Admin
08 Oct, 2013
WSU crisis Stakeholder Meeting
Address by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP ( UDM President) at the WSU crisis Stakeholder Meeting at Mthatha High School Stadium on Monday, 02 September 2013 Programme Director and Ladies and Gentlemen, At the funeral of the late Mr Tsengwa in Willowvale a few years ago, Bishop Mbethe expressed feelings of great sadness about the dreadful state and poor quality of our education in the Eastern Cape. His lamentation was prompted by the continuous poor matric performance of the Eastern Cape Province. He summed up the importance of education in the Eastern Cape as follows and I quote: “The Eastern Cape is not endowed with gold, but its gold has over the always been the good quality of its education.” I guess it is precisely because of this reason that the people of this Province heeded our call to meet here today to discuss and find solutions to the challenges facing Walter Sisulu University (WSU). WSU challenges are as old as our democracy itself. This university has long-standing problems, which have been allowed to recur ceaselessly. I therefore hope that our discussions today will go a long way towards identifying and solving some, if not all, of WSU’s challenges. You will recall that this meeting is an outcome of requests for my intervention from concerned parents, students, members of the public and other stakeholders about the challenges at WSU. After I was inundated with these requests, I wrote a letter to President Zuma, asking him to set up a task team to look into the crisis at WSU. President Zuma is however yet to respond to my letter. The inordinate amount of time he is taking to respond prompted me to propose today’s meeting. I took this decision because it appears that salary negotiations between the Department of Education and WSU management and employees have deadlocked and there seems to be no resolution in sight. Even last week, Mr Qonde, the Director General of the Department of Higher Education refused to alter the Department’s stance. Nor has he even tried to meet the workers halfway on their demands. His primary argument is that WSU management and employees are paid more than workers doing the same jobs at other universities. Needless to say, the crisis at WSU negatively affects the quality and access of students to education. This is more so when one considers Government’s bizarre decision to close the university. Has Government thought about what is going to happen to the students who come from other Provinces? I would therefore like to take this opportunity to urge all of us here today to working together towards finding short, medium and long-term solutions to the crisis at WSU. The role of authorities is particularly important in this regard. However, we should not hesitate to take the legal route should we sense a tinge of intransigence on their part. As we now ready ourselves for our discussions, we should do so mindful of the fact that we are not a labour court, nor are we a bargaining council. Ours is to help restore stability and normality at WSU. You will recall that I when I called for this meeting I proposed that it be presided by the South African Council of Churches (SACC). I am now going to hand over the meeting to them. But before I do so I wish to thank the UDM King Sabatha Dalindyebo (KSD) Municipality Councillors for sponsoring the marquee and the chairs for this event. I now hand the meeting over to the South African Council of Churches and in doing so wish the meeting the greatest success! I thank you.
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Tribute to the late Mr Krakrayo Simayile
Tribute by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP (UDM President) to the late Mr Krakrayo Simayile, a loyal UDM member, at the Langa Sports Complex, Cape Town on Wednesday, 04 September 2013 Programme Director, The Simayile family; in particular his wife and children, UDM NEC Members, Provincial Executive Members of the UDM in the Western Cape, Distinguished guests, UDM Members, Ladies and gentlemen, On behalf of the United Democratic Movement (UDM), I wish to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the late Mr Krakrayo Simayile. Our hearts go out to you during this difficult time. Mr Simayile or Noderi – as he was affectionately known – was a long-serving member of the UDM. He worked hard to build and grow the UDM in the Western Cape. He witnessed the murders and killings of many of our members in this Province for political reasons, without any of the perpetrators being brought to book. It is sad that today we have come here to pay our last respects to him under circumstances where there is no indication whether the people responsible for his death have been arrested. In hindsight, it would appear that we erred when we agreed to adopt the current provincial system instead of creating a unitary state. The general feeling is that the provincial system perpetuates the same evils we were trying to avoid in the former homeland system. Apart from being costly and being an administrative nightmare, the provincial system is constructed along the same racial and ethnic lines of the old homeland system. KwaZulu-Natal is for Zulus, while the Eastern Cape is for Xhosas, and so on. Here in the Western Cape you get an impression that National Government is treating this Province as if it is a federal state. For instance, I fail to understand how Ministers with national competence are always reluctant to monitor whether funds allocated to this Province are indeed being used for the betterment of the lives of the poor and previously disadvantaged communities. What stops President Zuma from calling a meeting with the Premier Zille and ask her to account for her government’s dismal service delivery performance in disadvantaged communities? It seems the governing parties are only content to use the poor and disadvantaged communities in this Province as voting cattle. One wonders whether the time has not come to review the current provincial system with a view depoliticise service delivery. I thank you.
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Minister Nzimande’s failure to address problems at the Walter Sisulu University is jeopardising futures of Eastern Cape youth
Member’s Statement by Mr Nqabayomzi Kwankwa, MP and UDM Deputy Secretary General, in the National Assembly regarding Minister Nzimande’s failure to address problems at the Walter Sisulu University is jeopardising futures of Eastern Cape youth The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is very concerned about the manner in which Government and the Minister of Higher Education are handling the crises at Walter Sisulu University (WSU). If not for the intervention of civil society, under the leadership of the South African Council of Churches, the current crisis would have escalated beyond the point of no return. It is an indictment of Minister Nzimande that our President had to dispatch Minister Chabane to clean up his colleague’s backyard. However, after an agreement was reached to end the seven-week long strike, we hear that classes are disrupted yet again. The allegations are that Government is negotiating in bad faith and has reneged on its promises. The UDM is of the view that the Minister Nzimande has failed to attend to the WSU challenges, which include, but are not limited to: Not intervening in the labour dispute timeously; Not reporting on his Departments’ turn-around strategy for the university; Whether its budget allocation is adequate; Whether the salaries of academics and workers are competitive; Allegations are that local companies are overlooked for university business; § Whether the merger of various institutions has delivered the desired results. The UDM calls on Government to urgently resolve the crises at WSU, because a day lost in a student’s learning, is a day too many.
Admin
04 Oct, 2013
In response to service delivery complaints in Limpopo
TO: His Excellency, Mr JG Zuma, President of the Republic South Africa Minister OC Chabane, Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration FROM: Bantu Holomisa, MP Dear Sirs I refer to a letter from the Minister Ohm Collins Chabane, Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration, regarding the abovementioned subject dated 24 July 2013. We also refer to the List of Complaints attached to our original correspondence, dated 29 April 2013, wherein the complaints of the citizens in the Municipalities of Aganang, Capricorn, Greater Giyani, Mogalakwena, Makhado and Thulamela were listed. It is encouraging to hear that there had been a joint meeting of the three sphere’s of government and that this was followed by onsite visits by Department of Monitoring and Evaluation, the Office of the Premier, departments and municipalities from 3 to 7 June 2013. We are however interested in having the details of those visits, i.e. who visited, which areas and when, so that we may correlate this information with the people on the ground. When comparing Minister Chabane’s response with the original list of complaints, we have serous concerns about the lack of detail in the response. The Presidency’s “summary” of the common issues are: Poor road and school infrastructure Lack of water Poor health facilities, such clinics This seem an oversimplification, or too broad a statement, of these communities’ problems and does not address critical matters such as lack of sanitation, housing as well as poor policing and high crime levels. We find it worrying that the aforementioned municipalities seem either unwilling or incapable to provide even the most basic of services to their citizens and ratepayers. The same could be said of the provincial government which does not compare favourably to others. A number of the complaints had been about the lack of communication and accountability of local government councillors and we ask 1) whether that the various Municipal Councils have been made aware that their Councillors are failing at this task and if they have been informed, 2) whether the Presidency received any undertaking that this will considerably improve. We are encouraged that your team has established that the challenges have been highlighted in the District Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), but we enquire about the details and timelines associated with the solutions, so that the information may be disseminated to the complainants. It would also be useful to know which departments have been tasked to serve on the IDP Forum that has been established to track progress on these issues. Hopefully the already failing community projects, as listed in the original complaint, will be comprehensively addressed at this Forum. We request the timetable of meetings of the community structures, ward committees and the economic development forums in the affected areas so that we may inform complainants to attend their meetings. Although we are happy that the Presidency has intervened in this matter, there is far too little information for the communities to be encouraged that they will see changes to their quality of life in the near future. We ask that the Presidency keep up the pressure and provide regular feedback on progress made. Yours sincerely
Admin
01 Oct, 2013
Occupied Palestinian Territories hosted by Palestine Solidarity Campaign
A screening of ‘Occupation 101’ and panel discussion about the Occupied Palestinian Territories hosted by Palestine Solidarity Campaign Stellenbosch contribution by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP (UDM President) at the University of Stellenbosch Facilitator, Fellow Member of Parliament, Mr Magama Palestine Solidarity Campaign Stellenbosch Academics and students Ladies and Gentlemen THANK YOU Thank you for the kind invitation to join you tonight, to listen and learn; and to discuss a complex issue that has been on the international agenda for many years i.e. the conflict between Palestine and Israel. MY UNDERSTANDING OF THIS COMPLEX ISSUE During the time of completing my matric at Jongilizwe College in 1975, we used to be given assignments by our teacher Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, who taught ‘current events’. One such assignment was the conflict in the Middle East. At that point in time, it was already clear that this particular conflict was micro-managed by the United States of America (USA) and that the rest of the world was not actively involved. Dr Henry Kissinger, the then USA Secretary of State, headed these so-called peace talks. There is broad consensus that the actions of the nations involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict violate limitations in international law. In studies conducted, psychologists have a number of terms for the tendency of humans to view their adversaries as springing from a lower order of being – these terms being pseudo-speciation or dehumanising. The conflict between these two groups have been compared to apartheid, but not apartheid as practiced in South Africa, but as apartheid as an international crime. We can compare the aforementioned conflict to apartheid, but the crucial issue is that the United Nations’ (UN) Security Council has failed to come to consensus for a resolution to this conflict as a result of the power given to certain countries. Implementation of the resolution could not be viable as a result of the veto by the USA. The International Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) and other conventions may well give valid expressions on human rights.It does not give indications on how solutions can be implemented on a conflict that has been going on for such a long period. One can ask oneself: how strong does international law stand against organised religion? We see how organised religion has Muslims and Jews denying their common humanity. Thus confirming that the conflict is now out of the hands of the people of the Middle East. The conflict will not be resolved until the UN Security Council is transformed. Human rights and all that it comes with it, is vital for any people. It is a sensitive issue. As long as there is no united consensus on the resolution of this conflict, we would be held accountable for contributing to creating a generation that will be called “fundamentalist” and “extremist”. This conflict now, because of America’s interest in the Middle East, has hardened attitudes of the many countries in the Middle East, where they are accusing America of arming and funding Israel against Palestine and being a threat to neighbouring countries. The USA on the other hand has been accusing countries like Iran and Syria of helping Palestine militarily. SOLUTION It is clear that the use of force is not going to help anybody; it has been tried without success. It looks like this conflict can only be solved peacefully The question is how? Who should sponsor the peace? Perhaps this conflict should be a package to the reported warming up of the relationship between President Obama and the President of Iran as well as the flexing of muscle by Russia on the Syrian Debacle. This could be the start of things to come, on finding a lasting solution between Israel and Palestine. I thank you.
Admin
24 Sep, 2013
South Africa on the Slippery Slope
Article by Bantu Holomisa published in the New Agenda During my career I have witnessed many governments come and go. As a former head of the Transkei Military Government, I have had an overview of what the Apartheid Government and the Bantustans had done, in comparison with what the current government is doing. The previous regime’s policies and abuse of human rights is well documented; including some homelands. Although I was heading this discredited institution, I was able to forge close links with all the liberation movements, when we ascended to power, as my government lent a shoulder in fighting for the freedom of all South Africans. One of the reasons why we supported the struggle was that we were hopeful that the new government would address the backlogs and imbalances of the past, especially in the townships and homelands. Indeed when the African National Congress (ANC) ascended to power in 1994 we can say that they started well. They made much progress in areas such as electrification, access to water and providing homes for the poor in the cities. However what shocked South Africans is the poor quality of the infrastructure they were given. Electricity is not reliable; water projects are launched only to break down after a few months and the RDP houses are worse than those built for blacks by the Apartheid government. Many towns have become slums because of the poor maintenance of infrastructure across the country. Where they had failed completely was on the question of employment. We see stark difference between the economic policies of the partners in the ruling alliance and in the past twenty years they have spent much energy vacillating between which routes to follow. Unemployment and poverty is a direct contradiction of freedom. Real freedom – political, social and economic – provides dignity to a nation. On the other hand, unemployment and poverty undermines it. South Africans are suspicious and mistrust government because of perceptions that it is not equitably distributing the resources of the country. A new privileged political elite exclusively enjoys the resources. There is no consensus on a macro-economic policy that can transform the economy in a manner that could create and spread wealth wider and improve the lot of the disadvantaged majority. There are in particular concerns about the inadequacies and contradictions of the fiscal and industrial policies. Our economy suffers from jobless growth due to the confusion created by an ambivalent tripartite alliance. This ruling clique preaches elimination of unemployment in the streets and legislate retrenchments and greater unemployment in Parliament. In the past 16 years, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) has been calling for GOVERNMENT TO DO MORE! Government has a responsibility to intervene and protect the South African economy and South African jobs when necessary. Whilst Free Market Capitalism is the best economic system developed by humanity, it is still fraught with weaknesses and failures that must be actively managed. The situation in South Africa is compounded by high levels of corruption. The UDM has over the years been involved in exposing many of these scandals. We have the resolve and commitment to fight corruption, and take on any party, no matter its history or power, to ensure that South Africans have the ethical governance that they deserve. These are but some examples of the UDM’s active role in national politics and the further consolidation of South Africa’s democracy. As our actions and words have proved, the UDM is a viable, trustworthy and reliable opposition party.
Admin
17 Apr, 2013
Memo to Premier of the Eastern Cape to accept 17 April marchers’ petition
Open memo to Premier of the Eastern Cape to request her office to make a representative available to accept 17 April marchers’ petition from Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP On Wednesday, 17 April 2013, there will be a peaceful march in Mthatha by the people of the OR Tambo Region to express their disappointment and frustration with the poor state of infrastructure and lack of development in their cities and towns. Although the United Democratic Movement is facilitating the event on behalf of the people, this is a march of South Africans from across the OR Tambo Region who wish to express their dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in their area. The necessary permits and permissions have been obtained from the King Sabata Dalindyebo traffic police and the South African Police Services. We kindly request that your office sends a representative to receive the list of complaints at 12:00 at the Botha Sigcau Building in Mthatha. Bantu Holomisa, MP UDM President
Admin
07 Mar, 2013
Management and Administration Class
Contribution by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP at a University of Cape Town State Management and Administration class Programme Director, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to thank your lecturers, Ms Raenette Taljaard and Mr Jon Cayzer, for giving me the opportunity to talk with you today. It is pleasing to know that I am discussing these challenges besetting our public administration with future political leaders and public administrators. I am therefore looking forward to a stimulating discussion. My contribution today mainly draws from the experience I gained while I was working with various administrations, starting from my involvement in the former Homelands system, the Nelson Mandela administration, the Thabo Mbeki administration to the current Jacob Zuma administration. Before 1994, civil servants took their jobs as a career. Many civil servants took pride in their professions and spent their working lives in public service. Job satisfaction and employee retention in the public sector was made possible by, inter alia, the Public Service Commission’s (PSC’s) investment in employee training and development. After political freedom, the ruling party ascended to power without a coherent skills development and employee retention programme. People with years of experience in public administration were removed from positions in favour of political deployees. This led to an exodus of experienced personnel and a politicisation of the public sector. The other challenge of cadre deployment is that people were put in positions without regard for their skills and suitability for the jobs. Nowhere is this shortage of skills more evident than in the overreliance of state departments on consultants and high levels of maladministration. According to the Auditor General’s report, national government departments spent R33.5 billion on consultants between 2009 and 2011, whilst provincial departments spent another R68.5 billion. In other words, government departments spent a staggering R102 billion on consultants during that period. Of great concern, is that the plans these consultants develop, do not get implemented due to capacity constraints, while consultants continue to hover over State departments like vultures. This is a damning indictment of a modern day public administration. It is also clear that there are serious structural and organisational deficiencies in our public administration, when political heads are allowed to usurp the powers of Accounting Officers (Directors General). In South Africa, Political heads give directives to the accounting officers which often contravene certain sections of the Public Management Finance Act (PMFA). This culture permeates all the different spheres of government, including the local government level. For examples one has to look no further than the Arms Deal and the incident in which the Minister of Communications awarded a tender to her boyfriend, among others. The following are some of the areas the United Democratic Movement (UDM) believes require immediate attention: De politicisation of the public service, Strict adherence to PMFA rules, Intensification of training and development, Development of a merit-based appointment system, Development of a clear promotion and career progression policies, Improvement of employee monitoring and evaluation by the Public Service Commission. It would bode well for public administration if politicians focused on playing their oversight role, rather than interfering in operational issues. As future leaders, I urge you to take part in campaigns that militate against the prevalence of instutionalised corruption in government. We cannot afford to do nothing while the investment arms of the ruling alliance partners are first in line for government tenders. Programme Director, the audience will recall that none of these issues is new. They have been part of public discourse for many years, with South Africans from all walks of life calling on government to address them. However, government failed to heed our call to change course. Arrogance of power has caused it to trivialise our people’s legitimate concerns and grievances. This arrogance of power manifests itself in various forms. However, the most important one is the overreaction of the government during service delivery protests. It sends the police in to brutalise and suppress protests. Ministers and top government officials are only dispatched to listen to grievances after unnecessary loss of life and destruction has occurred. The Andries Tatane incident and the Marikana massacre are a sad reminder of this. In addition, some protests turn violent because of the failure of democracy at local government level. Many people accuse government of failing to consult them when making key decisions that affect them, or of refusing to take their concerns seriously. Whatever the reasons, this political instability coupled with extraordinarily high levels of corruption and maladministration by the ruling party has had a crushing effect on our economy. They reinforce negative investor sentiment about South Africa. As a consequence, investors and rating agencies are jittery about South Africa’s prospects. You will recall that in October last year, international rating agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s downgraded South Africa’s sovereign rating. They cited, as some of the reasons, a decline in the government’s institutional strength amid increased socio-economic stresses and the resulting diminished capacity to manage the growth and competitiveness risks and the challenges posed by a negative investment climate in light of infrastructure shortfalls, relatively high labour costs despite high unemployment, and increased concerns about South Africa’s future political stability. Ladies and gentlemen, you are aware that rating downgrades have huge implications for government and companies, such as Eskom and Transnet that also suffered downgrades. They increase their external borrowing costs, which are then passed on to us, the taxpayers and consumers. Amid this dispiriting situation, there is hope about the role that each one of us can play to pull the country out of this quagmire. There are a number of proposals on the table. Some believe that there is an urgent need to reform our electoral system in order to improve accountability, while others are of the opinion that Parliament has to improve its oversight role, among others. In addition to these proposals, there is a school of thought that opposition parties should join forces in an effort to build a strong and credible political alternative for South Africans. In this regard, some opposition parties are busy exploring various models and vehicles available at their disposal that they can use to formalise their working relationship for the 2014 elections and beyond. In realising this objective, we will work with all the relevant stakeholders. We therefore call on you to make use of this opportunity when it arises to advise us on the best way forward. Once more, thank very much for inviting us to come and talk with you today. I look forward to your questions and contribution. I thank you.
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