DA calls for Joshlin Smith case to be urgently reassigned to skilled Cold Case Unit

13 May 2024

Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered today by the Leader of the Democratic Alliance John Steenhuisen during a rally in Upington in the Northern Cape. 

A letter to Lt General Masemola is attached here.

Demokrate,

Dit is heerlik om vandag saam met so baie van julle in Upington te wees!

Mense sê soms dat die DA net ‘n party van die stede is, maar hulle moet vandag kom kyk hoe mooi blou lyk julle hier op die platteland!

Upington may be located in the beautiful green Kalahari.

But the time has come to turn the Dawid Kruiper Municipality, blue!

For too long, the enormous potential of this area has been squandered by the ANC.

Instead of being the agricultural and mining hub it deserves to be, where all citizens have fair access to jobs to live safe and dignified lives, Upington’s potential has been betrayed by the ANC.

Let me tell you how they have betrayed you.

They have done it using their evil invention, called cadre deployment.

ANC cadre deployment is the reason why people in this municipality do not get access to public employment.

Ons almal weet dit!

As jy nie korrup is en daai lelike geel ANC-kaartjie in jou sak dra nie, dan kry jy eenvoudig nie ‘n werk nie.

Die werk gaan net vir die kaders en die BEE comrades!

But the damage of cadre deployment doesn’t end there.

It has not only robbed the people of Upington of fair access to jobs.

It has also destroyed service delivery.

As far back as 2016, DA councillor Flip van der Steen laid a complaint with the Public Protector because the ANC appointed three former ANC councillors into the administration.

Dis mense wat ‘n verkiesing verloor het en verwerp is deur die gemeenskap, maar dan stel die ANC hulle sommer direk aan in die administrasie.

In 2020, the Public Protector confirmed that this was illegal cadre deployment.

The report confirmed that the municipal manager at the time, Deshi Ngxanga, acted improperly in appointing these comrades into the administration.

But guess what?

That same Deshi Ngxanga who broke the law and collapsed service delivery is now the ANC’s provincial secretary in this province.

This is just one out of a million examples of an ANC cadre who breaks the law and abuses his power to appoint fellow corrupt cadres into positions they are not fit for.

Because cadre deployment and corruption are in the DNA of the ANC, they have refused to implement the Public Protector’s findings in Dawid Kruiper Municipality.

Instead, they have already wasted R135 000 of your tax money on a legal opinion, which they kept secret from residents.

Hulle steek dit weg want hulle weet wat hulle gedoen het is onwettig, en die DA het hulle uitgevang.

Last year, the Constitutional Court also rejected leave to appeal a 2017 Labour Court order that declared another seven senior appointments and promotions in this municipality, illegal.

And just two months ago, the DA exposed how 11 security officers employed by the municipality were not even registered with the regulatory authority.

Oor en oor word skelms en kaders aangestel in hierdie poste, terwyl die eerlike mense van Upington niks kry nie.

We see the pattern all the time.

The ANC breaks the law to employ corrupt and useless cadres into positions of power, and when they are caught out, they abuse your tax money to protect their cadres from justice.

And who ends up paying the price every single time?

The people.

Cadre deployment is not a victimless crime.

You, the people of Dawid Kruiper, are victims of ANC cadre deployment.

Die mense van Sesbrugge, Kalksloot, Klippunt, Rietfontein en Welkom is die slagoffers van ANC korrupsie omdat hulle al vir vier jaar sonder water sit.

Jy is ‘n slagoffer van kaderontplooiing wanneer misdaad jou gemeenskap oorneem, want hulle stel ongekwalifiseerde kaders as sekuriteitswagte aan.

Our people are victims of ANC cadre deployment when they go to the Dr Harry Surtie Hospital.

At this hospital, cadre deployment has even destroyed the air-conditioning system during the extreme heat of summer.

Emergency surgeries could not be carried out because of the risk of infection, and vital medicines were destroyed by the heat.

Even the babies of Upington are victims of ANC cadre deployment, because the neonatal unit at the hospital was so hot that babies were exposed to life-threatening conditions.

If people ask you why the DA is fighting so hard against cadre deployment, just point them to what is happening here in Dawid Kruiper Municipality.

But democrats, above all, ANC cadre deployment has also turned the people of South Africa into victims of criminals.

The one aspect of our lives that is dominated, above all else, by the consequences of cadre deployment, is our own personal safety – and the safety of our children.

Over the weekend, we saw the shocking murder of five-year-old Ditebogo Phalane in Soshanguve, in Tshwane.

The DA’s mayor in Tshwane, Cilliers Brink, as well as our Premier Candidate, Solly Msimanga, are on the scene today to assist the family – and I also offer my profound condolences as well as the DA’s commitment to fight for justice in this matter.

But the death of beautiful young Ditebogo is not an isolated incident.

Last month, three-year-old Emilio Hutchinson was shot to death inside his own home, along with two other members of his household, in Helenvale, in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The DA has already taken up the fight for #JusticeForEmilio, through a mass protest and a demand we directed at Bheki Cele for urgent intervention.

We will also be escalating this fight later in this week.

The DA’s Ian Cameron has also been fighting for justice for four-year-old Mia Botha for over two years, after she was murdered in Paarl.

Then there is the case of six-year-old Joshlin Smith from Saldanha, which sent shockwaves throughout the country.

Young Joshlin has now been missing for exactly twelve weeks.

Her tragic case demonstrates just how cadre deployment and political interference have left us all vulnerable to crime.

Under Bheki Cele, cadre deployment has destroyed the capacity of SAPS to prevent, investigate and prosecute crime.

Over the past five years, 5.4 million dockets have been closed because the police could not find proper evidence.

Dis 5.4 miljoen misdade wat gepleeg is teen die mense van Suid-Afrika, en waarvoor niemand gestraf is nie.

But with Joshlin’s case, we saw a new danger emerging, because people no longer trust the SAPS.

We saw it when that political vulture, Gayton McKenzie, tried to exploit Joshlin’s suffering for cheap political gain.

Hy’t soos ‘n aasvoël op Saldanha neergedaal om Joshlin se seerkry te misbruik.

The people who have been arrested for Joshlin’s disappearance, were back in court in Vredenburg today.

And guess who was also in court today to ensure that justice is done, and who has been there every day to comfort and support the community?

The Democratic Alliance.

The DA’s Provincial Minister for Community Safety, Reagen Allen, was in the court room in the community today, like he has been for weeks, to ensure justice is done.

The DA’s Ian Cameron also continues to work directly on the ground, fighting for justice for Joshlin every day.

The DA will not rest until justice is done, until Joshlin is found, and until we have answers.

Want Joshlin is jou kind, sy’s my kind, en sy’s ons kind.

Unlike the Unpatriotic Alliance, the DA is not a party of vultures, who only come to scavenge on the suffering of communities.

The DA is on the ground, day-in and day-out, working for you.

As part of our fight against the scourge of child kidnappings and murders, I can also make an important announcement today.

The DA has received damning whistle-blower reports from inside the SAPS, indicating that Gayton McKenzie’s interference in the Joshlin case has fatally contaminated their investigation.

This includes the fact that the detective who was originally investigating the case, was removed after McKenzie’s interference stated.

It also includes that McKenzie last week made a fake news social media post, claiming that another person had been arrested when that was not true.

Gayton McKenzie’s cheap political opportunism and constant interference is the primary reason why Joshlin Smith remains missing to this very day.

His actions are an insult to Joshlin Smith, and to all South Africans who continue to pray for her safe return.

To ensure justice for Joshlin, and to save this investigation from Gayton McKenzie’s political contamination, the DA has today written to the national police commissioner, Fannie Masemola, with an urgent request that the investigation be re-assigned to the experts in the Cold Case Unit.

This unit houses some of the most skilled police professionals in the country.

They are expertly trained at following up a case like Joshlin’s disappearance, which has gone cold because of interference by political vultures.

The Cold Case Unit has an excellent track record of solving cases where local investigations have failed or been contaminated, including the cases of Senzo Meyiwa and Liezel de Jager.

Importantly, this is also a national unit of skilled professionals, which cuts out the ability of the political vultures in the PA to interfere at local level.

The DA does not make this call alone.

Our letter to the national commissioner was drafted with the assistance of Ms Bianca van Aswegen, the CEO of Missing Children SA.

I want to thank her and her team for the incredible work they do in fighting for our children, despite the best efforts of some politicians to undermine their work.

I urge commissioner Masemola to do the right thing by reassigning this case to an outside Cold Case team, so that we can find the truth of what happened to Joshlin.

Want Joshlin is jou kind, sy’s my kind, en sy’s ons kind.

En ons kan nie toelaat dat aasvoëls se inmenging by die saak ons verhoed om haar te vind nie.

Democrats,

Our fight against the scourge of child murders and abductions demonstrates the DA difference in action.

While the ANC puts our lives at risk through cadre deployment, and while other parties only seek to exploit the suffering of victims for political gain, the DA is the serious adult in the room.

We are leading the fight for justice for little Ditebogo, Emilio and Joshlin.

And the DA is the only party with real solutions to violent crime.

In our manifesto, we have pledged to halve the right of violent crime within a single term in government.

We will do so by abolishing cadre deployment, including at SAPS.

We have already made huge progress on this front by winning numerous court cases to expose how the ANC uses cadre deployment to rob people of opportunities and to capture the state.

This isn’t just empty talk.

Where we are in power in the Western Cape, the DA has already created the LEAP programme that deployed 1 200 additional law enforcement officers into crime hotspots.

They have already taken 27 000 criminals off the streets.

The DA is also the only party with specific solutions to gender-based violence and crimes against children.

A DA government will create dedicated courts to deal with crimes against women and children, as well as specialised units inside the police and the National Prosecuting Authority to go after the monsters who terrorise our communities.

The people of Upington, like South Africans everywhere, are victims of ANC cadre deployment.

Nowhere is this more visible than when it comes to the crime wave that is washing over all of our communities and affecting our children.

But I am here with a clear message today: it doesn’t have to be this way.

Dit hoef nie so te wees nie.

On the 29th of May, a vote for the DA is a vote to rescue South Africa from crime and cadre deployment.

It is a vote to ensure fair access to jobs, where everyone can find employment because we will get rid of the evil cadre deployment that keeps you unemployed.

It is a vote for a new government that will create a professional police service and devolve policing powers closer to communities.

Just imagine what we can do if we replicate our LEAP programme across the country, including right here in Upington, taking tens of thousands of criminals off the streets and putting them behind bars, where they belong!

If you want an end to criminality, corruption and cadre deployment, then the choice on 29 May is easy.

Vote DA, because together, we can rescue Upington, we can rescue the Northern Cape, and we can rescue South Africa!

Thank you.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, 13 May 2024