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28 Jun, 2019
Response to the premier’s Eastern Cape SOPA delivered by the Honourable FG Mahlati, UDM Member of the Eastern Cape Legislature
Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker Honourable Premier and Members of the Executive Honourable Members of the Legislature Officials present here Distinguished guests and visitors at the gallery Be greeted in Jesus’ name. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate you, we wish you all of the best and happiness in your new venture, may this journey take you to the way of success. The Eastern Cape is faced with many challenges, like poor housing development and houses that were built without proper infrastructure. The lack of proper planning of housing projects results in delays in the timeous implementation of a number of projects. The government must strive to improve planning for housing projects to prevent unnecessary time wasting which results in serious cost implications. The United Democratic Movement (UDM) also commends the Honourable Premier for the rollout package of basic services such as electricity, water, sewage, sanitation to 700,000 indigent household in our province, but the government has allowed corruption to flourish for a long time, which is a very serious concern. This has spread like cancer cells throughout the public service. We support the strategies that are in place to fight this fiscus gobbler that has caused so much damage and hurt to the people of this province. The UDM is more concerned about the shortage of educators, and non-teaching staff such as administrators as well as securities. There is also a shortage of water and sanitation facilities in most rural schools. The Honourable Premier must ensure that this is also addressed. Our children are faced with societal challenges such as crime, teenage pregnancy and substance abuse. The educators always fear for their lives because they might not know what a child is going to do. We want the government to place more focus on these problems. The Honourable Premier must put in place a monitoring mechanism and proper plans on how it intends to deal with the shortage of qualified mathematics and science educators in our public schools. There is also the need for food security for our disadvantaged people because the absence of proper food is a serious main contribution to chronic diseases. Such intervention can help to alleviate hunger, poverty and disease in our society. There is still a need for government to focus on educating nurses on how to treat their patients considering the Batho Pele principles; there are many people that still complain about the conduct of our nurses. We do not know if the complaints by the public are ever taken into consideration by government. There are serious challenges of medico-legal claims which leads to unexpected serious and unnecessary expenditure by the government. We appreciate the effectiveness of education and advocacy on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, but the growth rate of these diseases is still alarming. The bulk of the budget of the province is spent on the department of health, but there is still more to be improved. The current socio-economic situation in the Eastern Cape requires that a greater effect is made to address job creation so that fewer and fewer people need to depend on social grants. Poverty has reached inter-generational levels. The condition of the roads, especially in rural areas, leaves much to be desired. One hopes that the budget of relevant department will cater for this painful need. Public Works needs to embark on a programme of regularly attending to public buildings; especially hospitals. There cannot be unhealthy people in unhealthy buildings. The officials of the department of social development often find their buildings uninhabitable resulting in the loss of productive time. Your address shied away from these issues, yet they cry for the attention of a caring government. I thank you.
Admin
28 Jun, 2019
Violent service delivery protests claim lives: this is not on!
The United Democratic Movement has observed that there have been too many service delivery protests around South Africa, prior to elections and after. We hoped to see less of these occurrences, especially after elections, but seemingly they are increasing on a daily basis. We saw what happened when the red ants overran Alexandra in Johannesburg, when the life of a three months old baby was claimed. Yesterday in Philippi (Cape Town), another four-months’ old infant lost her life because of the use of teargas. Not only was an infant deprived of life, but two persons, trying to get away from stone throwers, were killed. This is a travesty. South Africans endure the pain of being neglected by government whilst it continues to pay lip service when it comes to service delivery. Government never honours its promises. Instead of helping people, government responds to them with violence. How long should we see such events? How long should the people of South Africa suffer, when they are only asking for basic necessities such as; shelter, water and roads, to name a few. To the families of those whose lives were lost, may you be comforted. Issued by Mr Bongani Msomi UDM Secretary General
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19 Jun, 2019
Youth expectations for SONA: #DataMustFall
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s expected state of the nation address (SONA), must be solution orientated with a clear plan and time frames for its implementation. We as young people, and as the majority of the population, need things to happen and happen fast. We cannot have another rehash of old promises that raise our hopes with every SONA, only to be disappointed. We are expecting to hear more from the president in terms of job creation and strengthening the economy with youth participation in particular. The United Democratic Movement Youth Vanguard has been consistent in its call that young South Africans must become wealth creators. It is therefore incumbent on government to create an economic environment that fosters entrepreneurship. We however wish to raise one significant point, which we hope that President Ramaphosa will touch on. We are of the view that exorbitant data charges need his immediate attention. To be youth inclusive we need a government that is serious about creating opportunities for young people in this digital era. Data must completely fall as it hampers learners’ studies, fetters youth looking for jobs and their registration of small businesses, etc.. Young South Africans must stand up and join us in this quest as we use the internet to access all opportunities. Issued by: Mr Yongama Zigebe Gauteng Provincial Secretary, UDM Youth Vanguard
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14 Jun, 2019
Youth Day 2019: economic emancipation for the young
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) Youth Vanguard is concerned about the state of our nation since tough economic times leave the youth of South Africa out on the margins of economic participation. Our youth has for the past 25 years under democratic rule, been fighting for economic freedom, but in vain. We have been let down by the failure of every administration put in place to fulfil the promises made over the years. Since 1994 we have been out in the economic cold and had no say; nor had we become drivers of our economy due to the lack of leadership and political will to implement the so-called good policies that are meant to see young South Africans becoming economic drivers. With every recession and economic downfall, young South Africans take a huge knock as they are the majority of the population. Our education system is a major role player in marginalising the youth by not empowering them. It therefore, needs a complete overhaul in order to produce young South Africans who are job creators, innovators and not just job seekers and dependants. The UDM Youth Vanguard calls upon President Cyril Ramaphosa to take young people into his confidence, as there cannot be anything about young people without them. The youth must be directly involved in economic policy formulation and implementation. The president missed a critical opportunity to have a young deputy minister in the presidency responsible for women, youth and persons with disabilities, as that office is crucial to drive youth development, empowerment and creating synergy between all departments to drive youth economic participation. We invite interested young people to come together under one roof on the 17th of June for a Multiparty, Stakeholders Youth Symposium under the theme of “Youth and Democracy in 25 Years” at the Braamfontein Civic Centre, Old Council Chambers, in Johannesburg, at 10:00am. This will afford us young South Africans an opportunity to engage, debate and come up with solutions on how we can solve the challenges faced by South Africa pertaining to the youth. We wish all young South Africans a peaceful and reflective Youth Day, taking on the lessons learnt from the youth of 1976. The youth of today must honour our heroes and heroines by taking charge of their destiny. Issued by: Mr Yongama Zigebe Gauteng Provincial Secretary, UDM Youth Vanguard
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05 Jun, 2019
UDESMO: Violence at schools and universities must stop
It is with deep despondency that the United Democratic Students’ Movement (UDESMO) heard of yet another act of serious violence at one of our institutions of learning, this time at Forest High School in Johannesburg. There were also reports of two Walter Sisulu University students who were killed at the weekend, at what is known as a “Freshers’ Braai”. South Africans have been bombarded with stories of severe bullying, sexual predation, violence and murder at our schools and universities just within the past year. It is a sign that something is drastically wrong at our institutions of learning. We need to understand that institutions of learning are microcosms of the communities in which they are geographically located. If drugs, alcoholism, gangsterism and violence are prevalent in the community, one can be sure that these social ills and criminal elements will reflect in the school environment. At our universities in particular, excessive alcohol abuse at what is colloquially know as “bashes” is rife. Taking a long-term view, the underlying socio-economic factors that negatively impact on our society should be addressed, which will in turn mirror in our institutions of learning. To address the immediate crisis, we need an urgent multi-stakeholder engagement to come up with practical solutions on how to keep our young people and teachers safe in our schools and universities. UDESMO believes that there should be closer cooperation between government, communities, institutions of learning and the police services. Moral decay is really threatening the velocity of our democracy and If nothing happens now, we are running a risk off a lawless nation. Issued by: Mr Akhona Bavu UDESMO Eastern Cape Chairperson
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30 May, 2019
UDMYV: Young leaders in government is encouraging
The United Democratic Movement Youth Vanguard (UDM Youth Vanguard) is pleased to note that this time around there are many young faces in cabinet and that some of the provincial MECs hail from the youth’s ranks. The UDM Youth Vanguard strongly feels that it will be in the best interest of the young people of South Africa if our debates in terms of unearthing common ideas to find solutions to our plight, should be inclusive. We all have something to contribute. We call on the young members of the executives to have open and wide-ranging discussions on political, social and economic challenges facing young South Africans. We therefor hope that these young people in our government will bring about the new ideas and innovations South Africa needs to become a winning nation. The UDM Youth Vanguard wishes them all well in their tasks ahead. Issued by Mr Yongama Zigebe Gauteng Provincial Secretary, UDM Youth Vanguard
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28 May, 2019
Good luck to the newly sworn-in premier of KwaZulu-Natal and his executive
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), welcomes the KZN premier and the provincial MECs to their new roles. We are encouraged that none of them are known for the bad odour of corruption and we advise them to maintain that status. As the premier prides himself for picking young and new blood in his executive, the KZN UDM hopes that such will bring about innovation in service delivery as, mostly, innovation is associated with the young and the new. We call on the new KZN provincial government to attend to the following issues as priorities: Corruption-ridden municipalities. Very poor state of roads marred with dangerous potholes. Community-based farming projects, and Capital Infrastructure projects in rural areas in order to attract property developers and business. Good luck to the new team as the KZN UDM will be at our posts as a credible and responsible political party. Issued by: Boysey Gumede UDM-KZN Provincial Secretary
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24 May, 2019
Funds allegedly siphoned off from uMzinyathi district municipality service providers
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) in KwaZulu-Natal, is appalled at a recording we have in our possession, where the voice of the uMzinyathi district mayor is allegedly having a fishy conversation with one of the municipal executive managers. In the recording, it sounds as if the mayor instructed this official to confront the municipal manager about funds that the municipal manager had apparently siphoned off from two municipal service providers (allegedly to the tune of R1,8m and R3m respectively) but had apparently failed to pay it over to the Inkatha Freedom Party’s coffers. Even though the speaker did not mention the IFP by name, he simply referred to ‘Umtwana’, it is common cause that both the mayor and the municipal manager are IFP deployees. This kind of tapping of funds, raises a lot of questions e.g. 1. Is the awarding of municipal tenders, legitimate and above board? 2. Are these service providers’ work of compromised quality to make room for kickbacks? 3. Were the earmarked development projects started off at all? The UDM reiterates its view that corruption remains corruption even if it is not committed by the usual suspects like the alleged VBS looters, and the Bosasa and PIC scandal mongers. The UDM in KwaZulu-Natal will gladly make the recording available to the mayor and invites him to explain the content of the voice clip. Issued by Mr Boysey Gumede Interim Provincial Secretary UDM in KwaZulu-Natal
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