Note to editors: The following speech was delivered in Parliament on Tuesday by the DA’s Shadow Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Phumzile Van Damme MP, during the DA’s proposed debate on the ongoing scourge of corruption in South Africa.

Corruption is not a victimless crime

Honourable Speaker,

In July this year the DA visited Ensingweni Primary School near Nkandla.

On what was a day of heavy rainfall in the middle of winter, we found learners being taught in classrooms with leaking roofs, broken windows and no doors.

In some classrooms, learners sat shivering while reciting the times table, and in others, they huddled in a corner to prevent the rain from soaking their notebooks.

The principal told us that he had been appealing for funding for renovations from the Kwazulu-Natal Basic Education Department. None had been forthcoming, despite repeated promises.

It is no wonder that their requests fell on deaf ears because; last year the department had overspent its budget by a staggering R2.6 billion.

The over-expenditure was not because of accelerated spending on education. But because the department had unlawfully awarded tenders to politically connected service providers which it then paid twice for a single service.

I tell of the sad tale of Ensingweni Primary to demonstrate to the ANC and this House that corruption is not a victimless crime.

The learners, and teachers at Ensingweni Primary who were effectively forced to learn and teach outside in rain in the middle of winter, are the victims of KZN Education Department’s tender fraud and corruption.

The DA stands in support of all South Africans who have chosen to take a stand against corruption.

We stand in support of all the hardworking, freedom-loving people of our country who want to work hard and play by the rules.

To these people we say, we understand how corruption makes your lives difficult.

How corruption steals from your families.

We understand the frustration that comes with waking up everyone morning to go work, while others simply choose to steal from the public purse.

We understand how difficult it is to see the North West Provincial Government stealing R9 billion to pay 36 000 ghost employees, while you struggle to find one job.

We understand how difficult it must be, not to have access to running water, while the Ventersdorp Local Municipality cannot account for how 95% of the water it purchased disappeared.

Sikhala kunye nani. It does certainly seem hopeless at times.

But, there is hope.

Hope for the future where public money is spent for the benefit of the people, not the connected few.

A future where public sector corruption is tackled, making government act honestly, transparently and in the best interests of all South Africans.

The DA is the only political party capable of doing this.

Our anti-corruption policies have been tried, tested and delivered where we govern.

We cleaned up the rot left by the ANC in the 27 municipalities we govern, and can do so for all 278.

We cleaned up the rot left by the ANC in the Western Cape Government, and can do so for the 8 other provinces.

For the Doubtful Donna’s amongst us, let me tell you the Western Cape Story and the Cape Town Story.

In 2006, a DA-led coalition in the City of Cape Town took over from the ANC. The new administration inherited a hot mess of a city. Service delivery was poor, infrastructure deteriorating and corruption rife.

Under the ANC, the municipal tender system had been rigged to become a personal piggybank for well-connected individuals and ANC loyalists.

The DA started by overhauling the city administrative systems, appointing the right people in the right places and re-prioritising expenditure.

To reduce corruption, the DA made the City of Cape Town’s procurement system fair, equitable, transparent, competitive, cost-effective and in accordance with the Constitution.

Today, in addition to advertising tenders in the press, the City maintains a supplier database where suppliers are able to register for free.

When the Bid Adjudication Committee meets to adjudicate tenders, the meetings are open to the public. The City of Cape Town is the only municipality in South Africa that does this.

To prevent staff from being involved in corrupt-activities, the City of Cape Town’s Forensics, Ethics and Integrity Department has embarked on various ethics, anti-corruption, hotline awareness and promotional campaigns.

All new employees receive ethics training at their inductions.

Because of these, and other efforts, the City of Cape Town has received 11 consecutive unqualified audits, and was the only Metro in South Africa last year to receive a clean audit.

In the Western Cape provincial administration, the same story can be told.

In the ANC’s last year in office, not one of the government’s 13 departments received a clean audit. In the DA’s first year in office, seven departments achieved clean audits. This year, the Western Cape Government delivered an unprecedented achievement in the history of South Africa’s democracy; it achieved 12 clean audits out of 13 departments. 100% of the audits were unqualified.

Rest assured, achieving a Clean Audit is not child’s play. So committed is the Western Cape to clean governance that it went searching for seven missing library books. Fortunately, five we found.

The benefit of a clean audit for a provincial administration does not only mean that it practices sound financial management, but also that money is spent on important services such education and health; and attracting investment to stimulate economic growth and job creation.

That is why in the Western Cape today, despite a 46% increase in population growth, the province has the highest access to basic services and lowest unemployment rate in South Africa.

The Western Cape Story and the Cape Town Story are indications that good governance and excellent service delivery is possible. It just requires the right government.

Honourable Speaker,

It is painful as patriotic South Africans to pick up the newspaper every morning and read of yet another corruption.

According to the Institute of Internal Auditors, South Africa has lost R700 billion to corruption over the last 20 years.

South Africa has given the ANC more than 21 years to tackle corruption. It instead continues to allow some amongst them to practice politics of the stomach.

The rot has sunk in too deep, that there is no possibility of redemption. South African cannot wait for the ANC to improve. It will not.

It is really time to tell the ANC “so long and thanks for all the fish”

Issued by the DA, September 8 2015