Lame Duck Premier
With John Block set to appear in court tomorrow (Thursday, 2 January), the Democratic Alliance hereby wants to reiterate our call on Premier Hazel Jenkins to remove Block from the executive council.
It is beyond our understanding as to how the premier has to date ignored the controversy surrounding the MEC for Finance and Economic Development and Tourism, as well as Treasury. Not only is Block currently facing very serious corruption charges but, on a previous occasion, one of his companies was also found guilty of being in possession of a falsified salt mining permit.
When a public figure of such high status, or a company belonging to him, has been found guilty, the honourable thing to do is to step down, failing which, the premier should do the right thing. (Although the case has gone for appeal for the second time, the guilty verdict still stands.) It is therefore ludicrous that, with such a shady track record, the premier has failed to question Block's intentions and his loyalty to the people of this province.
The current crime of which Block has been accused relates directly to defrauding the state of millions of rands. This is a very serious charge against the very MEC who controls the purse strings of the province, and if proven true it means that Block lined his own pockets at the expense of service delivery.
While the DA believes in the premise of "innocent until proven guilty", it is just as important that we must also guard against being naive. Therefore, as long as a shadow of doubt is cast over Block's abilities, and we remain uncertain of his involvement in corruption, he unfortunately cannot be trusted to be the guardian of the province's finances. In fact, everything possible must be done to ensure that the money entrusted to the provincial government, which up until today remains under his control, is protected from potential abuse.
We can only hope that Premier Hazel Jenkins will finally stand up for the people of this province and do the right thing by putting service delivery ahead her loyalty to the provincial leader of ANC. History will judge her harshly as she puts her fear of being sidelined above the interests of the people.
Regarding the intention of municipal officials who have also been charged on related fraud and corruption charges, to ask the Sol Plaatje Municipality to pay for their legal costs, this is completely out of order. The taxpayer did not lobby for the incumbents to defraud the state and therefore they cannot be expected to pay for the legal costs.
The accused did this in their private capacity, not in their official capacity. Furthermore, allowing such payment would set a dangerous precedent, as individuals involved in underhand dealings would be able to claim compensation or have the state pay for their transgressions.
Statement issued by Andrew Louw, MPL, DA Northern Cape: Leader, February 1 2012
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