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08 Oct, 2013
Freedom Day
Address by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP on Freedom Day in the Vhembe Distrtict in Limpopo on 27 April 2013 Programme Director, Deputy President of the UDM Secretary General of the UDM, UDM National Executive Committee Members, UDM Limpopo Provincial Leadership, UDM Public Representatives and members of the Party, People of Vhembe Region, Fellow South Africans; Thank you to all of you, who have come today, to make this celebration possible. The structures of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) in Limpopo have worked very hard to bring us all together; thank you. The commemoration of Freedom Day reminds us of the heavy price our struggle heroes and heroines paid for the freedom we now enjoy. This day gives us an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made since the advent of democracy in 1994 as well as the challenges we face today. Truth be told, we started well in 1994. We built a democratic dispensation based on the noble ideals of protecting human rights and promoting freedom. This, together with the exemplary manner with which we managed the pre-1994 negotiations and the transition that gave birth to a new political dispensation, made South Africa a beacon of hope for Africa and the rest of the world. Indeed, we made tremendous progress since then. However, nineteen years later, a closer look at our country reveals serious regression. Today, South Africans have to put up with a faltering and underperforming economy that seems incapable of growing at the levels required to reduce unemployment, to eradicate poverty and inequality. This underperformance occurs against the background of the ever-increasing gap between the haves and haves-not. Our education system ranks among the worst performers in world. This happens despite the huge amount of resources the country ploughs into it. The poor state of our education fails our children and jeopardises their future. Our primary healthcare system is falling apart. Hospitals and clinics are short-staffed, they have no medicines and patients are treated with disdain. Corruption in the government is rife despite its assurances to the contrary. The Comrades in Corruption loot state resources daily and with impunity through tenderpreneurship and bogus schemes. This handicaps service delivery and results in many violent service delivery riots around the country. Even prospective investors shun South Africa as an investment destination because of the high levels of corruption, and our people pay the price. Government uses every opportunity to abuse power by intimidating those who challenge or disagree with it. The ruling alliance’s overreaction to Bret Murray’s Spear Painting is a case in point. To make matters worse, government officials are appointed based on political affiliation rather than merit. Government prioritises elite projects and spend billions of Rands on projects, such as the Gautrain, instead of ploughing this money into service delivery. Weak leadership paralyses every sphere of government. Nowhere is this more evident than in the high rate of policy turnover; each new minister brings a new policy. With each new appointment, there is poor or no implementation of either the inherited or new government programmes. This creates confusion and instability, because the people do not know what to expect from government and, more importantly, how evaluate its performance. This regime does not respect the rule of law. We see how it reacts when the courts do not rule in its favour. You will recall that in 2009 the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) took an administrative decision to drop all corruption charges against President Zuma paving his way to the Union Buildings. This has caused irreparable damage to the reputation of our justice system, because people now believe that, in our justice system, politically connected and powerful individuals “are more equal than others”. Compare the way in which President Zuma was treated, to that of the former ANC Youth League (ANCYL) President, Julius Malema. State institutions have been used to harass and destroy him. I am not here to defend Mr Malema; he is a shrewd politician he can do that for himself. Contrary to the monster his detractors portray him to be, Mr Malema has carried himself in a dignified manner during this difficult time in his life. In fact, he has thus far displayed more respect for the rule of law than some of the senior leaders of the ruling party. Other challenges facing our Nation today include, but are not limited to, high levels of crime, dysfunctional local government councils and a lack of sustainable development programmes. With the bleak picture I have sketched thus far, it is not difficult to conclude that we are on a slippery slope to a dysfunctional state and anarchy. To turn this situation around, we need to intensify our efforts to ensure that elected leaders consult with the electorate and account for their political decisions and programmes. Improving the efficacy of this vertical form of accountability has numerous benefits. Chief among these benefits is that it enables the people to keep track and evaluate the performance of their government. There are instances where people are afraid to question the performance of government departments due to fear of reprisal. We should use this process to ensure that no one is victimised for demanding delivery. There are also cases where government deliberately misinforms the public, such as the recent controversy around deployment of South African troops to the Central African Republic (CAR) for an unspecified mission. Democracy is subverted when elected politicians do not consult and account to the electorate, and when they deliberately misinform the public about some of their decisions. Given the victimisation of our people, as mentioned above, I applaud you for your courage in collecting the service delivery complaints of the people of Limpopo. You did this despite the fact that you might be victimised. A special thanks therefore to the people of the Capricorn, Thulamela and Aganang Municipalities for forwarding their complaints to us. The UDM councillors and the leadership of this province have done a sterling job of encouraging communities to come forward with their service delivery complaints and concerns. I thank you for your hard work. Ladies and gentlemen, this process is gathering momentum. As I am speaking to you, we will be receiving more complaints from the people of this province. A quick look at the list of service delivery complaints from 20 villages in Ward 22 reveals the same regression I mentioned earlier. Tomorrow I will however meet with Chief Lambani and the people of this community at the Chief’s kraal to talk about their worries. As with the other people, with whom we have interacted in this province, the people in these villages complain about (among others) having no water and no electricity; their roads are impassable and their schools and clinics poorly equipped. With such a long list of service delivery complaints, some of which constitute serious human rights violations, we wonder whether the Human Rights Commission is playing its proper role. You wonder whether it has not also just become another employment agency for the ruling party’s cadres. Once we have received all your complaints, we will hand them over to President Zuma for attention. To the UDM structures in the province, these complaints provide a clear indication that our people are unhappy with the current government. You will recall that the UDM was once the main opposition party in this province. The floor-crossing legislation however cost us that status. We need to work hard regain it. We have to crisscross the province to recruit members and to swell our ranks. We must make it clear to all and sundry that the UDM is here to stay and that we have an important role to play in South Africa. We will not surrender, nor will we allow ourselves to be swallowed by another political party. We have to make people understand that efficacy of the service delivery chain would, among other things, be achieved in the face of adequate electoral competition between South Africa’s various political parties. One party dominance breeds arrogance of power, complacency, corruption and poor service delivery. I thank you.
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 28 on Economic Development
Address by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP in the Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 28 on Economic Development (07 May 2013) Mister Speaker, Ministers and Deputy Ministers and Honourable Members, The UDM supports Budget Vote 28. According to Statistics South Africa’s latest Labour Force Survey the rate of unemployment in South Africa has increased to 25.2 percent during the first quarter in 2013 from 24.9 percent in the last quarter in 2012. This means that more than 100 000 South Africans are without work since the last quarter in 2012. The unemployment rate deteriorates to approximately 36.7 percent when the number of discouraged work seekers is factored in. This dismal performance regarding employment proves beyond reasonable doubt that government’s economic policies have failed to grow our economy at the levels required to reduce unemployment and eradicate poverty. This occurs against the background of the ever-increasing gap between the haves and haves-not. In addition, South Africa seems to be on a fiscal slippage. In the year 2007/2008 our budget balance declined from a surplus of 1.7 percent, to a deficit of 5.2 percent in the year 2012/2013. Our debt-to-GDP ratio has increased from 23 percent in 2008 to approximately 40 percent in 2012/2013. Corruption and wasteful expenditure in government have reached crisis levels. With the bleak picture I have sketched thus far, it is not difficult to conclude that South Africa is on the slippery slope to become a sub-investment grade country. We need to take decisive steps to turn the situation around and there are unfortunately no shortcuts to long-term success. To reduce unemployment, government needs to develop an environment that is conducive for small and large businesses to flourish. Not the current situation where you find companies that employ workers from neighbouring countries. So-called outside investors, that we find in every corner of South Africa, do not give work to South Africans, but exclusively employ their family and friends. We have to consider whether businesses should not be compelled to ensure that 60 to 70 percent of their staff complement is made-up of South Africans. Government can develop the aforementioned environment by, amongst other things, ensuring that there is the required level of labour flexibility in the economy. This means that the labour market framework should enable businesses to frame appropriate responses to changes in market conditions. For this to succeed, government would need to reign in its alliance partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), which seems to only be interested in protecting the interests of the employed at the expense of the unemployed. In the past, many raw materials were processed domestically, but today most of these factories close down in droves. The common denominator is their inability to compete with imports from countries where such products are subsidised by their governments. Government needs to root out corruption and wasteful expenditure in the system and needs to adopt policies that are aimed at reducing its deficits and debt accumulation. In conclusion, government’s proposed review of the current tax system should not see the light of day until the aforementioned measures have been taken into account and until such time that taxpayers get value for the money they pump into the fiscus. I thank you.
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 38 on Water Affairs
Address by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP in the Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 38 on Water Affairs (21 May 2013) Chairperson, honourable Minister and Deputy Minister and honourable Members, The UDM supports Budget Vote 38. The work of this Department is fairly straight forward. To see whether this Department is performing its function, one has to look no further than the number of communities that have water and those that do not. Significant progress in providing water to many communities around the country has admittedly been made since 1994, but there are still many small towns and rural communities that have no access to clean water. To increase the severity of this problem, when these communities do have access to water the supply is unreliable. This often leads to a situation where they go for weeks without water. Add to the water supply challenge the fact that the water infrastructure in small towns is not designed to support current population levels which have increased due to urbanisation. The Department of Water Affairs needs to work hard to address these problems. We have said many times that the current water delivery system is very opaque and that this opens it to political abuse, as the politically connected and the powerful continue to jump the queue willy-nilly. Last year the UDM proposed a solution to this problem. We proposed that the Department develops a National Register for all water applications. The aim of this register is to ensure that there is transparency and fairness in the delivery of water. Fairness would ensure that water delivery occurs on a first-come first-served basis and this would prevent the queue-jumping mentioned above. I am not sure if anything has been done about this proposal. Today we would like to propose that the water infrastructure delivery programme be included in the overall government infrastructure development programme. Once this is done, government should then development an infrastructure development map that citizens can use to keep track of water and general government infrastructure delivery. Then the necessary financial resources should be allocated to ensure that every aspect of infrastructure development, particularly the water infrastructure, proceeds with the requisite speed and urgency. We hope that the Department adopts some of these proposals because it is practical solutions that will help us to improve the material conditions of our people and not meaningless philosophical debates that are conducted in arcane academic language which run the risk of reducing this Budget Vote into a futile exercise. I thank you.
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Parliamentary Debate: Use of Waterkloof Air Force Base
Address by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP in the Parliamentary Debate: Use of Waterkloof Air Force Base (22 May 2013) Mister Speaker and Honourable Members, One would have expected Government to furnish us a copy of the report in order to enhance this debate. However, we are not surprised by this because here we are dealing with a government that took a dubious decision to investigate itself. This must have been the easiest investigations for Government to conduct considering the close proximity of the Guptas to the Cabinet and the Directors General. This generally corrupt relationship between Cabinet and the Guptas has allowed the Guptas to use State Owned Enterprises as their cash cow in their controversial free of charge breakfast shows with the national broadcaster. Mister Speaker, it is a blatant lie to assert that the Gupta planes did not obtain authorisation to land at the Waterkloof Air Force Base. Without authorisation, none of these planes would have entered our airspace. The fact that they obtained authorisation proves beyond reasonable doubt that the Guptas have been getting away with using the Waterkloof as their parking bay each time they host important visitors from abroad. They just happened to be caught red-handed this time around. There are a lot of things that do not add up about Government’s Guptagate report. Firstly, if the Waterkloof Air Force Base is not a National Key Point why waste our time by lining up and parading Ministers from the Security Cluster to address the Nation on the matter? Secondly, given the fact that the planes did not obtain authorisation how and by whom were they refuelled? The only deduction that one can make from this fiasco is that the mere mention of the Gupta name is enough to send the entire Cabinet into a tailspin. In addition to the inconsistencies I have mentioned above, if the Waterkloof Air Force Base is not a National Key Point, why have the senior officials who allegedly authorised the landing been suspended? In light of the fact that these officials should have delegated powers to authorise landing at an unclassified airport, why were they expected to obtain Executive authority? The point I am trying to make here is that it makes no sense to suspend the officials for authorising landing at an unclassified airport. In conclusion, the South African Revenue Service complained that it was not informed about this matter, while other Departments, such as Home Affairs confirmed that they were informed in advance. This led to a situation where some of the gifts the visitors brought with them were not declared when they entered the country. I am aware that many of these gifts were given to current and former Cabinet Ministers. In the interest of good governance, should they not return them? Thank you
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 12 Public Service and Administration
Address by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP in the Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 12 Public Service and Administration (22 May 2013) Chairperson, Honourable Minister and Deputy Minister and Honourable Members, The UDM supports Budget Vote 12. We have noted the concerns of the public about the low levels of competence in our civil service and are encouraged by the Minister’s attempts to address this problem and thus professionalise the civil service. We have also noted government threats that it is going to deal decisively with civil servants who are not doing their jobs. We hope the Minister will make use of the powers given to her by the Public Service Act to turnaround public administration. In this regard, the Public Service Commission has an important role to play in ensuring that this professionalisation happens and that suitably qualified people are appointed. For some time now civil servants have been appointed into positions without regard for their competence and suitability for the jobs. These people then often use government departments as employment agencies for their ethnic groups. For example, it is not uncommon to find that when Ministers are Xhosa they turn their departments into Xhosa land and when they are Indian Ministers they turn their departments into an Indian Ocean, and so on. It is also common in the current government to appoint people who have not made it into the National Assembly list as advisers to state departments, even though they might be clueless about their work. To address this problem, the office of the President together with the Public Service Commission should ensure that Ministers do not have the final say on who becomes their Directors General and advisers. This is important if we are to win the fight against nepotism and corruption. In addition, the appointment of inappropriately qualified people discourages many who regard civil service as a career. I have come across many senior officials who lack the requisite knowledge, training and experience to run departments. Often these officials have not even undergone basic training in Induction Courses, Supervision and Management, Accounting as well as Human Resources Management. To address this problem, the Minister has to, among other things, invest in the development of suitably qualified Work Study Officers for all departments. Such a step would boost employee morale as Work Study Officers would have pertinent insight in employee performance and departmental structural issues and would also play an important role during salary negotiations. Finally, the Minister would have failed in her duties if she does not restore the powers of Directors General as accounting officers. We have seen how political directives have created mayhem in the entire tender system. Thank you.
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 22 – Defence
Address by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP in the Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 22 – Defence (23 May 2013) Mister Speaker, honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers and Honourable Members, The UDM supports Budget Vote 22. President Zuma’s decision to reshuffle the cabinet a few months ago slowed down the progress the Department had made since 2009. The inordinate amount of time the Department is taking to finalise the Defence Review and the appointment of permanent Defence Force Service Commissioners bears testimony to this. When questioned about this delay, the Department often tells us that the Minister is still busy familiarising herself with the Department. The question is: “How long does it take for the Honourable Minister to familiarise herself with her Department?” This House will recall that the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission tabled a report which recommended that Government reviews the 1998 Defence Review with a view to allocate adequate resources to the task of building an effective Defence Force, among others. This is particularly critical in the light of our obligations and mandate to maintain peace and stability here at home and on the Continent. Honourable Minister, The Nation is concerned about the fact that you are spending most of your time out of the country attending to some insignificant issues, rather than in the country running your Department. If the majority of your trips had any significance, the Department would have benefited from them. With regards to your overseas trips, the UDM is still considering where to direct a sensitive question about the close proximity of a UK-based company and a certain Zimbabwean citizen to your office. Your failure to prioritise the Department and its needs could be seen in the dismal manner in which you handled the Central African Republic (CAR) fiasco. Whilst you were busy gallivanting around Durban during the Brics bash, our troops were engaged in a 13 hour battle with the rebels in the CAR. You did not even deem it appropriate to leave the bash and join the SANDF Commanders in Pretoria. It took almost 48 hours to hear from you. Honourable Minister, you failed to provide leadership in the CAR fiasco in that you have thus far neither established a board of inquiry to look into the matter, nor have you briefed this House on your Department’s Operational Report on it, if there is any. Thank you.
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 30 – Environment
Address by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP in the Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 30 – Environment (28 May 2013) Chairperson, Minister and Deputy Minister and Honourable Members, The UDM supports Budget Vote 30. The high incidents of rhino poaching in South Africa over the past few years have been a cause of much embarrassment. More disappointing, however, is to see that South Africa seems incapable of dealing with this problem. State Security has failed to gather intelligence on rhino poaching in South Africa. Such intelligence would enable us to nip this problem in the bud. Rhino poaching has even risen in our transfrontier parks. Every day we read disturbing newspaper reports that rhino poaching has increased in parts of these Parks that are in our neighbouring countries. While noble ideals underpinned the development of these Parks, the rise in rhino poaching in these Parks requires urgent attention. Chairperson, We are duty bound to make environmental issues attractive to the people. This we can do by ensuring that we avoid using arcane academic language and jargon when we talk to our people about environmental issues. More important is that we develop practical solutions to environmental challenges for the public to implement. Some of these solutions include, but are not limited to, packaging environmental solutions with food security initiatives and commercial foresting. People should also be encouraged to engage in tree-planting activities, as indigenous forests play a critical role in protecting homes against natural disasters. I thank you.
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 6 – Performance Monitoring and Evaluation
Address by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP in the Parliamentary Debate: Budget Vote 6 – Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (28 May 2013) Chairperson, Minister and Deputy Minister and Honourable Members, The UDM supports Budget Vote 6. Today, we are debating the Budget Vote of one of Government Departments that has a broad mandate. Used properly, the Department’s mandate could enable it to meaningfully and positively affect the service delivery chain. When this Department was established, its leadership was in a fortunate position in that unlike other well-established departments, it did not inherit employees from previous administrations. It had a rare opportunity to recruit and appoint the right people. Time will tell whether or not the Department put this opportunity wisely. However, the wave of service delivery protests over the past few years are a clear indication that the public sector service delivery chain is full of bottlenecks and inefficiencies. The root cause of these problems can be attributed to poor coordination of government programmes. In other words, the right hand does not know or shows no interest in what the left hand is doing. This lack of coordination often results in a situation where some Heads of Provincial Governments run their provinces as if we are in a federal state. We therefore hope that, in its effort to improve Public Sector Oversight, as one of its key priorities for the 2013/14 fiscal year, the Department pays particular attention to the aforementioned challenges. To conclude, it is my considered view that National Planning and Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation should be merged into one Department. Once this is done, the experienced Minister Trevor Manuel be put in charge of the new Department. This is because logic dictates that a person who develops a plan is better placed to monitor and evaluate its implementation. Furthermore, his National Development Plan impacts directly on the mandate of this Department. I thank you.
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