DA KZN: ANC arrogance is poverty’s number one enemy

6 September 2016

Madame Speaker, allow me to take the opportunity to thank my political home, the DA to participate in this critical debate on poverty in South Africa.

Let it be clearly understood that the only commonality that we share in this ANC motion is our desire to fight the scourge of poverty.  To suggest that we refrain from finger pointing would be to turn our backs on the millions of South Africans who have and continue to live and die below the poverty line, the millions of unemployed South Africans and the millions who have not had access to equal and quality education under 22 years of ANC rule.

I’m also not certain about China being a role model, with its human rights atrocities not having met international labour law standards, the lack of right to collective bargaining and the right to strike.

The DA calls on everyone to fight the scourge of poverty but it’s abundantly evident that this will not happen under ANC rule. Nearly 23 years after the end of Apartheid millions of South Africans remain excluded from the mainstream economy and are deprived of opportunities to truly prosper.

Too many people do not have jobs.

Too many people live below the poverty line and do not have enough to eat.

Too many people suffer poor service delivery under a government that have lost touch with the needs of ordinary South Africans.

Why is this when poverty alleviation should be our number one priority in addressing the injustices of the past?

To quote past ANC President Nelson Mandela: “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”

It is clear that the ANC is not that great generation, showing no greatness and only failure.

The stats speak for themselves: “– South Africa’s unemployment rate has risen to 26.7 % of the labour force in the first quarter of this year. This is the highest level since the labour force survey began in 2008. The figure is up from 24.5% in the fourth quarter of 2015. Data from Statistics South Africa shows unemployment has edged up to almost 27%. This amounts to 5.714 million people without jobs in the first quarter, compared with 5.2 million previously.”

Poverty alleviations requires five basic key efficiencies: 

- Effective leadership,

- Effective policies,

- A capable state, 

- Economic and political stability.

Not one of these efficiencies are evident in the current government. One only has to look at the number of daily press conferences that the ‘Lord of Luthuli house’ has to conduct to try and reassure the nation and foreign investors that South Africa is politically and economically stable, with what is now regularly referred to as Zumanomic decisions and behaviour.  Unless of course you happen to be a Gupta or politically connected to Zuma - just ask Minister Zwane.

What was once a proud liberation movement has been reduced to factionalism of the worst order with an individualistic agenda being driven by one human wrecking ball, namely the president of the ANC, Jacob Zuma.

Currently South Africa makes the headlines for all the wrong reasons and every time this occurs we fall deeper and deeper into the economic abyss, moving ever closer to being relegated to junk status.

If it’s not the Minister of Finance facing some trumped up charges by the Hawks, coincidently while the very same Minister is refusing to grant SAA another financial bailout or putting the brakes on a foreign nuclear deal, then its ESKOM, doing questionable coal deals with a Gupta owned company and then giving National Treasury the proverbial middle finger when questioned about the dodgy transaction.

As every internal ANC ugly incident unfolds or is exposed our economy degenerates and the poor get poorer due to a lack of true leadership, political stability and poor policy implementation.  This does little to alleviate poverty, in fact it simply compounds it.

The good news is that when the voters of South Africa elect the DA to govern in 2019 we will ensure the following programmes to eradicate the scourge of poverty.

We would implement an integrated approach to poverty alleviation and social support, matching social protection with quality service delivery to ensure that our protection mechanisms are linked with strategies to increase employment.

Through sustained economic growth and quality education for all, jobs will be created.

To ensure that social grants break poverty cycles the DA will:

- Make use of developmental conditionality’s for child grants in which non-adherence to soft conditions trigger interventions through an effective social welfare system;

- Introduce a community oversight mechanism where there is evidence of grant abuse;

- Introduce incentives for good behaviour where Grade 12 pupils are rewarded for positive results allowing children to improve their circumstances over time;

We will engage the youth as agents in their own development and empower vulnerable adults to develop sustainable livelihoods.  Social assistance can also take the form of labour activation initiatives such as:

- A youth wage subsidy;

- Opportunity voucher schemes, for young adults to further their education or skills or to enter into their own business;

- A comprehensive and functional Government Internship Programme;

- One stop career centres;

- Transport and communication subsidies for job seekers;

- Support for self-employed activities.

Until the ANC stops its arrogance and admits that it has serious leadership challenges and endless internal divisions, poverty alleviation will always be placed on the back burner.

If you don’t want to listen to me listen to the voters who sent a clear message on 3 August that the sands of time are running out for the ANC, not to mention that Jesus has returned to Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane and Johannesburg. 

Issued by Francois Rodgers, Member of the DA KZN Legislature Caucus, 6 September 2016