STATEMENT ON POST-STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS & UNHOLY ALLIANCE OF OPPOSITION PARTIES

15 February 2012

 1. The Unholy Alliance

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip notes the interesting development within the parliamentary opposition politics, in which the so-called independent political parties are once again being hoodwinked into an unholy alliance with the Democratic Alliance. This marriage of convenience was first hastily arranged by the DA last year in a futile attempt to table a motion of no confidence in the President in Parliament. This gullible troop of opposition leaders were either not aware that they served as useful idiots in the DA's scheme to influence the internal leadership election process of the ANC in Mangaung, or they were too busy looking after their personal interest, and not that of their constituencies, to care or to notice.

It is an utterly curious development in our multiparty democracy that political parties, who were independently elected to parliament to pursue the interest and aspirations of their politically diverse constituencies, gang up together to pursue the political fortunes of the DA. It is abundantly evident that the leaders of these parties are battling to recapture political relevance in our fast paced, evolving political landscape and have thus sold their souls.

Clearly, the distinct ideological outlooks, visions and missions have been compromised, if not abandoned, at the altar of personal political survival. When a party forsakes such critical and distinguishing features that separates it from others and makes it appealing to some section of the society, then it is as good as an empty shell. As a result, these parties find themselves in a situation such as the one we are witnessing today: kowtowing to the whims of a liberal agenda of the DA. Because they have jettisoned their identities and as a result have no principle to stand for, they tend to fall for anything - including serving as nothing but mere pawns in a DA's political chess game.

It is shameful that leaders of these ‘independent' political parties have elected to serve the liberal agenda of their political masters in the DA, instead of staying true to their political principles and uncompromisingly advancing the aspiration of constituencies in whose name they serve in Parliament. It is an antithesis of a multiparty democracy system, which provides for diverse and multiplicity of political views and interests, to have the throng of political leaders from varied ideological persuasions dancing to a tune of one political master.

Surely the constituencies of these parties did not elect these leaders into Parliament to advance the liberal agenda of the DA? They definitely did not anticipate a situation whereby their parliamentary leaders will become the spokespersons and advocates of the policies of the DA's Federal Council. The whole saga bears all the hallmarks of personal political survival tactics in which leaders put their political careers ahead of the interest of their membership and constituencies. 

The leaders of ‘independent' parties, amongst which are former anti-apartheid movements, who will this morning pose before the cameras and nod their heads furiously like dummies as their political master, Lindiwe Mazibuko, reads out the statement, are not worthy of their titles. The constituencies who wasted their votes on these parties must rebel against these phony leaders and remove them from Parliament in 2014. These constituencies must reject this breed of genetically-modified leaders whom when their DA political masters says ‘jump', they obediently ask: ‘how high'?

This unholy alliance, which gangs up just for the sake of opposing without proposing policy alternatives, is bound to collapse the same way their no confidence motion project did.

2. Motion of No Confidence

We reiterate that the sudden lack of interest in the motion of no confidence confirms our longstanding view thto the nonsensical allegations put forward as motivations for the motion. It is a complete hogwash claim that the motion is being parked until after the Concourt hearing in March. There is no legal basis for such a decision.

The motion was opportunistically timed to tarnish the image of President Zuma ahead of the ANC's national conference and thereby dent his elections chances. With the DA having failed to convince the two courts to have the motion urgently debated and therefore unable to influence the ANC conference, suddenly there is little keenness. We condemn with the deserved contempt the abuse of the Constitution and our judiciary with a view to interfere in the internal processes of another political party. The often repeated and tired DA mantra that it is a defender of the constitution now rings very hollow in light of this political gimmick. 

3. State of the Nation Address

We welcome the State of the Nation Address and commend the President for comprehensively reporting on the achievements scored against the commitments set out in the 2012 address as well as outlining the government program of action for the 2013 financial year. The SONA clearly and factually illustrated a government that has delivered on services, and continues to do so, contrary to perceptions driven by our detractors through the media. This confirms the Census report and research of other independent agencies which demonstrates through facts, not political posturing, that the quality of life has significantly improved - and continues to do so - since the ANC took over in 1994. 

Critics and prophets of doom predicted last year that the ANC will not embrace the National Development Plan (NDP), a product of a consultative process amongst the broader society that aims to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030, ahead of the ANC's policy and national conferences last year. They were wrong. The ANC adopted the plan as its policy and indeed, as indicated by the President, it forms part of the priorities of government this year.

The creation of jobs, particularly with a view to push back the frontiers of poverty and joblessness especially amongst the youth, remains one of the apex priorities of government. Unemployment remains high amongst young people, and indeed mechanisms - including those agreed to at Nedlac to incentivise youth employment - will be implemented with the necessary speed to take our youth from the street into the job market.

The implementation of the NDP by our government means that the creation of 11 million jobs envisaged by 2030 begins in earnest. Indeed the challenge of high unemployment amongst our youth must be turned into an economic opportunity for our country by harnessing their youthful energy for productivity and development of our economy. The ongoing infrastructure development programme will indeed enhance job creation and boost our economy.

The preservation of living wages and protection of existing jobs go hand-in-glove with the war against unemployment. It is for this reason that government and the ANC acted swiftly around the Anglo American Plc's threat to retrench thousands of miners and urgently intervened to address the poverty wages in the agriculture sector.

The war against corruption, particularly in the public sector, remains the top priority of this government. Corrupt elements are exposed almost daily and are convicted for various corruption related crimes. More resources are being put in the fight against crime and corruption, with the Special Investigation Unit expanding in capacity to ensure that it doubles its corruption-busting work.

The President is correct in urging the private sector to partner with government in this war, as corruption mostly takes the form of bribery involving public-private sector representatives. The private sector has its own share of corrupt practices, which usually happens far from the media spotlight - as we recently witnessed with the construction industry. Corruption and are societal ills that need united effort and partnerships for their effective eradication.

4. SONA Debate

The ANC Parliamentary Caucus has put together a team of highly experienced and prolific debaters to represent the movement in this year's two-day parliamentary debate on the state of the national address. The team is made up of cabinet ministers, portfolio committee chairpersons and ordinary members of parliament who will expand on the issues and further enlighten on the critical issues covered by the President's address yesterday. We will contribute superior arguments in the debate to counter opportunistic and shallow noises of some opposition parties, while ensuring that programmes of the movement are clearly communicated to the public. 

We will also use the SONA debate to reaffirm our people's vote of confidence in the able leadership of President Jacob Zuma. We are aware of the shallow, narrow publicity-seeking plans of the puppets (opposition parties) and their puppeteer (DA) for this SONA debate and other future matters.

The experience of the past SONA debate has taught us that they will rather resort to empty and tired political slogans and rehashed rhetoric, than constructively contribute to the SONA debate. We are hopeful that when and if the debates are constructive, they will discover their honesty with the people of this country. We hope that when they talk of good leadership they will tell the nation the kind of leadership they played in resolving De Doorns strike and other crises in the Western Cape. We hope they will be honest and tell the workers of De Doors that the reason the strike dragged on for some time was because the ruling party in the province was conflicted, as its leaders are farmers and it represents interests of big business. 

We hope that when they talk of service delivery they will honestly tell the nation why the Western Cape accounts for the most service delivery protests in the country. We hope that they will honestly explain to the black townships of the Western Cape why their living conditions continue to deteriorate while rich suburbia continues to get richer. We hope that before they lecture us on morals, they will stop speaking with forked tongues, abandon hypocrisy and admit facts on their Gupta funding. We also hope that before they preach clean and efficient governance, they will look in their backyard and explain to the nation the series of maladministration in the DA-governed province and municipalities found by the Public Protector in her investigations.

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, February 15 2013

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