I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul

25 June 2019

Madam Speaker;

Mr President;

Fellow Members of Parliament;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

There comes a time in every country’s history when the brave need to stand up and be counted. There comes a time when the people must have their voice heard and can no longer face the abuse of government.

There comes a time when we must stand together and demand that injustice comes to an end and fight. Fight with all our might to protect, obey and save our Constitution. As we teeter on the edge of collapse, that time is now.

Speaker, to stand up and speak truth to power is not easy. When you know that billions and billions of rands are at stake, and that those who were willing sellers to willing buyers in the feeding frenzy that was, and still is, state capture will do anything, and by anything, I mean anything to avoid justice - one has to look deep and look for a source to steel your resolve and to maintain your determination.

I visited Robben Island, and while there I was told that on the darkest days, when hope was at its lowest and when the situation seemed desperate, the Father of our Nation, President Nelson Mandela would recite a poem by William Ernest Henley called “Invictus”. Invictus is an adjective in Latin meaning unconquerable, invincible and undefeated. I now regularly read this poem when I require a boost to my resolve.  “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul”.

Speaker, through you, I use the opportunity I have today to speak to the President, not as a politician, not as a member of an opposing political party, but as a patriotic fellow South African.  I am outraged and frustrated more than any words could explain at the blatant slap in the face that all South Africans were recently dealt when the ANC announced its proposed chairpersons of our parliamentary committees.

I took it as personal left hook to the jaw when I read with utter disbelief that the very man who was accused of offering a blank cheque to Advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara, the evidence leader in the Public Enterprises Inquiry into State Capture at Eskom will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat.

An ex-Minister who has been repeatedly accused of interfering with the South African mining industry for the enrichment of the Gupta family will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat. The woman who destroyed what was left of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat.

The woman who without explanation sold off the entire South African strategic fuel reserve will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat. An ex-Mayor of Buffalo City Municipality who was found guilty by a court of law for nine counts of fraud will be rewarded with a chairperson’s seat.

South African to South African, this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. This is the one step too far.  This is proof that the Zuma faction is still well and truly in charge of the ANC, and that it matters not if the driver has changed – the bus is still the same. We have all been taken for fools.

Through you Chairperson, I ask that the President, as the leader of the ANC, steel your resolve and dismiss these people from Parliament. Prove that you are indeed the master of our fate, the captain of this ship, and that you are not just being led around by the nose by factions in your party

While the Zondo commission completes its work, every single day we, the people of South Africa, are exposed to more horror and nightmare stories, the likes of which play out in your average James Bond movie.

Trips to Switzerland to fill bank accounts, urgent medical treatment for Premiers alleging that they have been poisoned, stays and spa treatments at the Oberoi Hotel in Dubai for covert business deals to be sealed. Midnight telephone calls in Paris calling off deals for our ailing airlines, to name but a few.

Winter has come, the wall has been breached, the line of defence becomes ever thinner as those who are brave, are systematically set aside. “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul”.

Now is the time for those of us who are still here to work together to make a real difference with real plans. Now is not the time for mere dreams. We dare not allow ourselves to be silenced as our work is far from over. We have as our sword our mighty Constitution and we have as our shield our brave and incorruptible Judiciary.

Now is not the time to accept the excuse that those implicated are innocent until proven guilty. Now is the time to ensure that our oversight roles are strengthened, as per direct instruction from Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. We can start with actual oversight over the Presidency in the form of a portfolio committee to oversee and vote one, the Presidency, as requested numerous times by Honourable John Steenhuisen in the rules committee.

Now is the time to sit down as fellow South Africans and not just dream of the future we want, but to actually create the environment we so desperately require to enable our economy to grow and succeed.

It simply cannot be that state capture is estimated to have wiped out a third of South Africa’s R4.9 trillion GDP, but now we are expected to celebrate the frontloading of R230 billion rand to Eskom.

This is little more than yet another bailout for an entity that has been sucked dry by the state capture monster. Our State-Owned Entities (SOE’s) are broken, they have been destroyed, and they are completely archaic in design.

They are destroying our country’s economy and making living in South Africa a nightmare, not a dream. We are out of time, we are at the cliff’s edge, the dream has faded, the reality is a horror. Doing the right thing is not always easy, speaking truth to power is hard, but let us now bite the bullet and put a stop to the continued misuse of our SOE’s for political gain.

Speaker, the President has said he wants to work together - give us the opportunity to do just that, give our ideas a chance, let’s put South Africa first.

“Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charge with punishment the scroll.”                                               

Speaker, through you, allow me to end with how I began.

Mr. President, now is the time to become the master of your fate and the captain of your soul.

Issued by Natasha Mazzone, DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, 25 June 2019