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22 Feb, 2018
Subject for Discussion: Debate on the State of the Nation
Address by Mr LB Gaehler, MP (NCOP) in the National Assembly The UDM has been vindicated When His Excellency the President of the Republic of South Africa Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, during his State of the Nation Address 2018 responded positively to the issue of the service providers being paid on time by the government departments, within the policy of thirty days. The United Democratic Movement (UDM) has been advocating the issue of service providers through its public representatives in parliament since 2005 and talking to all departments. The UDM has been calling on the government since 2005 through speeches and members statements to pay service providers within the thirty days, as it is the policy of government. The President has now reiterated that this issue is going to be looked at and rectified as people and political parties has been complaining about this issue. We are very much happy that now the people of South Africa will benefit extremely as there are many South Africans who are doing services for government. The government must always keep its promises; as well, it is also the policy to pay service providers within thirty days. Thank you
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19 Feb, 2018
Subject for Discussion: DEBATE ON SONA
Address by Mr LB Gaehler, MP (NCOP) in the National Assembly Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members Mr President, we welcome your commitment to make the public service work. We therefore call on you, to professionalise service delivery as a function of public servants. They are employed to serve the people and not to be served by the people. Your administration, must put South Africa First. We must, as you have promised, make sure that public service is not a dumping site of unqualified, incompetent and lazy people, who are a product of your party’s deployment policy. This must come to an end now. Secondly, we welcome your commitment towards the Small Business Development. Accordingly, we suggest, that there must be consequences for failing to pay service providers within the specified time. There must be consequences for those who fail to implement government policy. For example, if a service provider is not paid within 30 days, there must be an interest accrued and such must be taken from the salary of the defaulting government official. As you establish your advisory streams, we call on you, to ensure that, this good initiative is not merely a payback for loyalty to you or your party. Therefore, you must, tap into the rich knowledge, expertise and wisdom of the society at large beyond party political confines. Mr President, industrialisation must not fly above the head of the majority of our people. It must originate and be driven from below. Your administration must invest in local economic development and prioritise rural economy. We are in this morass, as a consequence of poor management of state affairs by the governing party. However, you must be able to acknowledge this in order to steer the country on the correct course. It should be said that charity begins at home, cleansing must begin at home too. You must take the lead and deal decisively with those who commit crime against the people of South Africa. South Africans must be shifted from greed and corruption in which they have been accustomed to by previous leadership, and now focus on creating a society that we can all identify with and be proud to promote. If I judged correctly I would say approximately 80% of your speech was concentrated on economic matters and need for entrepreneurial revitalisation. We welcome your message of charting a new path for our country and imprinting footprints for what you call our future greatness. The idea of concentrating on JOBS, especially to tackle youth unemployment is well advised. I become concerned when politicians mention Extended Public Works jobs as part of tackling unemployment, as if they were sustainable jobs. These are dig a hole and fill it kind of jobs, they are great as emergency bailouts but are not real sustainable jobs. If we going to create real low skill jobs we must, as you have emphasized, you need to look deeper at construction and agriculture. We must couple it with the agenda of modernising our schools, building new community medical clinics that would expand access to quality low-cost care. We must include them on plans to upgrade broken-down electrical substations, localising the building of trains and buses and public housing to mention a few. The Job summit and investment conference are good ideas – provided it is not a white-wash in the manner in which government currently conducts its public consultations without effecting any suggestions from the public. You need to take seriously other people’s views, especially when they conflict with yours, because that is the only way you will also test and strengthen yours. Do not come with the dismissive attitude of thinking that the voice of experts on the field carries more weight. Often it is people on the ground, who know where it pinches and how to solve it. I am also sure opposition parties, like the UDM, who’ve been calling for an Economic Indaba will support you on this. Thank you
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19 Feb, 2018
State of the Nation Address 2018 debate
Contribution by Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP and President of the United Democratic Movement on the occasion of the State of the Nation Address 2018 debate in the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa • Honourable Speaker & chairperson of the NCOP • Mister President • Honourable Members 1. Congratulations Mr Ramaphosa! When an opponent has done well, one must applaud and say: “Well done”. Well done on your speech Mr President! Your message has restored hope and put South Africa on the right track for the restoration of our dignity. This opportunity was given to you on a silver platter by the steadfast efforts of the loyal opposition, the media and civil society, while your party’s leadership turned a blind eye to brazen looting of state resources and fiddled while South Africa was burning. Who will forget the hundreds of thousands of South Africans who marched in a united display of dissatisfaction over an ill-suited and irresponsible President of the Republic. 2. Corruption is the lynchpin in giving effect to your SONA vision 3. Madam Speaker, Institutionalised corruption has been exacerbated by political heads usurping the powers of accounting officers in all three tiers of government. And Mr President, there must be consequences for those who have been found guilty of corruption. 4. The work of the State Capture Inquiry The State Capture Inquiry must be beefed up with the inclusion of forensic audit experts and even the Hawks. The Justice Department must be directed to make special provision for prosecuting capacity and the establishment of dedicated courts to expedite justice, as was done in 2010 with the Soccer World Cup. Once the Inquiry identifies an incident of corruption, the Hawks must pounce, the judicial system must take the baton, whilst the Inquiry continues. 5. On a side note Mr President, you mentioned infrastructure development in your speech; and specifically referred to roads, millions of South Africans are forced to travel long distances to work in the cities and mines. These long-distance travels are marred by accidents, death and injury, with some using insensible transport. It might be time for us to consider state of the art, safe, speed trains to decongest roads, decrease accidents and to save time and lives. Also, Mr President, we need to attend to the phenomenon of anarchy in our society, the general lack of discipline and disrespect for the law. 6. Thuma Mina Your call to action resonates with all South Africans Mr President! We all want to see it prosper so that we might thrive as a collective and as individuals. Your call builds on the action initiated by opposition parties and civil society of the course of the past year or so. We all said “we wanna be there” to stay the rot of corruption; and we were there on the streets in our thousands. We commend your consultative style and welcome the initiatives you mentioned in your SONA, but you did not go far enough. There must be a broadening of the collective consultative process and a wide range of topics that should be interrogated and discussed. Call it what you will, an indaba, convention or a summit, but we need to convene under one roof to discuss the critical challenges facing South Africa today. Contrary to the opinion of some political gurus, who said the opposition was exclusively obsessed with getting rid of former president Zuma, we have laid the groundwork for this national dialogue. With the input from some academics, we compiled a draft “Problem Statement”, which was released in August last year, to serve as a fundamental basis for such a dialogue. The identified issues are: • The reinstatement of our Constitutional order and the Rule of Law; • Reaffirmation of our founding vision and values; • Measures to ensure inclusive economic participation and to address inequality; • Reversing our economic decline. • The establishment of a shared consensus on land reform. This should include the rural tenure system, bodies like the Ingonyama Trust, as well as selling of urban land to foreigners. • Review the National Development Plan, with regard to its implementation and outcomes; • Reviving our national morality and the eradication of systemic corruption; • The reformation of our electoral system to enhance accountability and responsiveness; • Review of the powers and functions of the President to resolve the over- concentration of power; • The development of a capable and professional state, which requires fair employment opportunities in government, for all South Africans as opposed to non-professionals being parachuted into positions of power. • The rehabilitation of our international standing based on a human rights approach. • The reinvigoration of our structures and systems of education and training to ensure skills development and meaningful participation in economic and social activities; • Reversing social decay and putting a stop to violence against women and children; • The fostering of reconciliation, social cohesion and nationhood; • Resolving impediments to the progressive realisation of our basic human rights; • Strengthening and ensuring the independence of our Chapter 9 Institutions; • The reformation of party-political funding; • Securing the attainment of all role players towards the attainment of a state of good governance and the values that underpin it; We are here Mr President and we wanna be there to help find sustainable solutions. I thank you
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16 Feb, 2018
UDMYV: Some SONA2018 announcements give hope to young South Africans
The United Democratic Movement Youth Vanguard (UDMYV) has taken note of the State of the National Address delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa today, 16 February 2018. This on the back foot of many young people of South Africa who continue to be marginalised due to lack of job opportunities in the country. The UDMYV welcomes the President’s commitment to “move young South African’s to the centre of the national economic agenda.” Some of the initiatives announced today include: 1. A jobs summit 2. Launch of Youth Employment Service Initiative 3. Establishment of a Youth Working Group represented by all young South Africans. 4. Creation of one million internships in three years. The UDMYV supports these initiatives in principle and would avail its machinery for the success of these programmes as the UDMYV recognises that the exclusion of young people from economic activity is an injustice to the black child in particular. We also hope that these programmes are not designed to appease the African National Congress Youth League whom we believe are enemies of the President in his party’s factional battles. The UDMYV therefore calls for wide representation and inclusion of all youth formations in these programmes. We shall also continue to work with the United Democratic Students’ Movement (UDESMO) at all tertiary institutions to make sure that free education is implemented in order to benefit the millions of young South Africans who seek to venture into higher education and training. The economy needs a new approach that will attract international investors and create jobs. The UDMYV believes that manufacturing through localisation will indeed help to achieve this and that ratings agencies will upgrade South Africa out of junk status. Issued by: Katleho Mothamaha UDMYV Political Liaison Officer, Gauteng plo@udmyv.co.za Yongama Zigebe UDMYV Provincial Secretary, Gauteng Secretarygp@udmyv.co.za yludwe@yahoo.com
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13 Feb, 2018
Success! UDM reaction to “Suspect Number One”; Jacob Zuma being recalled
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) welcomes the decision to recall Mr Jacob Zuma as the President of the Republic of South Africa (SA). It has taken far too long for this to happen, once it became patently clear (years ago) that he was not fit to hold the highest office in the Country. We can rightly say that the African National Congress (ANC) only reached this decision because of the continued, consistent pressure exerted by opposition parties; civil society; and the media, who played a critical role in exposing institutionalised corruption such as #GuptaLeaks. It is encouraging that those who campaigned for Mr Zuma to vacate his office, had free access to media and radio talk shows. This demonstrates that the tools of democracy and a free society, as provided by our Constitution, work. The ANC’s much vaunted self-correcting nature is a damp squib. South Africans, especially eligible voters, have realised that the ANC has lost its moral high-ground and had relinquished its status as South Africa’s liberation movement. If it wants to be taken seriously, the ANC – which have been protecting Mr Zuma, at all cost – must own up to this mess and immediately charge Mr Zuma and his fellow gangsters. In the end him and his colleagues your deployees! Regarding the future, the UDM is positive, but recognise that it will take the nation years to recover from the damage caused by the tangible effects of Mr Zuma’s administration on the lives of our people on a daily basis. It will also take time to convince the international community, the ratings agencies, and investors that South Africa no longer has a weak and corrupt government that easily succumbs to the influence of pirates and privateers. However, only half the battle has been won at this time. All patriotic South Africans, opposition parties, civil society, and the media should not now rest and lower their guards. We must ensure that the culprits face the full might of the law and that the billions of stolen Rands be returned to the last cent! South Africa has learnt several harsh, but valuable lessons in this experience. One thing that should be done to curb corruption in Government – perpetrated by political deployees and officials alike – should be the appointment of specialist investigating units, with forensic auditing capacity, as well as dedicated courts to expedite the prosecution of offenders. We hope that Mr Zuma’s departure from office also signals a departure from this almost cult-like hero-worshiping of certain individuals just because they have “struggle credentials”. Struggle credentials do not maketh the man! There is no place in our history for people who have tarnished the legacy of our freedom fighters; we must draw a line in the sand and start from scratch to create a corruption-free government that works in the service of the people. Issued by: Mr Bantu Holomisa, MP and UDM President
