Admin
10 Dec, 1997
The challenges facing South Africa as we approach the New Millennium
Presented by Mr Bantu Holomisa, UDM Co-leader, at the South African Institute of Race Relations, Johannesburg In the letter of invitation which I received from the Institute of Race Relations, it is stated that the United Democratic Movement (UDM) is attracting much media attention. The UDM on the other hand feels that scant attention is paid to its activities by the media, so it is a matter of debate as to whether we enjoy any sufficient media coverage or not. However, what is important to us is the reasons of our existence or the process which led to the formation of the UDM. The process which led to the first 1994 April democratic elections in the history of South Africa was initiated to bring about freedom to the people of South Africa. Indeed the first democratic government was unveiled to assume its task of continuing with the democratisation process of state institutions, above all to bring about qualitative change and particularly improving the lives of the poor. The UDM is ready to measure to current and future challenges facing South Africa, as we approach the 21 Century. We embrace the challenge with passion and alacrity the practical demands of rebuilding our severely divided society with unprecedented vigour. We will set free the creative power inherent in our diversity, and will co-operate with all stake-holders to ensure a quality of life and freedom for every citizen, based on good governance and civil order, towards being a winning nation. The UDM presently is for obvious reasons not represented at parliament. This does not necessarily mean that our primarily aim is to contest the 1999 elections and be part and parcel of other political parties in parliament without any broader vision and sense of purpose. We clearly see ourselves playing an effective role outside and inside parliament if ever we gets sufficient seats in 1999 elections. The UDM programme of action is geared towards the achievement of just social outcome. In dealing with: unemployment; civil order; housing; education; economy; We are currently involved in the process of designing specific policy positions, what the UDM have contrary to what is said, is broader policy framework or principles. Can the current political parties stand to the current and future challenges? The parliamentary experience/or observations such as: the inability of minority parties to exert pressure and hold the executive to account; the majority party using its numeric strength to dismiss constructive views from other parties; the past activities of parties in parliament being used by the majority party to weaken its opposition during policy-making process with some of the issues with no direct connection on what is being deliberated upon; These are some of the factors, which had weakened the current political parties in terms of playing effective opposition role. It is against this background that the UDM has a role to play and to fill this gap and unite the country by consolidating and defending this hard won fledgling democracy as we move towards the 21 Century and positioning ourselves in dealing with the unforeseen challenges of the future and building together a just society for all. The role of civil society in addressing these challenges should not be undermined. The non-government sector in South Africa has played an important role in making sure that Apartheid as government policy fails. This sector has played an important role in capacitating our communities through various means, in the form of training, poverty reduction programmes, particularly in the rural areas, providing support for small and medium enterprises for the disadvantaged sector of our communities, adult basic education to combat illiteracy. The South African Institute of Race Relations with other similar minded NGOs has in the past and I believe still made education a priority by recognising its importance as a liberating tool. The fact that these institutions granted scholarships and bursaries to the needy bears testimony to this commitment of uplifting our communities. It clear that the government alone cannot transform our society without the active involvement of the Non-governmental Institutions. The fact that NGOs by their nature are suppose to be apolitical they are strategically placed to intervene on behalf of citizens, especially when the government is inclined to abuse its political power in pursuance of sectional/ or individual interests. The civil society can effectively play its role by supplementing oppositional parties in government. This can be achieved by being public watchdogs or whistle blowers, especially when acts of corruption are detected. However, we do acknowledge the limitations which the NGOs are faced with in carrying out their mandate, precisely that the funding environment had dried up. The future direction of South Africa is already mapped by the ANC through RDP initially which was later abandoned and replaced by GEAR as government normative policy document, it sets out in no uncertain terms as to what the ANC hopes to achieve in a given period from job creation to provision of infrastructure. Today teachers who are supposed to be building the nation are to be retrenched. So compare the objectives of GEAR with what is happening now. Is it more jobs or speedy retrenchments of the people whom should be benefiting from the new dispensation? Judge for yourselves… In conclusion I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Institute of Race Relations for inviting me and the audience. Bantu Holomisa UDM Co-leader
Admin
09 Dec, 1997
Blanket amnesty for top ANCs
Statement by Bantu Holomisa and Roelf Meyer The Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has now asked legal opinion on its decision to grant amnesty to Mr Thabo Mbeki and 36 other top ANC officials. Since granting amnesty, the Committee has not informed the nation for which human rights transgressions these amnesties were granted. As a matter of fact, the Committee has indicated that they need not do any explaining. This is of course totally unacceptable. It is a disservice not only towards the Commission’s mandate and the transparency that is an essential part of the process towards truth and reconciliation, but also towards the applicants themselves. Thabo Mbeki, as a potential president of the country, cannot face the future with the cloud of an unexplained and nebulous amnesty hanging over his head. The situation should be fully explained and rectified, as speedily as possible. The TRC, as the torchbearer into our obscure past, should not start fumbling around in the dark itself.
Admin
05 Dec, 1997
TRC hearing of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
Statement by Bantu Holomisa and Roelf Meyer The past two weeks’ hearing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has revealed a number of things ‘that went horribly wrong’ during the time of Ms Madikizela-Mandela’s association with the so-called Mandela United Football Club. Details aside, our country now demands clear reaction from the ANC leadership if it is serious about the aim of the TRC, namely to get to the truth about the past and to continue into a future of reconciliation: Allegations made against Madikizela-Mandela were done by senior members of the ANC, such as Sydney Mufamadi, Murphy Morobe and Azar Cachalia. The ANC leadership should now emphatically state its position regarding these allegations. Many of these allegations were already made before the appointment of Ms Madikizela-Mandela as deputy minister in government. Suspicions around these issues were also rife at the time. By appointing her, the ANC leadership has obviously condoned her actions in this regard. During the TRC hearing it appeared as if the ANC now wanted to taint her name by accusing her of these very actions. If the view of the ANC in this regard has since changed, we citizens should know about it, given the public role that Madikizela-Mandela has since played, inter alia as deputy minister. The UDM bears no candle for Ms Madikizela-Mandela. As the governing party, the ANC, however, will determine to a large extent the success of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The ANC now owes the country a full explanation regarding the above. The country, and the Commission, demand the truth, not obfuscation or mere silence. They await the ANC’s response.
Admin
03 Dec, 1997
Medium-term budget policy statement by Minister Manuel
Statement by Bantu Holomisa and Roelf Meyer The release of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s medium-term budget policy statement has introduced a new, transparent direction for South African fiscal policy. For this he needs to be congratulated. Although all the news is not encouraging, especially the scaled-down forecast for growth of the GDP, the opening up of fiscal policy planning is a fresh approach that will prove to be of immense assistance to local and foreign investors. It also expresses a much-needed confidence in the capabilities of the department and ministry of Finance and the general direction in which South African fiscal policies are heading. One concern, though, is regarding the introduction of a contingency and policy reserve, totaling R5bn. Proper control of these funds would be needed to prevent irregularities and the improper application thereof. Clear control guidelines need to be spelled out by the minister.
Admin
03 Dec, 1997
Concern about murders on farms
Statement by Bantu Holomisa and Roelf Meyer The alarming regularity with which farming people are attacked and murdered has long since reached critical proportions. The possibility mooted by President Mandela last week that the atrocities may be committed by wild elements formerly belonging to MK, was a frank admission opening up a possibility of ending this rule of terror. The UDM, however, is concerned that nothing substantial has apparently since been done. We request government, as a matter of urgency, to compile a list of all possible suspects and to comprehensively plan how all of these will be traced and their activities investigated. If gangs like these are indeed existing and operating, they are a scourge and a menace to our society and our democracy. The full force of the law needs to be speedily brought down on them, otherwise the government will be seen as having dismally failed a large community of its citizens. We shall monitor the situation closely in the interest of the many South Africans living and working on farms, who are now living under the unacceptable and constant sword of violence and murder.
Admin
01 Dec, 1997
Jobs summit: acclaim for breakthrough
Statement by Bantu Holomisa and Roelf Meyer The UDM is extremely grateful for the agreement reached at Nedlac on the presidential jobs summit planned for the second quarter of 1998. We have taken note of the two phased approach towards the summit and the follow-up phase envisaged. Although proper planning is essential, it is a pity that this most desperate need of so many of our fellow South Africans took so long to receive the proper attention it deserves. It is, however, clear that sufficient new jobs are not going to be created by government and big business alone. The only way to achieve sustainable success in this area, the UDM believes, will be to start with relevant programmes at grass roots level, targeting individuals and households. We need to bring jobs to the townships. In the quest for urgent and creative solutions to this priority issue, the UDM will hold an economic workshop early in the new year. This workshop will involve experts in the respective fields of economic planning, labour and related issues. The UDM will therefore be in a position to creatively take part in the consultation and negotiation phase towards the proposed presidential summit. If the war against unemployment is not won, a sea of desperation and hopelessness will obliterate many of the good things that South Africa has achieved so far. Unemployment needs to be an urgent national priority.
Admin
25 Nov, 1997
Zuma’s final straw
Statement by Bantu Holomisa The finding by the Public Protector that Minister Zuma had made some misleading or exaggerated claims about the cost of medicines in South Africa in an apparent bid to justify her medicines bills, is a further infringement by a minister that is now really overstaying her welcome. With this, Minister Zuma has misled Parliament and the population at large. Under the circumstances, signing of the Bills by the President should be delayed until the Public Protector has conducted further investigations. The Public Protector has proved himself to be a worthwhile, independent watchdog of Government. We now trust that Government will also respect the authority of the Public Protector and not allow him to be targeted as had happened to the Auditor General. Two things are now required: Firstly, the urgent need exists to investigate the applicable international conventions in order to determine which are beneficial to South Africa. A clear policy is needed regarding our official stand towards international copyright conventions and the right of intellectual property. Secondly, the Minister of Health has now certainly crossed a bridge too far. This matter is a classical case of abuse of power by the minister concerned. Notwithstanding the good work she has done, her disregard for accuracy and correctness, brusque and undiplomatic treatment of involved parties in the health field and her ham-handed handling of her ministry has made her a liability. By allowing her to stay on as minister, Government will send a clear message that it condones a ministry where the only principle apparently is that the end justifies the means. Zuma should go.
Admin
24 Nov, 1997
Futile summit by opposition parties
Statement issued by Roelf Meyer Over the recent past, the idea of closer co-operation between opposition parties in our country, has been mooted a couple of times. This idea has to be exposed for the futile exercise in hopelessness it essentially is now that the NP has announced plans to hold such a summit early next year. These ‘plans’ are essentially similar to proposals the DP has made earlier and can be interpreted either as a concerted effort by the two parties to get such a summit off the ground, or a hijacking by the NP of a DP initiative. Fact is that efforts on these lines will be futile if the crucial issue, namely a restructuring of our politics, is not addressed. The bigger picture is that South African parliamentary politics is presently being conducted along racial lines, with the essentially ‘white’ parties in no position to threaten the majority, essentially ‘black’ party, notwithstanding attempts by the ‘white’ parties to rearrange themselves. These efforts will rather increase the racial polarisation by being interpreted as a ganging up against the ANC, even if attempts to draw in the IFP, which is regarded as a Zulu traditional niche party, is successful. These attempts will be futile in changing the present numbers game in our politics. Without successfully increasing their support bases, the combined support of the parliamentary opposition parties will not even reach 25% according to recent polling figures. This is an even more emasculated opposition than at present. The only viable answer is to restructure the politics out of the present racial rut and present South Africans from all communities with political parties that appeal on grounds of their values, visions and policies rather than the racial ticket. This means that parties need to shed the image and baggage that presently prevent members from other communities to vote for them. The NP and DP, for example, will never in their present forms be able to attract meaningful black support. This is the political reality around which the NP and DP are conducting their futile egg-dances. Without making this paradigm shift, they are destined to become withering niche parties with nothing more than curiosity value. The parties will therefore have to reinvent themselves. The NP cannot expect black support for itself as a party or its idea of an opposition summit while clamouring for consolidation of its (essentially white) support base. The UDM was born as a result of the determination to present to South Africans a party free from historical baggage, with sound core values and well-grounded policy positions suited to the needs of the real South Africa. It has already proved itself by attracting support from literary all communities in the country. It is at present the only party able to draw substantial support in ANC strongholds, as illustrated by rallies in the Eastern Cape, where 20 000 supporters attended, the North West Province, Mpumalanga and the Northern Province. While the DP and NP are busy rearranging the deckchairs on their political Titanic, the UDM is building a substantial party on its vision of a party for all South Africans, aiming at making South Africa a winning nation to the benefit of all her people.
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