ANC refuses to allow DA to table motion to suspend Mayor

The Democratic Alliance today tabled a motion to suspend senior political leaders, including the Executive Mayor Zukiswa Ncitha, Deputy Mayor Temba Tinta, the Speaker of Council Luleka Simon-Ndzele, Councillor Sindiswa Gomba, and the Acting Director of Executive Support Services, Ondela Mahlangu.

These individuals have been arrested and charged by the Hawkes for alleged fraud and money laundering involving Nelson Mandela's memorial service.

The ANC councillors refused to allow the motion to be tabled and they all continue to remain in their positions. This is despite the fact that the ANC national working committee has asked these individuals to “step aside”.

It is standard practice that people are suspended when they have been charged with alleged criminal activity relating to their employment.

The DA welcomes due process and the rule of law, however senior political leaders and municipal officials cannot be permitted to influence the testimony that others may wish to provide.

This scandal is arguably the worst in the council’s history. The public purse has been looted in the name of Tata Madiba – an appalling crime. By remaining in their positions, these accused are bringing further shame to the Buffalo City Metro council. 

Statement by Cllr Lance Weyer, DA BCMM Caucus Spokesperson

Image: Daily Dispatch

The REAL State of the Metro is not a good story to tell

The ANC of Jacob Zuma has once again staged an extravagant smoke and mirrors exercise, costing hundreds of thousands of rands, which amounts to nothing more than an attempt by the ruling party to find “good stories” to tell just weeks before the election.

This was conducted just a week after an equally elaborate “Council Open Day” was held at City Hall, and is once again in contravention of a National Treasury notice to eliminate non-priority expenditure.

Neither of these events actually served to engage stakeholders and communities, but these were rather an excuse to grandstand and feast at the expense of the citizens of Buffalo City.

In her speech, Mayor Zukiswa Ncitha highlighted several achievements, and totally glossed over the major issues affecting the city.

The real story of the State of the Metro is a bad story to tell - it is one of maladministration, corruption and wasteful expenditure:

·         A qualified audit opinion from the Auditor General.

·         R781 million in irregular expenditure.

·         R102, 9 million in water losses and R85, 3 million in electricity losses.

·         Underspending the capital budget by R384, 6 million.

·         Above-inflation tariff increases.

·         Infrastructure backlogs totalling billions of rands, particularly in roads, water and electricity.

·         A dysfunctional Supply Chain Management Unit.

·         A generally dirty city due to a Community Services Department crippled by poor leadership.

·         Slow pace of housing delivery and electrification of informal dwellings.

·         Pit latrines are considered acceptable sanitation, and there are plans to roll out thousands more.

·         Failure to deal with forensic investigations that uncover fraud and maladministration.

·         Failure to deal decisively with the Nelson Mandela Memorial taxi scandal, including a mayor who hinders law enforcement from conducting investigations into corruption.

·         A municipal manager and mayor who are unable to work together.

·         An ineffective public-participation process that amounts to nothing more than window dressing.

The ANC leadership in Buffalo City has its head in the sand while our city is falling apart around us.

It is clear that the ANC of Tambo, Mandela and Mbeki no longer exists in Buffalo City. Jacob Zuma’s ANC is not in politics to transform South Africa into a better place for all. It is in politics to enrich itself, its friends and its family. We see it every day in our communities – especially here in Buffalo City where we have so many multi-million rand scandals.

The DA in Buffalo City will never stand by quietly while this looting happens. Where the DA governs, people’s lives are getting better and better. More money goes to ordinary people because we are serious about stopping corruption and spending more money on delivering services.

The time for change is now. On the 7th of May voters must send the Jacob Zuma led ANC a loud message that enough is enough.

Together for Change, Together for Jobs.

Mazibuko: Zuma’s failure to condemn anti-gay law an insult to the Constitution

The DA is outraged by the failure of President Zuma to condemn the draconian anti-gay legislation passed in Uganda earlier this year. 

 

In a reply to my parliamentary question - which I posed to President Zuma to gain clarity on his position on this matter which has received worldwide condemnation - the President said that “South Africa respects the sovereign rights of other countries to adopt their own legislation”.

 

This is an insult to our constitution and to President Mandela’s human rights inspired foreign policy. President Zuma, and the entire leadership of the ANC, should hang their heads in shame.

 

The international community did not adopt a ‘hands off’ approach to Apartheid South Africa. We should likewise not stand quietly by as our president adopts this shameful approach when other countries violate the human rights of their people.

 

To do so is to send a message to the rest of the world that we are hypocrites. 

 

Uganda's anti-gay legislation has horrific consequences for gay Ugandan citizens. The law provides for:

• Life imprisonment for having gay sexual intercourse;
• Life imprisonment for so-called "aggravated homosexuality”;
• Life imprisonment for living in a same-sex marriage;
• Seven years for "attempting to commit homosexuality";
• Between five and seven years in jail or a $40,700 (£24,500) fine or both for the "promotion" of homosexuality;
• The cancellation of registration of businesses or non-governmental organisations found guilty of the "promotion of homosexuality". These Directors could face seven years in jail.

President Zuma's latest blunder is yet another example of how the ANC of today is merely a shadow of its former self. It is clear that this government, unlike that of President Nelson Mandela’s, no longer shares Madiba’s vision that human rights should be “the light that guides our foreign affairs”. 

 

One would think a country with a painful history of discrimination like ours, would be the first to condemn such horrid crimes against humanity. 

 

But President Zuma and his ANC remain detached from what is important both in South Africa and on the African continent.  

 

The DA will remain dedicated to implementing a foreign policy that is informed by a commitment to human rights.

 

That is why a vote for the DA on May 7will be a vote for the promotion of basic human rights at home and abroad. 

 

Lindiwe Mazibuko MP

Parliamentary Leader of the Democratic Alliance

Zuma’s ANC rejects DA motion to condemn Uganda’s anti-gay bill

Democratic Alliance statement by

Sandy Kalyan MP

Deputy Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance 

The DA is deeply concerned and unspeakably disappointed that the ANC today blocked a DA motion without notice condemning the Anti-Homosexuality Bill signed into law by Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, yesterday. 

It is also highly revealing that ANC MPs heckled me today when I raised this issue in the House, illustrating their brazen insensitivity if not support for this shocking measure.

Our motion would have ensured that South Africa continues with the human rights-based foreign policy established by President Nelson Mandela and that we re-gain our moral standing in the international arena. 

It would have also made it clear to the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, that her failure to act decisively on this issue - as made clear in her department's press release today - must be brought to an end. 

The ANC in Parliament did not seek to propose any amendments to the motion. It was merely rejected “in its entirety”.

This continues the shameful failure by President Zuma’s administration to act on this matter. 

We must indeed ask why it is that South Africa always resorts to silent diplomacy when it instead should be providing leadership on the continent. With our proud history of fighting injustice, and with one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, our government should have been first to publically object to the barbaric laws of a state right on our doorstep. 

As the DA, we strongly condemn the passing of this Bill and the criminalisation of homosexuality anywhere on the continent and the world.

The South African government, and the African Union, which is being chaired by, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, must be urged to act to ensure that Uganda’s suppression of human rights does not go without censure.

The DA will continue to push for this to happen without delay.

Why your vote DOES count

The proportion of South Africans who did not vote in national and provincial elections increased from 14% in 1994 to 41% in 2009. In other words, in 1994 some 86% of eligible voters voted in the national and provincial election, but by 2009 that proportion had fallen to under 60%.

Imagine how drastically the political landscape of SA could change if we all voted!

Recent opinion polls suggest this trend may continue. According to an opinion poll carried out by a market research company, Pondering Panda, in July 2013, almost a quarter of South Africans do not intend to vote in the 2014 national elections.

When the same people were asked why they would not vote, almost half (44%) said that things would stay the same no matter who won the election. If you believe that things would stay the same, please watch this clip (click on link below) to see how things changed from 2009 to now after the DA took control of the Western Cape Province.

YouTube: The Western Cape Story

Lack of funding is no excuse for not delivering services

Note: This appeared in the Daily Dispatch newspaper as a Letter to the Editor on 4 February 2012

We are all familiar with the annual news reports in the Daily Dispatch of how Buffalo City Metro fails to spend its capital budget. Given the number of potholes, leaking water pipes and the aging electricity infrastructure (just a few examples – there are many) it is unacceptable that the council consistently does not spend its capital budget. This year is no different - halfway through the financial BCMM has only spent 27% of its capital budget.

Considering this backdrop, my blood boiled when I received an email from a Buffalo City official in the roads department. After receiving a complaint relating to roads in a terrible condition that desperately needed maintenance, his response was as follows: “I would also like to use this opportunity to advise you that there are 50 Wards within the BCMM and every Councillor is requesting for the roads in their Ward to be rehabilitated / repaired ASAP and the Roads Division has limited resources at their disposal.”

It is absolutely unacceptable that officials use the excuse of limited resources when they have only spent a fraction of their budget. Our city it falling apart, and it is not because of a lack of funds - it is falling apart because of incompetent governance. If we want to see a change in Buffalo City we need a change in leadership - and that can only be done at the ballot box.

DA uncovers another attempt at looting the Buffalo City coffers

MEDIA STATEMENT

Issued by Councillor Lance Weyer, DA BCMM Caucus

31 January 2014

For many months the ANC’s administration has been trying to table a report in council which would see Buffalo City purchasing a piece of invaded land at a price much higher than its fair market value. Documents in the possession of the Democratic Alliance reveal the following information:

• The current owner, Mr Shoba, purchased the property in May 2012 for R130 000, R160 000 below it’s 2009 market value of R290 000 knowing that the property had been invaded by some 200 squatters. The property was registered on October 4, 2012.
• Only two months later Buffalo City officials issued a purchase requisition for an evaluation of the same property as the owner would like to sell the property to Buffalo City in order to avoid evicting the squatters.
• On the 13th of December 2012, the Acting CFO sent the evaluation to the Director of Planning and Economic Development. Worryingly, the date on the evaluation is a day later, 14 December 2012.
• Officials at Buffalo City claim that of the five independent valuers they contacted for an evaluation, only one submitted a quote to appraise the property, but submitted it late.
• The Finance Directorate conducted their own evaluation. The CFO’s valuers assessed the property’s value at a staggering R16,5 million – 127 times the original purchase price only months earlier.
• Documents show that comparable average sales price, based on the 20 most relevant comparable sales in the area, is only R1,8 million, far less than the figure obtained by the municipal property valuers.

The Democratic Alliance Caucus believes that Mr Shoba purchased the property for R130 000, knowing that the property had been invaded by squatters, with the intention of selling it to Buffalo City a few months later at a price much higher than it’s true value. We further believe that officials have colluded with Mr Shoba to inflate the price. 

Just as members of the governing party have allegedly used the death of Nelson Mandela to loot the coffers of Buffalo City Metro of millions of rands for their own gain, this is another attempt at corruption where the plight of impoverished people is being used as a tool to loot even more money from the city and points to an entrenched culture of corruption in Buffalo City.

The Democratic Alliance will therefore ask in Council for this matter to be referred to a full open, public investigation to be conducted by the Municipal Public Accounts Committee. All those found guilty of corrupt practices need to face the full extent of the law. If the ANC does not adequately investigate this matter and deal appropriately with the culprits, we will take this matter up with the Public Protector and the Hawkes.

Voter Registration Weekend - All you need to know

Syria: Smoke, mirrors and suffering

Perhaps the only certainty in what has turned into an international political game with much smoke and many mirrors, is that one day can make a lot of difference. 

On Monday it seemed that the world was barreling into its biggest crisis in years: an American attack on Syria loomed, one that could trigger the first major showdown between Washington and Moscow since the Cold War. Fighting in Syria could engulf the entire region, fuel prices would go through the roof, we would all feel some pain. 


By Tuesday morning everything had changed. A proposal, apparently from Russia, for Syria to submit its chemical stockpile for international control was accepted by the Syrian foreign minister. In the US the Senate vote on Obama’s planned strikes on Syria was put on hold. 


The world paused for a moment and wondered if Russian Premier Vladimir Putin had not, in an astonishing powerplay, outmanoeuvred US President Barack Obama and was starting to pull from his grasp America’s pole position as superpower. 


But Obama was not to be outdone so easily. Demonstrating a lot more mettle than his detractors would have us believe him capable of, he opted to give diplomacy a chance, with the proviso that if the Syrians and Russians did not act in good faith he would schedule a congressional vote to endorse his decision to use force. 

By “threatening to threaten,” says Thomas Friedman in the New York Times, Obama retained “leverage to keep the Syrians and Russians focused on implementing any agreement – but without having to test Congress’s real willingness to let him fulfill that threat”. 


Of course, the pain and suffering of Syrians being reduced to armwrestling by men in white collars in boardrooms is all very interesting for those who watch from a safe distance. As is the understandable fact that nobody in the US, the UK or Europe, wants to get caught in an intractable war. But the question remains, what is the fate of ordinary people caught in the crossfire in Syrian to be?

And with the focus on Bashar alAssad and his chemical weapons, what exactly are the rebels, possibly with chemicals of their own, getting up to? 


According to Friedman, thousands of Muslim youths have gathered from as far away as Australia to join the rebel jihadist militias fighting to create, not a multisectarian, pluralistic, democratic state, but one that is orthodox Sunni Islamist. This adds to the terror of residents in the Christian and Druze suburbs of Damascus already cowering at the threat of persecution from extremist al-Qaeda-affiliated rebels who have moved into their area. 


Whichever you look at things there are no good outcomes. 


This week a UK doctor working in Syria offered to pay for Labour leader Ed Miliband to spend a week in that country to see the suffering of people. Certainly the plight of civilians should concern anyone who likes to call themselves humanitarian, as should the situation overall, which is not on the backburner and could still result in the biggest showdown since the Cold War. Tomorrow may make all the difference but then it could mean nothing at all. 

Editorial opinion, Daily Dispatch, 12 September 2013 

SA Government watching Facebook and Google

The South African government had over the past year submitted 14 requests to Facebook and three to Google to get information about certain users.

Facebook granted none of the requests and Google granted one after receiving a court order in a case involving defamation, the Beeld newspaper reported.

Following Google’s example, Facebook has just published its first half-year report on government requests. According to Facebook and Google, the merits of each request are thoroughly considered before the information is released.

Well done to both companies for not bowing to government bullies!

Pro-gay church sign goes viral

St John’s Anglican Church, located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, has received a lot of attention this week for one of its signs. Looking to promote tolerance and acceptance towards the queer community, the church erected a signed that said: “Jesus had two dads, and he turned out just fine!”


Someone took a picture of the sign and posted it on Reddit. The image has been viewed over a million times and been shared through social media.

Earlier in August, Australia’s Gosford Anglican Church posted similar messages, critical of those opposed to LGBT rights, and speaking out in support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The most popular sign read: "Dear Christians, some people are gay. Get over it. Love, God."

Finally, real Christians are reclaiming the Church!

What links the Spy Tapes, Seriti Commission and the Arms Deal?

Next Tuesday, 03 September, the Gauteng North High Court will hear Jacob Zuma’s application for leave to appeal against the Court’s order compelling the National Prosecuting Authority to comply with the order of the Supreme Court of Appeal to hand over the record of decision (including the “spy tapes”) that were used as reasons by the NPA to withdraw 700 charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering against Jacob Zuma before he became President in 2009.

If that sounds confusing, that’s because it is.

It describes just a small part of the many twists and turns that Jacob Zuma’s legal team has taken to make sure he never has to appear in court to answer the charges against him.

Even if the High Court refuses the President leave to appeal, we expect Zuma’s legal team to continue their delaying tactics.  After ten years of legal obfuscation, prevarication, evasion and stonewalling, they have still not exhausted all their options. Their next move would be to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal, directly, for leave to appeal against a High Court order to comply with a previous order of Supreme Court of Appeal handed down 18 months ago. And that way they will probably win another few months.

There seems to be no end to the detours lawyers can take on behalf of clients who have a bottomless pit of money. If it were not for the South African taxpayer, Jacob Zuma would long since have had his day in the dock.

The DA has already spent millions of its own money trying to get to the truth in this matter. We will not give up because the principles involved are so important to our democracy: that everyone is equal before the law and that the National Prosecuting Authority must act without fear, favour or political influence.

But President Zuma’s continued cynical use of taxpayers’ money to avoid handing over the “spy tapes” (that supposedly reveal a political conspiracy against him) was a particularly bitter pill to swallow in a week when the mineworkers of Marikana were refused the same advantage.

The Constitutional Court ruled last week that it could not compel the state to pay for the workers’ legal representation at the Farlam Commission of Enquiry into the tragedy that unfolded on the platinum belt a year ago. While we understand the Court’s rationale - that it could not dictate to the executive how to spend scarce public resources - it only serves to underscore how much public money is being squandered by our president protecting his personal interests. 

Indeed, if we were to use the “public interest” as the yardstick for spending taxpayers’ money on court cases, we would stop funding the President’s endless diversions, and start funding the Marikana mineworkers so that they can appear before the Farlam Commission on a level playing field.

After all, the taxpayers are funding the police’s crack legal team of three advocates; and Lonmin, the mining company involved, is not financially constrained when it comes to legal representation. Each relevant government department has its own legal representatives for the Commission. 

Yet the mineworkers are expected to go unrepresented.  If they were appearing in a court of law, they would qualify for legal aid. But this right does not extend to a Commission of Inquiry. We think this arbitrary distinction is unfair and places the mineworkers at a disadvantage from the start. This cannot be in South Africa’s interests.  We need to know the truth of what happened during that tragic week of August 2012. And legal representation for the miners will help us get there. As the old adage goes: Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.

This brings us onto the controversial Seriti Commission into the Arms Deal where South African taxpayers are also covering the costs. The State Attorney will lead a team of advocates which will represent each government department involved. These are the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, Department of Trade and Industry and the National Treasury, former ministers who have been subpoenaed (Ronnie Kasrils, Mosiuoa Lekota and Alec Erwin) and the present minister in the presidency (the then minister of finance), Trevor Manuel, and former president, Thabo Mbeki.

We conservatively estimate that it is costing R41 999 200 per day. The total cost of the Commission is R101 874 284. Every witness is being cross-examined by lawyers acting for the government.

This means that if any interested party (such as the DA for example) wishes to challenge the state’s version of events, they would have to retain lawyers for the entire duration of the commission to cross examine witnesses in the same

If voters re-elect their abusers, they have no-one to way. This is clearly unaffordable to any except those who can rely on the taxpayers’ “largesse”.

Apart from all the other problems plaguing the Seriti commission, perhaps the biggest is that it does not provide a level playing field to all parties so that we can eventually get to the truth of the corruption in the estimated R70-billion Arms Deal. The costs have ballooned from R30-billion since it was signed in 1999.

But every democracy gives its taxpayers a chance to rectify these gross abuses of power. That chance is called a general election.  That is the mechanism that a democracy offers the people to fire leaders who abuse their money to advance their private interests.

If voters re-elect their abusers, they have no-one to blame but themselves. After all, in a democracy people get the government they deserve.

By Helen Zille, From SA Today.

The (un)sustainability of the South African welfare state

In political terms South Africa can best be described as a social democracy with the typical characteristics of the welfare state. Social spending now accounts for approximately 60% of total government expenditure, including an extensive set of cash transfer payments in the form of social grants.

State provision of education, health services, low-income housing, social old-age pensions, and disability grants has been part of South African public economics for many years, and State provision of circumscribed social services is apparently accepted in principle by South African civil society as an expression of social solidarity. What is rather at stake is the quality of the services delivered and whether they offer value for money.

However, what has become controversial is the extensive system of social grants paid to millions of individuals. The deterioration in government finances in the past four years has raised awareness of the risk to the fiscal sustainability of this programme.

For example, it is often mentioned that the number of beneficiaries of government grants (currently 16,5 million) now exceeds the number of personal income tax payers (4,5 million) by a wide margin.

The total cost of social grants in the current fiscal year is expected to amount to approximately R120 billion, including about R6 billion in administrative expenses. This is equal to 10,4% of budgeted consolidated government expenditure, or 3,5% of GDP, which is relatively high for South Africa’s stage of development.

The National Treasury’s projection that expenditure on social grants will grow by 7,5% per annum in the next three fiscal years, with the number of recipients increasing by 2,2% per annum, appears credible.

Because social grant payments are financed from the general revenue pool, their sustainability in the medium term is therefore embedded in the sustainability of government expenditure in general. The growth in expenditure on social grants over the past four years in particular has contributed to the increased structural budget deficit. A big problem is that it constrains capital expenditure.

Jac Laubscher of Sanlam of Sanlam believes that an increase in the tax burden of between 1% and 2% of GDP to lower the structural deficit in any case appears to be on the cards. This should be sufficient to also take care of the sustainability of social grant payments in the medium term.

But of course one need to distinguish between short-term and long-term sustainability and it is perhaps the latter that needs our attention more.

It will serve South Africa well to take note of other countries’ experiences in this regard – Europe serves as a good example of how the unsustainability of an ambitious system of social protection can creep up almost unnoticed on the fiscus. The lesson is that one should in the first place not allow social security to develop into a non-sustainable situation.

The ANC generates much of its votes from economically disadvantaged communities which rely on social grants for survival. Therefore it is not flawed thinking to believe that the ANC could use promises of increased social grant expenditure to draw votes in upcoming elections.

There is a real danger of over-promising in the short term that could lead to major financial issues in the long term. Politically, this is a real tightrope situation in which the government needs to balance social expenditure with what it can afford.

Russia promises to enforce anti-gay law during Olympics

Despite assurances from the International Olympic Committee that LGBT athletes and tourists will not be charged under Russia's anti-gay propaganda laws during the Sochi Winter Games, Russian Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko said all of his country's laws will be enforced.

"No one is forbidding an athlete with non-traditional sexual orientation from coming to Sochi, but if he goes onto the street and starts propagandizing it, then of course he will be held accountable," Mutko explained.

"As a sportsman, he should respect the law of a country," Mutko added. "Come (to Sochi), but don't get young people involved, don't make propaganda. This is what we are talking about."

The vague law, however, means that even wearing a rainbow flag pin, or saying a little too loudly that being gay is okay, could lead to a run-in with the law.

On Monday, Vitaly Milonov, the man who helped pass the bill in the Russian parliament, also insisted gays would not get a free pass at the Games.

He said: "I haven't heard any comments from the government of the Russian Federation, but I know that it is acting in accordance with Russian law. And if a law has been approved by the federal legislature and signed by the president, then the government has no right to suspend it. It doesn't have the authority."

These statements will certainly increase calls by several groups to boycott the Olympics. But, as others have suggested, it may be a good thing to see Russia arresting athletes during one of the most watched televised sporting events in the world.