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.
Admin
23 Nov, 1997
Meyer and Holomisa hold rally in KwaMhlanga
Statement by UDM Media Manager The quiet of the late Sunday morning in Kwaggafontein near KwaMhlanga (Mpumalanga) was shattered today by the beating of drums, rhythmic singing and ululating women when Bantu Holomisa and Roelf Meyer visited the rural highveld area of Mpumalanga for a rally in the local stadium. 700 supporters from the area, many of the women in the colourful Ndebele traditional dress and men sporting UDM T-shirts, enthusiastically cheered the two UDM leaders in a program of song and dance. In the leaders’ addresses, Holomisa emphasised the crime question, referring to President Mandela’s acknowledgement that MK fighters may be involved in the killing of Free State farmers. Holomisa said that only half of the original number of MK soldiers had been integrated in the SANDF. Many of those have since left the Force, complaining of integration irregularities. What happened to all the ex-fighters? If they weren’t integrated in the SANDF, were they at least integrated in society? Holomisa demanded a proper government investigation into the issue of the armed forces of the liberation movements. Regarding the Truth Commission, Holomisa emphasised the UDM’s viewpoint that all people who can shed relevant light on our past should be encouraged to do so before the TRC, including people such as Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Mr PW Botha. A lot of allegations have been made against Madikizela-Mandela recently, but why have the allegations not been investigated earlier and the culprits exposed? Regarding the position of tribal chiefs, Holomisa said that a policy commission on tribal authorities of the UDM has been tasked with coming up with a workable solution to the issue. Roelf Meyer said that the UDM is growing to be the only party able to challenge the ANC, whilst the ANC is increasingly becoming more like the old NP regime in the way it is consolidating power and not giving attention to the real needs of the people on the ground. Possibly the greatest challenge now is that of job creation. There has been no growth in the number of jobs offered over the last years, which is so disconcerting that the UDM is planning an economic workshop focussing on the issue. It will be held in the new year and involve all interested parties. Meyer also emphasised that other issues will be dealt with in the same way, showing that the UDM is not all talk, but means business. In the quest for the hearts and minds of all South Africans, the UDM will try to outvote other parties in stressing that the apartheid struggle is over, but that the new struggle is for the future of South Africa. About 40 chiefs and Inkozi also attended the rally from areas as far as Piet Retief and Secunda. The chairman of the meeting was local UDM leader Prince James Mhlangu.
Admin
20 Nov, 1997
Roelf Meyer visits PW Botha
Statement by UDM Media Manager on behalf of Roelf Meyer This morning I visited Mr PW Botha at his home in Wilderness. It was a private visit that was already arranged two months ago to coincide with my visit to the Southern Cape and Mr Botha’s availability. The visit had no connection with Mr Botha’s present relations with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, although the issue did come up during our discussions. It needs to be noted that Bantu Holomisa and I have always been of the opinion that co-operation with the TRC is imperative in order to uncover the full perspective of the past. With this in mind, the UDM will seek to play a role, if possible, to find a solution to the present impasse between Mr Botha and the Commission. Mr Botha undoubtedly possesses information of infinite value for the Commission to be able to fill in its picture of the past. The challenge will now be to determine the best possible way in which this transaction can be accomplished. Legal steps, under the circumstances, may not be the ideal solution, resulting only in further alienation.
Admin
16 Nov, 1997
Freedom Front leader joins UDM
Statement by UDM Media Manager A regional leader of the Freedom Front, Mr Danie Theron, has resigned and joined the UDM of Bantu Holomisa and Roelf Meyer. He was chairman of the Pretoria South East Region of the FF. His decision, he said, was based on the increasing racialisation of our politics and the fact that parliamentary opposition does not seem to be able to garner adequate support to be any threat to the ANC. ‘More and more people realise that ethnic-based parties such as the FF and NP will never be able to draw the numbers necessary for taking them into government. It is high time that South Africans of all walks of life, over ethnic and cultural boundaries, take hands to end crime and create economic growth, job opportunities and racial harmony,’ he explained. The political playing field has changed, he said, and a new, fresh approach is necessary to unite South Africans and create a new patriotism in order to face our socio-economic challenges in a responsible way. ‘I can totally identify with the vision of Roelf Meyer and Bantu Holomisa and shall assist in realising it. I believe the UDM could be the official opposition after the 1999 elections’, Mr Theron said.
Admin
05 Nov, 1997
ANC’s disinformation campaign against the UDM
Statement by UDM Media Manager Gauteng MEC Ms Jessie Duarte has accused the UDM of being involved in violence on the East and West Rand and implicated the party with training paramilitary units. This is, of course, utter nonsense. The UDM is a democratic party. We reject violence in all forms as means to obtain political power. We have done so emphatically in the past. We have made it clear beyond any doubt that there is no room in the UDM whatsoever for perpetrators of violence. We believe in democracy and we believe in peace. Let there be no misunderstanding about this. If Ms Duarte has any concrete evidence of violence or paramilitary training anywhere in Gauteng, we expect her as political head of the SAPS in Gauteng to make the evidence public and prosecute the perpetrators. As a person of integrity, we know that she will not willingly be tempted into becoming part of a cheap campaign of political disinformation. In recognising her lapse of judgement, we are confident that she will now either substantiate her claims, or keep quiet. The UDM again emphasises that it is not connected to any such accusations and has no knowledge whatsoever of any such information. If people are prosecuted in the process, and some of them are indeed identified as members of the UDM, their membership will immediately be nullified. The UDM does not condone or plan violence in any form, and does not entertain perpetrators of violence. Fact of the matter is that violence in these areas is not a new phenomenon. It existed years before the launch of the UDM. It can, in fact, be traced back to the pre-1994 actions of the ANC aligned SDU’s. A number of ANC leaders have since unsuccessfully tried to put an end to this monster they have spawned themselves. To accuse the UDM now, is nothing but a crude attempt to shift blame. Ms Cheryl Carolus, acting Secretary-General of the ANC, has also tried to sow suspicion against the UDM by trying to paint a picture of connivance and secret dealings regarding the backgrounds of Messrs. Holomisa, Meyer and Spaarwater. Again there is no evidence to back up the flimsy, opportunistic and half-baked allegations. Mr Spaarwater was indeed an official in National Intelligence, but also in Constitutional Development, where he played a major part in setting the scene for the constitutional negotiations leading to our democratic elections in 1994. He was involved in the first meetings between the previous government and the ANC, specifically Mr Thabo Mbeki. He was furthermore no supporter of the governing party at the time, and indeed left the DP to join the UDM. The public will recognise this for the smear campaign it is, born out of apparent panic and a bullying mindset. This is exactly the kind of political attitude that belongs to the past. Let us rather look at the future and use our energy to build South Africa into the great nation that we can, and want to, be.
Admin
04 Nov, 1997
ANC allegations against Holomisa
Statement by Bantu Holomisa The ANC has now, as I predicted yesterday, accused the UDM and me of all sorts of anti-democratic activities in Gauteng, and specifically Phola Park. The UDM, and Holomisa, reject these accusations in the strongest possible terms for the utter nonsense they represent. The UDM is a political party, striving to establish and foster democracy, not to demolish it. The ANC knows this, and their present attempts at disinformation are as blatant as they are manifestations of a growing sense of panic leading to shortsighted and foolish decisions. I am still awaiting an answer on my letter to President Mandela. The recent accusations by ANC members, have established an even greater urgency to the letter and the need for a satisfying response.
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