DA will not permit abuse of public resources for ANC campaigning
Over the last two weeks, the spotlight has been focused on the abuse and misappropriation of public resources for the private benefit of one person. With 30 days to go before the election, it is clear that President Zuma's government is also abusing public resources to assist the ANC's struggling election campaign.
Over the past weeks, the DA has been gathering evidence of a co-ordinated effort by several government departments to spend hundreds of millions of rand to assist the ANC's election campaign. This is public money, intended for the delivery of critical services, and it is completely illegal to use it for political campaigning.
The DA will not permit this to continue without being exposed and challenged. I have personally raised the issue with President Zuma, but the response was deflection and obfuscation.
The DA's legal team will today write to the relevant Ministers and to President Jacob Zuma, as the head of government, requesting that the relevant departments to stop abusing public resources, as detailed below, immediately, failing which we will approach the High Court for an interdict against President Zuma as the head of the national executive.
We hope that President Zuma will heed our call and stop this obvious abuse immediately, but if not, we are confident that the court will.
Both the DA and the ANC have signed the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Code of Conduct, which ensures that the election campaign is conducted in a free and fair manner, and that the law is respected.
The abuse of state funds for the benefit of the ANC is illegal, and is a breach of that promise to all South Africans.
In all of the below cases, we will also be reporting the individual Ministers and Departments to the Public Protector for full investigation, and in several cases we have already done so. However, given that the election is 30 days way, we cannot wait for the Public Protector to conduct full-scale investigations into each complaint - it is important that we stop these abuses now.
Cases of public money spent on ANC campaigning:
1. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries' so-called "Fetsa Tlala" (End Hunger) Programme (which is often used as a fig-leaf for ANC election campaigning and political patronage).
In October 2013, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tina Joemat-Pettersson and President Jacob Zuma launched the Fetsa Tlala programme.
The Programme was launched following the controversy of the Department's previous food-security programme, which involved the Masibambisane Rural Development Initiative, the NGO chaired by President Zuma and run by his cousin. Masibambisane was eventually prevented from receiving any further government funds when officials in the Department raised fundamental concerns with the programme, but not before several million rand had been funnelled through the organisation.
Fetsa Tlala is even more worrying - because it has received an enormous budgetary allocation of nearly R2 billion, and so far there is very little to show for it. We believe it is, to a considerable extent, a conduit for funding the ANC's election effort.
For example, DA activists and branches around the country have reported that ANC activists are distributing tens of thousands of Fetsa Tlala t-shirts to the public. We have seen thousands of these t-shirts being distributed at by-elections over the last two months.
Looking at the t-shirt, it is clear that this is nothing more than an ANC t-shirt paid for with public money. The t-shirt is yellow, with the President's face printed on the front, against a backdrop of an ANC flag. On the back, the words "We have a good story to tell" and "Together we have made South Africa a better place".
The DA immediately submitted Parliamentary questions to establish how much was being spent on these t-shirts, where they were being distributed, and on what basis. We received replies to these questions this week. The replies are derisory; they display complete disrespect for Parliament, and confirm our suspicion that this programme is nothing but a front to fund the ANC's election campaign. (Reply 1; Reply 2)
In one of the replies, the Minister's only reply is that the t-shirts were designed "to reflect our patriotism". This is the same sort of response that I received when I raised the issue directly with President Zuma.
In addition to reporting this programme to the Public Protector and bringing it to the attention of the court, we will also be writing to Speaker Max Sisulu regarding the Minister's unacceptable replies, and will insist that we receive substantive replies.
2. Distribution of Food Parcels:
In August 2013, on the eve of a crucial round of by-elections in Tlokwe, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini ordered the distribution of hundreds of food parcels and blankets in the wards where the by-election were to take place. Since then, this has become a regular strategy of the ANC in by-election wards, and in this election campaign.
Minister Dlamini justifies the distribution of these parcels as her Department's normal interventions in poverty stricken communities.
But this is nothing but a ruse. Using replies to DA parliamentary questions and the IEC's schedule of by-elections, we can reveal that over the last year the Department has distributed food parcels in 23 wards where by-elections were going to be held, and that more than 23 000 food parcels were distributed across those wards.
Our branches and volunteers across the country report that this abuse is continuing, and intensifying, in the lead up to the May 7 election. Most recently, as reported in the Sunday Times last week, the DA exposed that the South Africa Social Services Agency (Sassa), under the Department of Social Development, distributed food parcels to at least 170 families in the Mbashe municipality, just outside Dutywa.
Just yesterday, the Sunday Independent reported that the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) arrived at ANC election campaign events to hand out food parcels, thereby using public resources to boost the ANC's flagging fortunes in the election campaign.
The budget for food parcels in the Department of Social Development's budget has increased significantly for election 2014. In the 2012/13 year, a total of R187 925 000 was allocated for food parcels. This increased to R239 286 000 in 2013/14, an increase of 27.33%.
This is the most cynical abuse of public resources to manipulate the poor into voting for the ANC, to enable the Zuma inner circle to be re-elected and continue government corruption unfettered -- to the detriment of the poor whose votes the ANC relies on. The DA has already requested Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela to probe the distribution of food parcels for political purposes to tilt the Tlokwe by-elections in favour of the ANC, and this investigation is ongoing.
3. Extensive Government Advertising:
Any reader of national newspapers, and any motorist on Gauteng's highways, will have noticed the enormous increase in government advertising over the last few months.
And most South Africans would have noticed that the vast majority of this advertising is a) designed to be nearly indistinguishable from ANC advertising, and b) contains very little information of public value or interest, and is clearly just "puff advertising".
Take, for example, the Department of Defence's "Commander in Chief" adverts, run in all major newspapers in recent weeks, but which offer absolutely nothing of public value. Given what we have learnt recently about the dire lack of funding in our defence force, these adverts are unwarranted and amount to an abuse of public resources. The DA has collected many other equally spurious adverts from several government departments. (photo 4; photo 5)
In Gauteng, dozens of new billboards on major highways purport to share information about service delivery, but are designed in clear ANC colours and all carrying only slightly edited versions of the ANC's election slogans.
The 51 advertising billboards in Gauteng were reportedly put up at a cost of over R2-million a month of public money. According to the Mail and Guardian, Continental Outdoor Media, which hires out the advertising space, revealed that it cost between R40 000 and R50 000 a month per board, which works out to about R2.3-million a month excluding the printing costs of about R10 000 per board.
We have reported this matter to Advocate Madonsela's office, which has agreed to conduct a preliminary investigation into the erection of the billboards.
4. Hijacking of State Events for ANC rallies
In November last year, the ANC bussed in supporters and handed out party t-shirts to attendees at the launch of the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone - a state event which was addressed by President Zuma, and organised by the Department of Trade and Industry.
The distribution of ANC branded t-shirts and the bussing-in of ANC supporters to a state event was an abuse of public resources. The ANC took the opportunity to turn the launch into an election rally.
We have reported this matter to the Public Protector who has confirmed that she is investigating the matter. This investigation is ongoing.
But this was not an isolated case. We have details of a number of supposed government events that have been hijacked by ANC leaders and turned into nothing more than election rallies. At many of these events, ANC leaders who hold no government office are invited to speak. At one government event reported on by City Press, an ANC provincial office bearer (who holds no government office) announced and distributed government bursaries to members of the public.
Conclusion
The cases we have highlighted above are only those that the DA has been able to uncover - there are surely many more examples of President Zuma's government abusing public money to campaign for the ANC.
The ANC's election campaign is falling apart because of a crisis of public confidence in its President. While the ANC struggles to restart their campaign, they do not have a licence to loot public money to do their campaigning for them.
We must act now to keep this election free and fair.
The DA will keep the public informed about our progress in this case.
Statement issued by DA leader, Helen Zille, May 7 2014
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