Stop Nkandla Air: Vote for Jobs, not Jets

30 June 2016

Fellow South Africans,

Dumelang,

Sanibonani,

Thank you for joining me here in the heart of Johannesburg. We are here today to send a loud and clear message to Jacob Zuma and his ANC: They need to stop wasting money on frivolous, luxury items when there are 8.9 million unemployed people in SA.

On Monday, the National Treasury determined that Zuma should personally pay back R7.8 million for unnecessary additions to Nkandla, his luxurious private home. 

Now, it is good that Zuma is being made to pay back some of the money. But R7.8 million is not much when you consider the huge price that we South Africans have paid for Nkandla. In fact it is only 3% of the R246 million rand that we paid for his home improvements – R246 million that could and should have been spent on improving the lives of poor, black South Africans.

But we have also paid in other ways. South Africa has lost a lot of respect in the eyes of the world. You can’t put an exact price-tag on that, but it is a huge cost nonetheless. And we’ve had to cover the enormous cost of Zuma’s legal fees while he tried to dodge and delay his way out of facing the consequences. 

But if you think Nkandla was a huge waste of our money, Nkandla is a picnic compared to what the government is planning to spend on Zuma’s luxurious new jet. This jet, ‘Nkandla Air’, is going to cost in the region of R4 billion – equivalent to 16 Nkandlas!

Our economy is in meltdown. Instead of growing, our economy is in fact shrinking. There are 8.9 million unemployed adults in South Africa - 5.9 million under the age of 35. And things are set to get worse. Unless we make some bold changes, there will soon be over 9 million unemployed people with over 6 million of them being young people.

The simple fact of the matter is, we cannot afford a new jet. SA cannot afford a new jet for the president while 8.9 million South Africans are jobless and cannot afford to provide for themselves and their families.

We can’t afford a new jet and we can’t afford a president and a government that doesn’t realise this, or doesn’t care.

To even consider spending R4 billion on a jet is an insult to every one of those 8.9 million unemployed South Africans. And it is evidence that our leaders are completely out of touch with reality.

It is evidence of their ridiculous extravagance or blatant corruption – probably both. It is evidence that when they make speeches about belt-tightening measures, they don’t mean their own belts. It is evidence that they have no idea how to save our economy from going into a full blown recession. And it is evidence that they have stopped caring about South Africa and her people, and only care about themselves.

Every cent of our national budget should be directed towards improving the lives of poor, black South Africans. And the best way to improve their lives is through job creation.

So this is our message to Zuma’s ANC. We want jobs, no jets.

After we unveil this billboard, I am going to hand over a memorandum to the ANC leadership at Luthuli House, asking them to cancel their plans to acquire a new jet. That would save us R4 billion. And do you know what we could we do for job creation with R4 billion rand?

With R4 billion we could pay for over 160 000 one-year internships for young South Africans.

With R4 billion we could pay for over 600 000 EPWP 3-month work opportunities for jobless South Africans.

Or we could support 80 000 new entrepreneurs with a R 50 000 start-up grant each.

Or we could fund 53 000 full NFSAS bursaries to cover fees, accommodation, transport and textbooks for young South Africans. 

Already, Zuma’s defense of the jet is that it has nothing to do with him. He claims he’s not the one making the decisions. If we don’t put a stop to this jet plan, then Zuma’s Nkandla Air excuses are going to sound just like his Nkandla Home Improvements excuses:

I didn’t know and it wasn’t me.

So now we are giving him advance notice. We are going to make 100% sure that he does know. 

This time we will force him to take personal responsibility from the start – not after we’ve spent millions of rands of our money on his legal fees.  This time, for his luxury jet – for Nkandla Air - he can’t say he didn’t know. He does know.

And, fellow South Africans, we must not be fooled by the other excuses that his lackeys in the Defense Ministry are coming up with:

They’re saying that Inkwazi, Zuma’s present jet, is old and needs to be urgently replaced. This is simply not true. Inkwazi is a Boeing Business Jet and it is only halfway through its life, so it could last another 12 or 15 years at least. What we really need is a decent maintenance plan for Inkwazi.

And don’t be fooled when they say: “We’re going to start by leasing a new jet for R150 million rand a year.” Leasing versus buying is not the point.

When the family Toyota starts giving problems and one parent is unemployed, you don’t say: “Time to buy a new Range Rover”. Or “Time to rent a new Range Rover”. You say: “Time to fix the family Toyota”. Or maybe even “Time to start using public transport”.

The UK, which is a far richer country than ours, does not have a dedicated long-haul jet for the Prime Minister. They charter one for long-haul flights. Jet ownership is a vanity purchase and unacceptable in our context of economic stagnation and high unemployment.

And don’t be fooled when they tell you this new luxury jet is not just for Zuma, it is for all South Africa’s future presidents. Well, we don’t need presidents who want luxury jets and luxury homes. We need leaders who can rise to the challenge of personal example. We need leaders who serve the people. We need leaders who are able to spend our money wisely.

As we saw with the Arms Deal, large procurement projects end up with inflated prices and there is grand corruption along the way. We can expect the same thing here from a corrupt ANC corruption. Only a DA government can stop corruption!

Fellow South Africans, this billboard, and our memorandum will send a loud and clear message to Zuma’s ANC that we want jobs, not jets. But there is an even better way to send this message. On 3 August, you can send the loudest and clearest message possible.

On 3 August, you can stop Nkandla Air from taking to the skies. On 3 August, you can choose jobs over jets by voting for the DA. 

Fellow South Africans,

We hear a lot of things about Jacob Zuma and we hear a lot of things from him. But on 3 August, it is our turn to do the talking. 

We know what Jacob Zuma wants – he wants us to pay for a big fancy luxury jet to match his big fancy luxury home that we’ve already paid for. 

On 3 August, it is our turn to tell Jacob Zuma what we want. And we want jobs, not jets. It’s our money and it’s our democracy and ultimately, we get to make the decision.

So on 3 August, stop Nkandla Air and vote DA for jobs, not jets! 

I thank you.

Issued by Mabine Seabe, Spokesperson to the DA Leader, 30 June 2016