Zuma’s SONA response: filled with contradictions

The response by President Zuma to the State of the Nation Address (SONA debate has been lauded by some in the media as statesman-like. He pulled out the “charm-offensive” and used the old trick of “charm to disarm”. It is clear, he is running out of options. In trying to use this tactic he is hoping to “soften” the opposition on issues such as Nkandla and the corruption hanging over his head. At the same time he tried to negate the shocking intimidation and violence that everyone witnessed in Parliament. We are not that forgetful! As DA Parliamentary Leader said; we will never forgive Zuma for this travesty in Parliament. We will also not forget the jamming of cell phone signals. This is unconstitutional. It goes against the free flow of information. Ministers are now telling us that it was a junior official that is responsible and due to “human error”. What rubbish! Again, we see individuals in the ANC not taking responsibility for their actions. No one has explained why jamming devices were in Parliament in the first place. Those that believe that the President delivered a good response to the SONA debate ignore the fact that it was riddled with contradictions. The President contradicted himself when he agreed with South Africans that the electricity crises is indeed serious and that it is a drag on the economy. However, at the SONA the previous week, he described loadshedding as a mere “inconvenience”. Zuma used his response to dictate to Members of Parliament on how to behave in debates. He wants placid debates were everyone is “respectful”. Amazingly, the Constitution describes clear separation of powers yet his thug police force behaved badly violating the Constitution and thus the sanctity of Parliament – where’s the “respect” there, Mr President? His impromptu history lesson looked at the past whilst providing no vision for the future which is what South Africa needs. It is very sad to see how clearly he can articulate the past but not the future. Twenty years of ANC government and we continue to grapple with the same issues as the Zuma administration is able to effectively solve them.

Yesterday: The day that our Beloved Country cried, again

Last night I experienced an emotion that I hadn’t since the early 1990s. It was fear. A very specific fear. In 1991 I was working through the Church with youth in townships. On a particular Saturday, whilst working in war-torn Everton, we got wind that the security police was looking for us. We hid in a house as the security officials literally stood only a few feet away from where we were hiding. Although we did not get caught, the fear I experienced is difficult to describe as it’s not a fear for oneself but a fear that our people and their freedom and freedoms were being trampled on. Unless one has experienced such an intense emotion I doubt whether one would understand it. That same emotion of “special” fear came flooding back into my veins as police fully armed brushed against me on their way to EFF members to forcibly remove them from the National Assembly chamber. Right before my eyes I saw our beloved country return to South Africa under the height of the State of Emergency of old. Last night marked a turning point in our democracy. It pointed to how our Constitution was set aside and a dictatorial government ruled via the police. We have come full circle. Yesterday started off with the CBD of Cape Town being subjugated by heavy military and police vehicles and personnel present at every corner. Not because they were protecting citizens but because the government wanted the people to be quiet and compliant. Only the “authorised” (easily identified with ANC T-shirts) were allowed to speak and stand on the streets. Although barricades were set up for the public to observe proceedings from behind them, they were to do this quietly without expressing opposing opinions to that of the government’s. And so people like DA national spokesman, Marius Redelinghuys, DA Cape Metro Chairman, Shaun August and other DA members were sprayed by a water cannon, manhandled and arrested because they dared to peacefully protest against the energy crises. The police state is back in South Africa. This is not all. The dark old days of censorship and information control are back. Big brother government will decide what you can see, hear and say. When we walked into the chamber our cell phone signal was blocked. The DA, EFF and even the media present demanded to #BringBackOurSignal. Have the ANC learnt nothing from our history? You cannot block information! An attempt at gagging the media and the Opposition at its worst! The censorship didn’t stop there! The SABC cut off the audio of the television feed and when EFF members were being physically assaulted, the camera remained static on the Speaker and her NCOP counterpart. Unlike the dark days of apartheid, this time round technology allows one other means of getting this information out. Members filmed the defilement of the sanctity of Parliament. Within minutes this information was out in social media for the shocked world to see. We walked out as the presiding officers refused to admit that it was armed police officers that had invaded the sacred institution of Parliament. Not even in the height of apartheid did we ever see scenes such as these in our chamber. The ANC got what it wanted; a Parliament filled only with the ANC and other compliant opposition parties. Amazingly, the President didn’t apologise to the nation and ambassadors present for this behaviour but joined some of his lackey Ministers by chuckling at this high drama. Again, not even in the height of apartheid did one see National Party Prime Ministers or his cabinet publically laughing at the mayhem that they had caused. The ANC have no solutions to the problems of South Africa, except for a purely physical security response. This, and the actions of last night will chip away at the Party’s disintegrating hegemony as the people hang their heads in shame and simply stop voting for Zuma’s ANC which is no longer Mandela’s ANC. There is no turning back. It is clear. The ANC will stop at nothing to do what it has to do to retain power. If it means going back to the bad old days, then so be it! It started yesterday. Yesterday: 12 February 2015: Twenty Five years and one day after the release of Madiba with a vision that is the polar opposite to what the ANC has shown us yesterday. Yesterday was the day when once again South Africa, our beloved country, cried.

The Makhura Panel: National Minister must come clean on it

Gauteng Premier David Makhura tried desperately to create a perception of a final solution for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) e-Tolls problem when he was forced to make public the findings made by the panel he had set up on this issue. Despite his apparent attempts at keeping the findings secret until this month (I can’t think of a logical reason why) information was leaking like a sieve. He had no choice but to make the report public before there was nothing left to tell Gautengers! This was supposedly the ANC’s solution in bringing back the many Provincial votes that they had lost in the 2014 Elections. Cynically, the very fact that Premier Makhura felt e-tolls must be reviewed vindicates and confirms what the DA and the majority of the public have been saying from the beginning. The ballots at the voting stations had indeed spoken! Elements of what the panel highlighted were included in the DA submission. The Official Opposition was also heard! By far the funding model for e-tolls is of greatest concern and alternatives need to be considered. The panel confirmed what the DA had been saying; that indeed it is the poor that suffer the most financially with e-tolls whilst the wealthy can afford to circumvent the e-tolls system. However, no satisfactory solution was proposed in this regard! I was surprised at the announcement by the Premier that he is already working with the three metros, (Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni) in Gauteng as he has reached a “dead end” on this matter as any application of recommendations can only be implemented nationally under the political leadership of Minister Dipuo Peters. According to the recommendations, instead of being relieved of the financial burden of e-tolls, motorists will still be forced to pay for the GFIP through other means, such as exorbitant increases on motor vehicle licence fees and other “stealth taxes”. In the final analysis the conclusion is simple, Makhura and his administration and the structures of the ANC in Gauteng have created this panel and all the hype that went round it as an antidote to the votes they lost in the National Elections. They hoped that this would create a perception that the ANC and the Provincial government is on the voter’s side and that an alternative is sought. Nothing could be further from the truth. All this is simply a smokescreen to try to keep the public at bay. How wrong the Premier was! The Premier has no influence in making any changes on this matter as this is a national competence that only the National Minister of Transport can decide on. There have been “double-speak” from all sides, both provincial and national ANC politicians) as contradictory messages continue. We need clarity on this matter as the Premier has reached the end of the road on this matter. I will, at the next opportunity be asking in Parliament for the Minister to take South Africa into her confidence and tell us if she will be considering this report or any aspect thereof. The public cannot be left “hanging” on this matter.

Inaccurate road statistics prevents reducing road carnage

The year started off with the usual statement by the Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters claiming that there was a decrease in fatal crashes and fatalities on our roads during the 2014 festive season. Peters claimed that there was a decrease of 50 fatal crashes and 24 fatalities in the period of 1 December 2014 to 30 December 2014. The Transport Department recorded over the same period in 2013, 974 fatal crashes and 1168 fatalities. For 2014 over the same period, 924 fatal crashes and 1143 fatalities, were claimed by the Minister. The Minister and her department are exposing themselves with these stats. These stats are being manipulated to make the Transport Department look good! The 2013 festive season measuring period was 1 December 2013 to 7 January 2014. In 2012, the measurement period was 1 December 2012 to 10 January 2013. The measuring period for 2014 was from 1 December 2014 to 5 January 2015. The Minister and her department are consistent with being inconsistent. As a result, the department gets it reliably wrong year after year as unequal measuring periods are used. But this is not the only inaccuracy with road crash statistics. It cannot be that so early on in the year that the Minister could already present to the South African public road death figures for the 2014 festive season when morgues across the country are yet to finalise their reports on corpse numbers. These stats takes 30 days to consolidate. The Minister’s report ought to have followed the final reports from the morgues, rather than relying only on incident reports from the South African Police Services officers attending cases on the roads. Statistics announced by the Minister are not comparing “apples with apples”. Measuring periods are unequal and therefore this manipulation has the effect of skewing the statistics. Skewed stats are counter-productive. The carnage on our roads cannot be properly tackled unless we have accurate and complete statistics. Certainly there are other problems, the MRC (Medical Research Council) does not produce regular reports on the status of road deaths in the country. Their last report was produced in October 2012, and according to that report, 17 076 South Africans were killed in road traffic crashes in 2009. However the official report from the RTMC at the time had road deaths at 10 857. This is just one example of the extent of the under- or over- reporting problem. Even more alarming is the view taken by many in the transport fraternity and other road safety experts and monitoring groups (like the MRC) that these numbers, produced by the National Department of Transport, do not represent the true story of the horror on our roads. We have long cautioned against the National Department of Transport’s reliance on SAPS reports as an indicator of road deaths; it is an intrinsically flawed measure as it susceptible to error and will often only represent the deaths recorded at a particular crash site that SAPS responded to, and not subsequent deaths arising from injuries sustained during a crash. There are more accurate ways of producing these statistics. In the Western Cape, fatality statistics are provided by the Western Cape Department of Health’s Forensic Pathology Services, sourced from mortuaries across the province. These statistics are collated from the victims cause of death, and are differentiated between the classes of fatalities; driver, passenger, pedestrian, cyclist and motor cyclist. This is a deadly accurate measure of road deaths that is crucial for the planning and implementing of focussed and successful interventions; interventions that can tackle the carnage on our roads head-on. The road death statistics over the festive season reported by Minister Peters were therefore misleading South Africans on an issue of great sensitivity to the public. Road deaths are an avoidable tragedy that the Department of Transport must work to prevent, rather than sweep under the carpet with incomplete and even fake statistics. Minister Peters had, in the past, committed her department to employing measures to more accurately collate road death statistics. When will she be making this happen? I will be challenging her about this issue in Parliament.

Minister Peters must take serious action this festive season

The National Department of Transport estimates that road trauma costs the South African economy R 306 billion a year, which is money that should be directed to improving levels of service delivery. The situation simply cannot continue unabated and urgent action is needed from all stakeholders and citizens, in partnership, to curb the carnage on our roads. Transport Minister, Dipuo Peters, needs to show leadership and boldness on the road safety issue. She does not need to reinvent the wheel as the Western Cape’s “Safely Home”, the only functioning road safety campaign, has proved to yield results. Road death statistics in the Western Cape have consistently dropped since 2009. The “Safely Home” campaign has launched a multimedia campaign focused on the dangers associated with alcohol and road use. The campaign is live online and in social media and is supported by radio advertisements on various radio stations, as well as campaign posters at key locations. The Western Cape Government has made every effort to ensure safe roads over the festive season. The Western Cape Provincial Traffic Department remains the only traffic service to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Minister Peters should emulate “Safely Home” which is intensifying over the upcoming festive season. Round-the-clock enforcement operations across the country over this festive season should focus on: • Driving under the influence of alcohol. • Excessive speed. • Driver Fatigue management. • Driver/vehicle fitness. • Distracted driving. • Pedestrian safety. • Seatbelt compliance. • Licence plates. • Safe following distances. As well as better co-ordination between enforcement bodies across the provinces, where traffic volumes are on the rise as many travel across the country to their various holiday destinations. Unless the Minister ensures that a proper and coordinated road safety campaign is in place during the festive season, improvements on our roads will remain minimal.

Minister Peters' ultimatum to Emirates begs question of SAA protectionism

The DA is concerned at reports today revealing that the Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters, is summoning a United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister to attend an urgent bilateral meeting in South Africa, over the future landing rights of Emirates Airlines in South Africa. Emirates is a critical international travel carrier for inbound and outbound South African leisure and business travel. The review comes after Emirates Airline received an ultimatum on Friday, that the South African government may block the landing of all of its flights in South Africa, after the department issued and then retracted a new landing slot for Emirates, which is itself very problematic. I will today write to the Minister of Transport to implore her that if she presses ahead with her ultimatum to Emirates, and if she holds a meeting with a minister of the UAE government, she does so by way of an open meeting subject to public scrutiny. Something is amiss with the rationale for this drastic action by Minister Peters. When South African Airways reported an operating loss of R991m for the financial year 2012/2013 in January, the airline cited “the weakened rand and said increasing levels of competition and Middle Eastern carriers characterized the period.” If Minister Peters is pressuring a foreign Middle Eastern carrier out of the South African market in protection of South African Airways, the DA will call for the Minister to resign immediately. This strange and urgent action by Minister Peters defies logic, and begs the question of what she intends to achieve by this review of Emirates landing rights in South Africa.

Parliament is in chaos because “big man” Zuma is being protected

The chaotic events in Parliament last night mark a distinctive low milestone for the ANC. We are seeing the ANC’s disintegration before our very eyes. Clearly the ANC and its leadership know this. Why else would Minister for Small Business, Lindiwe Zulu act like a playground bully and physically go after another Member of Parliament by threatening him and calling him out of the chamber. She is nothing more than a big bad bully who was expressing her frustration as she sees the ANC losing control in every way. The ANC is losing control of the economy. It is losing its fight against unemployment as unemployment and job creation continues to be low with little foreseeable prospect of growth. It is losing its fight against education as our children receive sub-standard schooling. It’s pillaging of the state is out of control and the ANC is frustrated that it cannot hide this. In almost every aspect the ANC is simply losing it. And it knows this. It also lost in the last elections which means there are now less ANC MPs in Parliament. In turn the Opposition has grown dramatically. Things are now not so easy for the ANC to steam-roll items through Parliament. To make it worse for the ANC, the DA is not a subservient, deferential opposition that the ANC would prefer. This role is being played quite nicely by the NFP (as we saw in Parliament last night), thank you very much! As the ANC loses its way and its humanness, or Ubuntu, (not even a call of concern was received from Speaker, Baleka Mbete to any of the opposition parties enquiring about the MPs that were injured last night) so it implements more dictatorial and draconian measures to deal with matters. Opposition Members had their microphones muted yesterday so their opinions would not be heard or recorded. As the drama unfolded, the Parliamentary Television channel was disconnected later on in the evening. These are all clear signs of a governing party (one which likes to describe itself as a “ruling” party) unable to confront the fact that it is losing its grip in every way. Parliament is sovereign and cannot be invaded as an institution. Unbelievably as members were being physically manhandled and assaulted, the presiding officer at the time, Cedric Frolick looked on with a smile. We are in the midst of a constitutional crises all because of one “big” man, Zuma, who has ANC Members of Parliament protecting him and him alone. For the ANC the people of South Africa do not feature. For the ANC they are not important; unless their vote is needed every few years. I watched the Speaker’s media conference today with disbelief as Mbete explained the importance of parliamentary rules. Of course only certain rules are respected. Others are ignored; like the one demanding that the President account to Parliament at least once a quarter. Conveniently, that rule is sidelined. Only last week the Deputy President told Parliament that Zuma will not appear before it until he feels safe to do so, as if he has a choice. The President’s appearance in Parliament is not conditional, it is Constitutional. And no, Deputy President Ramaphoza it is not a “two way street” as he told Parliament. For someone who helped craft our Constitution, it is disappointing that he doesn’t realize that actually it is a “one way street”. The President must account to Parliament, he has no choice in the matter! What led to the chaos in Parliament however started right at the beginning of the session when the Speaker, who had clearly received her instructions from Luthuli House, tried to manipulate (and frankly manufacture) rules to suit the ANC agenda. The Opposition would not have it and demanded that the rules as they stand be respected. Why did the ANC want to manipulate the rules? To protect Zuma and the highway robbery that we know as Nkandlagate. This is really what this is all about. Something we have seen over and over in history, in Africa in particular where one “big boss” man is protected and the rest of the citizenry is ignored and disregarded. The difference this time round is that the Official Opposition is not being coopted. It will not take that easy and comfortable path that we have seen in so many other instances and which the NFP took up so eagerly this year. We will stand up to the “big man” Zuma. The DA will not back off. It will not be intimidated. It will not be coopted. It will do what is right for South Africa and its future. For the ANC this is their biggest frustration.