almost 800 charges haunting Zuma, we simply cannot have double standards over bribery and corruption in South Africa.

We will never be able to build One SA for All so long so as we are governed by Presidents who think that they are above the law. President Ramaphosa must decide whether his fealty lies with Zuma or the people of South Africa.

PIC board must make all the facts surrounding the resignation of Dr Dan Matjila public

We note that the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Investment Corporation Dr Dan Matjila’s offer to resign has been accepted and is effective immediately.

However, this cannot be the end of the matter: it is imperative that the board makes all the facts surrounding his resignation public.

We need to be sure there was no “golden handshake” and that he will not be allowed to escape and evade accountability for his actions at the Public Investment Corporation.

Bosasa executive contradicts Mantashe’s claims, placing him in the middle of the scandal

The DA notes comments by Bosasa executive director, Papa Leshabane, confirming that the company did pay for security upgrades for Gwede Mantashe and that Mantashe “has called him for assistance”, casting further doubts on the Minister’s claims, on 30 September, denying the security upgrades.

Minister Mantashe categorically denied having any knowledge of who paid for the security upgrades at his house. He also, unequivocally, stated that the ANC had paid for these upgrades. This has been contradicted by Bosasa’s Leshabane.

If it is true that Mantashe lied, and is linked to this scandal, then it proves that the Bosasa scandal is implicating not only President Ramaphosa but many other members of the ANC leadership. This could mean that the ANC has, for years, been using Bosasa for ‘favours’ and ‘assistance’ in exchange for government contracts valued in the billions. This would constitute nothing more than yet another corrupt arrangement that exists within the ANC and its government.

Now trading under the name African Global, the company has government contracts worth billions and has previously been reported to have paid for security upgrades and other benefits to other ANC ministers such as Minister of Environmental Affairs, Nomvula Mokonyane; Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Thabang Makwetla; ANC MP, Vincent Smith; former SAA Chairperson, Dudu Myeni.

Indeed, there is a term for companies that benefit from government contracts lavishing money and “benefits” on politicians: corruption.

This is precisely why I laid criminal charges against Mantashe, Mokonyane, Smith et al on 14 September in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (Act 12 of 2004). And this is precisely why DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, today referred the matter to the Office of the Public Protector.

What has become clear is that the ANC is a corrupt organisation, a culture which runs deep in its structures and governments. It matters not, who leads the party, the cancer that is corruption and maladministration is destroying government institutions.

The President is now embroiled in this matter along with other ANC executives and ministers. The DA is absolutely resolute in fighting corruption. We will not let this matter rest until each and everyone is brought to book.

No, President Ramaphosa, a bribe is a bribe

The following remarks were delivered today by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at a protest outside the headquarters of controversial facilities management company, Bosasa – now trading under the name, African Global, in Krugersdorp. Maimane was joined by Team One SA Spokesperson on Corruption, Phumzile van Damme, Team One SA Spokesperson on State Capture, Natasha Mazzone, and DA Gauteng Provincial Leader, John Moodey

Fellow South Africans,

President Ramaphosa lied to Parliament, and the nation, about the R500,000 paid to him by the corruption-plagued company Bosasa last year. He told us it was legitimate money earned by his son for consulting work, and that he had even seen the contract. But when the truth emerged – that the money was in fact for him and his personal election campaign – he tried to beat the media to the story by issuing a retraction and correction.

 

This is an extremely serious breach of conduct in terms of the Executive Ethics Act and not, as he and Jackson Mthembu have been at pains to explain, just an innocent mistake. It has very serious implications for his Presidency and cannot be made to go away by a sheepish apology.

 

For this reason I have referred the matter to the Office of the Public Protector for investigation. If it is then found that the President knowingly and wilfully misled Parliament, he will have to face the consequences. Because this is the level of accountability our democracy deserves.

Let’s talk for a minute what the President lied about. But first I need to tell you about the way corruption works between government officials and companies that do business – or want to do business – with the state.

It’s really simple: The company makes a “donation” to the politician, and in return the company is rewarded with government contracts. These contracts are usually awarded outside of the normal tender process, and often at inflated prices. But that’s why they paid the bribe. That’s how you purchase yourself a President.

It happens every day, at every level and sphere of government. It has become the accepted way of doing business with the ANC, and it can range from R100 to secure a short-term EPWP job to hundreds of millions of Rands to secure multi-billion Rand contracts.

They never use their own bank accounts – there is always a middleman. This could be a family member, a shell company or a trust account – anything to put a little distance between them and the person paying the bribe.

It is a system of corruption that has become part of the very fabric of the ANC government. A system that we can only eradicate through a party reshuffle, and not a cabinet reshuffle.

So why am I telling you this today? The reason I’m telling you is because our President, Cyril Ramaphosa, wants you to think of the money he received from this company here – African Global Operations, formerly known as Bosasa – as something other than a bribe.

He desperately needs you to believe it wasn’t a bribe, because if you don’t – if you add up two and two and get four – your only conclusion will be that our new President is not so different from the old one. That there is no good ANC and bad ANC – there’s only one ANC, and they have only one way of conducting their business.

A bribe is a bribe, whether it is paid to a local councillor, to Jacob Zuma or to Cyril Ramaphosa. If we were outraged when others did it, we should be equally outraged when the new President does it.

Last year, as he was campaigning to become President of the ANC, and later of our country, he was bankrolled by all sorts of people. This is normal. It costs money to run a campaign. What isn’t normal, however, is when those making the donations go on to benefit from government contracts. That’s the bit the ANC don’t want to talk about. That’s the difference between a donation and a bribe.

So let’s have a look at the company Cyril Ramaphosa and his spin doctors want you to believe is just another anonymous donor. Very few companies do bigger business with the state than Bosasa. Even fewer of them have a background of corruption that matches that of Bosasa.

This is a company with government contracts worth more than R10 billion with Correctional Services, Home Affairs, Social Development and the Airports Company SA.

It is also a company that has been under investigation for large-scale fraud and corruption for more than a decade. Some reports say that over 400 criminal cases involving Bosasa have been referred to the NPA by the Special Investigation Unit.

These include the alleged payment of bribes to prison bosses in return for huge tenders – payments arranged by the very same Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson who gave the go-ahead for Ramaphosa’s payment.

Only the NPA will be able to answer why, since 2007, no prosecutions have followed the detailed and ongoing investigation of the SIU. But if we’ve learnt one thing in this country, it’s that a persistent refusal to prosecute by the NPA is an almost certain indication of guilt.

And if you need any further proof of Bosasa’s dirty business with the ANC, just look at the list of cadres who were gifted expensive security services at their private homes by the company. Since 2013 Bosasa has installed high-end alarm systems, CCTV cameras and electric fencing, completely free of charge, for the likes of Gwede Mantashe, Nomvula Mokonyane, Thabang Makwetla, Dudu Myeni (SAA), Linda Mti, Mbulelo Gingcana (PRASA) and Vincent Smith.

And finally, let us not forget the tried and tested modus operandi of ANC Presidents and Ministers: Get the family, and specifically the children, in on the deal. We saw it with the children and nephew of Jacob Zuma. And now we are seeing it with Ramaphosa’s son, Andile.

As the President admitted in Parliament – before half retracting this admission later when the truth came out – his son does business with Bosasa. The President said that he confronted his son about these dealings and was assured that all was above board. And that, according to him, is where this matter ends.

Well, I have some bad news for the President. This matter ends when the truth comes out, and not a minute sooner.

We know that Andile is involved with 34 different companies, but we don’t know which of these deal with African Global/Bosasa and what the nature of this business is. What we certainly won’t do is accept, without questioning, the President’s assurance that all is above board. Because it looks more and more like we have simply replaced uBaba kaDuduzane with uBaba kaAndile.

We can’t have double standards when it comes to bribery and corruption – particularly not when it involves the highest office of the country. The President’s links to Bosasa – including all payments made to him, to the ANC and to his son, whether directly or through shell companies, third parties or trust accounts – must be investigated in detail.

It is now six days since I called for this investigation, and we are yet to hear from the President when and how this will take place. All we’ve had from him and his party are clumsy excuses for supposedly misspeaking in Parliament.

That’s not good enough. And neither is a promise to pay back the dirty money. Because if it were, then every criminal ever caught out could simply say “I’ll pay it back” and walk away scot-free. When it comes to accountability, we have far higher standards than that.

A DA government will not tolerate corruption. Because only a government that is truly tough on corruption can build a free and fair society – one united, prosperous South Africa that works for all its people. That is why we will send those found guilty of corruption to jail for 15 years. That is why we will make use of Blockchain technology to make the payment of all public money transparent and incorruptible.

And that is why, when it comes to your Bosasa money Mr President, we demand the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Whatever the consequences for you and your party.

BOKAMOSO | SA’s redemption lies in a split ANC, not a strong ANC

In my newsletter last week, I interrogated and debunked the theory that Cyril Ramaphosa needs a bigger mandate in 2019 so that he can fix the ANC, and by extension (so the argument goes) the economy. Now I want to debunk the equally ill-considered theory that the ANC needs a clear majority so that it isn’t forced into coalition with the EFF.

This theory was articulated last week by influential commentator Max du Preez in a radio interview: “If by April next year it seems to me that the ANC could come in under 50% or just over, I will bring out a strategic vote for them on a national level… because… if the ANC gets 45% next year ……. the only possible alliance partner in our current political climate would be the EFF.”

Peter Bruce, in his Sunday Times column, said: “a weakened ANC is ripe for EFF reinfection”.

Let’s put aside the obvious problem that dismal past performance should not be rewarded with re-election. No healthy democracy would return a political party to power that has grown the number of unemployed from 3.7 million to 9.8 million, lost the nation R500 billion to state capture, put its economy into recession, and produced an illiteracy rate of 80% amongst 10-year-olds.

If South Africa is to develop a culture of accountability, we need to hold corruption and poor performance to account, not reward it. If the ANC is returned to power in 2019 with a resounding majority, it would deliver a body blow to our democracy.

Let’s also put aside the possibility that confidence in Ramaphosa is based on blind hope rather than on any rational assessment of the facts to hand. (I’ll discuss that in next week’s newsletter.)

The notion that we must give the ANC a clear majority to avoid an ANC-EFF coalition relies on the assumption that the ANC would choose to go into coalition with the EFF over the other available options. But other options do exist. An ANC-EFF coalition is not the only possibility.

A 45% ANC could choose to go into coalition with some combination of other parties or it could form a minority government (in which they would need to build consensus around each piece of legislation before passing it into law). Alternatively, the other parties could form a coalition government or a minority coalition government. (After the 2016 local elections, DA-led minority coalition governments were formed in Johannesburg and Tshwane, summarily cutting the ANC’s patronage systems in both metros and returning them to financial health).

If the assumption (that the ANC would go into coalition with the EFF) is correct, it suggests that the ANC’s values, ideology, interests and policy positions are more closely aligned with the EFF than with other parties. If this is the case, the ANC is the last party we should vote for if we want to protect our nation from EFF-style politics. Instead, we should strengthen the only bulwark against this style of politics: the DA.

If everyone follows these commentators’ advice, and the ANC is returned to power with a strong mandate, there will be a real possibility that together the ANC and EFF will achieve the required two thirds mandate to change our Constitution. This cannot possibly be in South Africa’s best interest.

In August, the ANC and EFF went into coalition in Nelson Mandela Bay to wrest the metro from DA mayor Athol Trollip’s capable, honest administration and return it to the same corrupt cabal that emptied the coffers before 2016, as detailed in Crispian Olver’s book How to Steal a City.

In the matter of the VBS heist, the ANC and alliance partner SACP both received money from VBS and the evidence suggests the EFF also benefitted, at the expense of the rural poor of Limpopo.

Just last week, the ANC supported the EFF’s motion in the Constitutional Review Committee to change the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation.

If the ANC comes in under 50% in 2019, it would end the ANC’s disastrous run of hegemonic, majoritarian liberation movement politics and usher in a new era of coalition politics and political accountability. Public representatives would know that corruption and poor performance are punished at the ballot box.

Ramaphosa’s faction would have good reason to split from the ANC and go its own ideological way. A final split in the ANC would bring about a real realignment of politics, in which all of us who share a respect for the Constitution and a commitment to honest, people-focused government could work together to get South Africa back on track.

South Africa’s redemption lies in a split ANC, not a strong ANC. Yet this split will not happen while we focus on saving the ANC rather than on saving South Africa.

The main problem with a focus on saving the ANC, regardless of who emerges as leader, is that the ANC is beholden to Cosatu for its support. The ANC-Cosatu alliance sustains itself through maintaining an insider-outsider economy in which the insiders – those with jobs – enjoy the protection of restrictive labour legislation.

The ANC-Cosatu alliance is a fundamentally insider-driven organization, guaranteeing SADTU control over large sectors of our education department and putting reforms such as reducing the public sector wage bill strictly off limits.

This is why Carol Paton in her latest column rightly argues that even under a Ramaphosa-dominated ANC our most pressing problems will endure: unemployment and especially youth unemployment will remain high, basic education will remain dysfunctional, and the public sector wage bill will remain bloated. All of which will keep the handbrake on our economy.

A “strategic” vote for the ANC may be attractive to insiders including those who fund the ANC’s election campaign, but it will keep the poor, hungry, unemployed outsiders out and perpetually dependent on the state.

To build an economy that works for everyone, we need a coalition based on a commitment to breaking down the barriers that keep so many people locked out of the economy. We need to stare the unions down and implement real reforms, and we need to do this urgently. We cannot afford another five or ten years with a dysfunctional basic education system and unnaturally high unemployment, both of which are crimes against humanity.

The DA does not rely on unions for electoral support. Our plan is to break down the insider/outsider divide by changing labour legislation to make it more attractive / less risky for businesses to create jobs and easier for small businesses to start and grow. We would strengthen and capacitate education departments by ending the system of cadre deployment that keeps SADTU so powerful. And we would focus on building a lean, capable state that delivers quality services to all.

It is no coincidence that over half the jobs created in South Africa in the past 12 months were created in the Western Cape (95 000 out of 188 000), even though the Western Cape only accounts for 12% of South Africa’s labour force. It is a direct result of our focus on extending opportunities to all.

In 2019, a “strategic” vote for the ANC by insiders will be a vote for the insider/outsider economy status quo. It will indicate a failure of imagination, a dereliction of electoral duty and a disregard for the democratic principle of accountability. A vote for the DA will be a vote for reforms that break down the barriers that keep the jobless and the young locked out. It will be a vote for an honest, capable state that enables job creation and delivers to all.

New Cabinet, same ANC

The DA notes President Ramaphosa’s Cabinet reshuffle. While we welcome his commitment to making the Cabinet more capable, his announcement is the second missed opportunity in nine months to fire delinquent Ministers such as Bathabile Dlamini, and Nomvula Mokonyane.

It was also a missed opportunity to cut down the size of this bloated Executive, as we have called on him to do, and we contend that it is entirely possible for a more effective Executive to operate with around 15 ministries. Merging Telecommunications, Postal Services and Communications into one Ministry and recycling Siyabonga Cwele onto Home Affairs does nothing to achieve this and is little more than a reshuffling of dead wood.

The DA’s court action to have Dlamini fired is still ongoing. However, today is the extended deadline for the President to file his motion to oppose this application and his failure to fire Dlamini is all the answer that we need.

Bathabile Dlamini brought the country’s social grants system to the brink of collapse and played Russian roulette with the welfare of 17 million South Africans. She is a Zupta deployee who the Constitutional Court said ‘was reckless and grossly negligent’ in her handling of the SASSA grants crisis, and ordered her to pay costs. The Court also found “very strong” evidence that Dlamini gave false testimony, and recommended that the NPA investigate charges of perjury against her. It is inconceivable that such a person could hold Executive office in any constitutional democracy. Bathabile Dlamini deserves to be fired, and President Ramaphosa’s failure to do so suggests he endorses her conduct.

Dlamini’s delinquency is followed closely by former Minister of Water and Sanitation and Communications, now Environmental Affairs Minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, who destroyed the Water and Sanitation Department. That department remains effectively paralysed by corruption, incompetence and maladministration. She chose Dudu Myeni to run the Mhlathuze and Umgeni waterboards, proving her reliability as a Zupta deployee so how she now finds herself on Environmental Affairs defies reason.

A ‘New Dawn’ cannot be built on the same liars and Zupta loyalists who helped keep Jacob Zuma in power and out of prison. Dlamini and Mokonyane’s watch must end and President Ramaphosa failed to end it.

This Cabinet reshuffle represents no real change. The decks have simply been reshuffled to please ANC insiders.

Ramaphosa has made it clear that he is the President of the ANC before he is the President of the Republic. The people of South Africa will always come last so long as the ANC is in government.

#VBSHeist: DA lays criminal charges against EFF leadership over R1.8m ‘received’ from VBS

Today the DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Kevin Mileham and DA National Spokesperson Solly Malatsi, laid charges against the EFF at the Cape Town Central SAPS Station. Please find attached an English and Afrikaans soundbite by Mr. Mileham and another English and Sepedi soundbite by Mr. Malatsi.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has today laid criminal charges against the EFF’s Julius Malema, Floyd Shivambu and the party itself, following allegations that the party, through corrupt means, received R1.8 million from VBS Mutual Bank.

Reports indicate that monies syphoned from the bank were allegedly funneled through companies owned by Shivambu’s brother, Brian, and Malema’s cousin, Matsobane Phaleng.

Evidence of the EFF’s involvement in the looting is now mounting by the day. It is clear that the party, which claims to be on the side of people oppressed by poverty, has been deeply involved in stealing from the very people they claim to represent.

Not only did the EFF, as a party, allegedly receive funds from VBS, but their members, and immediate family, appear to have benefited from this looting too. Brian Shivambu, brother of the EFF’s Floyd Shivambu, is said to have received R16 million from the bank “without an apparent cause” and it was further alleged in media reports that evidence existed of Floyd receiving R10 million of that money.

The looting of VBS has affected many individual investors, stokvels, burial societies and some of South Africa’s poorest municipalities. Numerous vulnerable clients have potentially lost their life savings. It is appalling that the EFF would shamelessly steal from people oppressed by poverty – a constituency it claims to represent.

The EFF’s implication in the looting of VBS is a clear indication that the apple does not fall far from the tree – their only concern is that of lining their own pockets and enriching their henchmen. They are a true doppelganger of the ANC.

The VBS heist was not victimless – it was made at the expense of people oppressed by poverty. The victims of the EFF and failing ANC’s corruption will likely never see their money again and the provision of services in some of South Africa’s poorest municipalities are now at risk.

The DA trusts that the South African Police Services will investigate these allegations and bring the EFF to book. As well as the SACP and ANC who have also been implicated in this nefarious scheme designed to steal from people oppressed by poverty.

The DA will continue to fight to ensure that the EFF and ANC’s “Coalition of Corruption” are held accountable for their involvement in the looting of VBS Bank. The DA urges citizens to choose the party that will fight corruption, instead of voting for parties which endorse it.

Auditor-General should use new Bill to claim back public money lost through mismanagement and corruption

Today the Auditor-General (A-G) revealed that fruitless and wasteful expenditure increased by over 200% year-on-year to R2.5 billion, with unauthorized expenditure increasing by 38. The A-G also noted that there was an increase in irregular expenditure and that it is likely to be in excess of R51 billion; however, he could not confirm the figure because of outstanding audits and incomplete information.

The DA therefore welcomes the news that President Cyril Ramaphosa has finally signed the Public Audit Amendment Bill into law. This important piece of legislation, which was collecting dust on the president’s desk, will now give the A-G more power to hold officials accountable as opposed to merely pointing out irregularities and indiscretions. This is a necessary step, especially considering that the ANC has shown it is incapable of holding offenders accountable, and we urge that this new piece of legislation is implemented urgently.

In October, the DA concluded that irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure totaled a staggering R75.6 billion on a study of the 2017/18 Annual Reports of government departments and selected entities.

We also made the point then that “[w]here the DA has taken over failing ANC governments, it has succeeded in sorting out the financial mess and improving service delivery in remarkably short periods of time.” Today’s report once again showed how the DA-run Western Cape, with 83% clean audits, is way ahead of the next best, namely Gauteng at 52%.

DA-led governments achieve these successes because we are tough on mismanagement and waste, and we prioritize the provision of services to our residents. We hold everyone, including those in political office to account for maladministration and corruption.

Clean governance is paramount to moving South Africa forward, and to ensure that every rand being spent by the government is spent to improve the lives of South Africans. It is clear that the DA is the only party that has the will to put clean and efficient governments for all South Africans.

Government needs to intervene with municipalities’ R25 billion utilities debt

Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Kevin Mileham MP

The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that various municipalities owe Eskom and numerous water boards a combined amount of over R25 billion. This shows the failure of local municipalities and the mismanagement of their finances under the ANC government.

We demand urgent intervention in failing municipalities in order to ensure that their financial crisis is turned around. We, therefore, call on National Treasury to urgently provide financial recovery plans for these failing municipalities, including a monthly dashboard that shows how much each municipality owes to Water Boards and Eskom, as well as the progress that’s being made to address the debt.

The top 12 worst offenders owe a total of R5.6 billion to water boards. As a result, water boards cannot refurbish the water services infrastructure. The biggest offender is the Matjhabeng Municipality which owes Sedibeng Water Board R2.4 billion. The total owed by all municipalities to water boards is an eye-watering R8.6 billion.

When it comes to Eskom, the top 20 defaulters owe a total of R11.6 billion and the total amount owed to Eskom by all municipalities now amounts to R17 billion.

Some municipalities owe both Eskom and water boards. The major culprits are the Matjhabeng, Emfuleni, Govan Mbeki and Nala municipalities.

Emfuleni, which we visited today, owes R638 million to water boards alone and a further R872 million to Eskom. Thus, the combined amount owed by Emfuleni is a shocking R1.5 billion for water and electricity.

The viability and sustainability of these waterboards and of Eskom are being threatened as the overall debt levels are increasing. This is despite Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister (COGTA) Minister Zweli Mkhize establishing the Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) on electricity reticulation and distribution.

This R25 billion debt shows the absolute collapse of financial management, leadership and debt control. It demonstrates that Minister Mkhize’s IMTT, which was supposed to address the collapsing state of local governance, was just a talk shop with no real action.

Treasury’s recovery plans must be backed by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti providing a strategy on how Eskom and the affected water boards can engage with COGTA in order to find viable solutions to restore basic services to our people.

The failing ANC government’s chronic financial mismanagement and corruption have crippled our communities. Residents face possible power outages and water shortages due to the ANC’s failure in government.

This is not only an inconvenience for the residents but also has consequences for local economic development.

The failing ANC is incapable of providing our people with good governance and efficient service delivery. The DA is the only party that can bring change that speeds up the delivery of services to all South Africans.

You can download pictures here and here.

Cash and sex for jobs is standard practice where the ANC governs

The following speech was delivered today in the National Assembly by DA Team One SA Spokesperson on Access to Jobs, Geordin Hill-Lewis MP

Endless column inches and hours of debate in this House have been devoted to the question of how to get the economy growing so that it can create enough jobs to bring down unemployment.

Despite all of this attention, the problem has only got worse.

It has got worse because we have a government and a President that has no plan for how to fix the economy, beyond talk-shop conferences and photo-op summits.

And it has got worse because we have a government and a President incapable of implementing real economic reforms, because his party has outsourced policy making to the EFF.

According to Stats SA there are now 9.7 million unemployed South Africans. That’s one-and-a-half million more than the 8.2 million South Africans who voted for the ANC in the last election.

If every unemployed person votes for the party that is best able to grow the economy and create jobs, this government will fall next year, as it should.

But let’s not labour under the misapprehension that the ANC even wants to fix this problem. It does not.

A population of unemployed people must rely on the government, and to the ANC, that means they must rely on them. They are kept in a dependency trap.

If you think that is too cynical even for the ANC, just wait until you see for yourself the hideous underbelly of how the ANC actively manipulates desperate people who need to feed their families.

We have focused a lot on how grand corruption – state capture, Nkandla, VBS and now Bosasa – undermine growth and destroy jobs.

But the truth of the lived reality of poor people at the hands of this venal party is even more shocking than who is paying the President’s son.

The truth is this: Even those jobs that are available, are only available to those who are prepared to pay the ANC.

And what is the currency of ANC jobs manipulation?

Cash, votes and sexual favours.

Imagine a young matriculant excited to apply for an internship at the local Emfuleni Municipality in Gauteng, offered a starting salary of R7000. But soon told that to get the job, she needs to sleep with local ANC officials, who are funding this sex-for-jobs ring – disguised as an internship programme – by siphoning money from the council’s disaster management fund.

Imagine studying to be a nurse, optimistic and idealistic. But then being told that you will have to pay R2000 of your salary every month to the human resources director of the Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital, also in Gauteng, to get a job.

And only months into your job, being told that money is not enough. He wants more.

And then, the provincial government in Gauteng saying it could not do anything about it because “no official complaint had been received”.

No such callous government deserves to stay in office in that province.

Or the ANC Councillor in Itsoseng in the North West, Morutse Molefe, charging people R100 for an EPWP job.

Or the Councillor in Roodepan who made anyone wanting an EPWP job first show him their ANC membership card.

Or the Eastern Cape government’s refusal to release a report into a massive cash-for-jobs scandal in the province, because it implicated too many senior ANC politicians and officials.

There are literally hundreds of these examples. Viewed as isolated incidents they are sad and shocking.

But viewed together, they paint a horrific picture of an endemic practice in the ANC and its governments, that is tacitly accepted and endorsed by protecting the guilty.

Venal, corrupt, lecherous and predatory.

This is the ugly truth about the ANC, and we’re going to make sure everyone knows who is responsible.

We are calling on every person who has been denied fair access to a job by an ANC councillor or official to write to the DA, contact our offices or your local DA representative.

We will bring every example here and make the ANC account for it.

And let’s see what they do.

Will they change the EPWP job allocation system to a randomised, fair system that shuts the door on corruption, like we have done in our governments?

Will they act strongly against the perpetrators?

Will they start by apologising to the country for what has happened so far?

Voters in Gauteng will be waiting to hear the answer.