Our focus is on building a better future for all South Africans

11 June 2015

Note to Editors: The following opening remarks were delivered by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, during a panel discussion at The Gathering hosted by the Daily Maverick at Vodawold.

My fellow panelists, audience and viewers at home,

I want to thank the Daily Maverick and Nando’s for putting together this discussion, along with their media partners, eNCA and Al Jazeera.

Events like The Gathering are crucial to the proper functioning of our democracy. South Africans need to see how one party’s offer stacks up against another’s. They need to hear the arguments and counter-arguments if they are to make informed decisions about the country’s future.

We don’t see enough of this in South African politics. This lack of proper debate robs voters of the chance to compare parties side-by-side. And this plays directly into the hands of those who prefer to live off past glories; those who desperately need to protect the status-quo.

So I am grateful for the opportunity to put the DA’s offer on the table, and I look forward to answering some of the questions and critiques my fellow panelists will no doubt have.

Two days from now, the DA will launch its Vision 2029 here in Gauteng, in Soweto. This is a blueprint for the type of society we intend to build, based on our three core values of Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity for all South Africans.

We call it Vision 2029, because it describes South African society after ten years of a DA-led national government. Count back ten years from 2029, and you will see exactly where our sights are set.

It is a huge task, but our immediate next step is the 2016 Local Government Elections. Following last year’s elections, three new metros are in play for the DA: Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane and Johannesburg. Winning one or more of these metros will propel us towards 2019 with enormous momentum.

I can assure you, as a party, we are 100% ready for the campaign.

But what the DA is trying to do is hard. We’re trying to build a strong centre. We’re trying to unite people around shared values, instead of trying to merely hold on to what we have by categorising and dividing people.

It’s harder to unite a divided society than it is to reinforce these divisions. It’s harder to build than it is to break down.

So although the DA has all the work to do – after all, we have to close the gap between our 23% and the ANC’s 62% – I’d much rather be in our position than in the ANC’s. And the reason for this is that we have one task and one, singular vision.

Our task is forward-looking. Our entire focus is on building a better future for all South Africans. No distractions, no side-shows.

You cannot hope to build a better future when half your energy is wasted on defending the present. The ANC government’s focus has shifted from serving the people to protecting its own.

And when they’re not out there shielding our compromised president from the law, they’re dwelling on their fast-fading history, and conjuring up so-called “good stories” about their failed delivery to the people of South Africa.

You don’t have to be an economist to know what is wrong with South Africa. Ask anyone and they will tell you that the biggest threat to our advancement is the triple enemy of unemployment, poverty and inequality.

South Africa’s economic history is fraught with injustice and inequality.  Pre-1994, economic growth was fuelled by minerals, a large dependence on cheap labour, and an oversupply of energy that served a small group of businesses. 

The post-1994 government began with the objective, under our great icon President Nelson Mandela, of building an inclusive, non-racial and prosperous society. But progress towards this end has stalled.

The indicators paint a bleak picture of our economic success. Estimated GDP growth for 2014 was 1.4%, down from 1.9% in 2013. It is forecast at 2.0% for 2015, well below the 5% required by the NDP to create a real dent in unemployment.

Economic success is being prevented by policy uncertainty and incoherence. Added to this is the undue influence from Unions who don’t seem to care about the future of the workers they represent. 

Our challenge today is to build an inclusive economy, while addressing historical injustices and becoming a competent international trading partner. 

If South Africa is to be prosperous, it is critical that we have a singular, focused economic plan. Many have cited the National Development Plan in this regards, yet its implementation has not been forthcoming. 

Our economy’s inability to create anywhere near enough jobs is robbing entire generations of South Africans of a future worth looking forward to. It is robbing them not only of an immediate livelihood, but it is also robbing them of dignity and any kind of hope.

Our unemployment is at a 12-year high, and an increasing number of jobless South Africans aren’t even looking for work anymore.

Two-thirds of unemployed South Africans are under 35 years old. If we don’t act fast, the bulge in this statistic could grow even bigger as the next generation approaches working age. This is a ticking time-bomb.

If reducing unemployment, eradicating poverty and ridding our society of the crippling scourge of inequality doesn’t sit at the very heart of your plan for the country, then you have no business running the country. Then you need to step aside and make way for those with the vision and the will to do so.

If you are living, “secure in comfort”, in a R246 million palace, while South Africans suffer the constant burden of load shedding, e-tolls and ever decreasing opportunities, it is time to step aside.

We simply cannot afford another decade of aimless, leaderless drift. We are now in a race against time.

Our economy is barely moving forward. We are in fact stagnating. And this is not the fault of the global economy. We are lagging far behind the rest of Africa. Nigeria is part of the same global economy, and their GDP has been growing at an average of over 6% for the past decade.

Every year, during the president’s State Of The Nation Address, we are told of the millions of “work opportunities” that are about to materialise. They never do. And even if they would have, most of these would be short-term piece jobs, contract work for government departments – not real, meaningful jobs.

The ANC government still believes that the state can solve the bulk of our unemployment problems. The rest of us know it simply can’t.

Only a growing economy can enable job creation. Only a growing economy can enable progress. And this can only happen if businesses – and particularly small and medium enterprises – are given the space and support to thrive.

A DA government will do everything it can to remove the obstacles that prevent small businesses from getting off the ground. From reducing red tape and making start-up capital available to enabling cross border trade and re-writing our absurd visa regulations, we will make South Africa attractive once more for entrepreneurs and investors alike.

Linked to this, our other top priorities, when it comes to opening opportunities, will be the three E’s: Education, Eskom and Etolls.

It is an absolute disgrace that our education is considered to be amongst the worst in the world. In many of our schools the standard of teaching is so poor that children end up wasting 13 years of their lives, and leave school without any of the skills they need to make a success of their lives.

A DA government will turn this around. From the way children are taught to read in foundation phase to the way they make career decisions in high school to the type of job-focused education they enter after matric – we will make sure that it is all about them.

Teachers will be tested, textbooks will be delivered, classrooms will be built and equipped, and SADTU will be placed on a very short leash.

Then, we will overhaul our energy sector, starting with a dismantling of Eskom’s crippling monopoly. Without a steady supply of electricity, our economy will never grow. And standing in the way of this is the state-owned enterprise’s monopoly on power generation and distribution.

And finally, we will kick SANRAL’s failed Etolls into touch. This double taxation is a sure way to kill off any hope the regional economy has of recovery. The people of Gauteng have spoken loud and clear in their rejection of Etolls, but the ANC government has chosen to ignore them. Come next year’s elections, I suspect they will regret this.

There are many more aspects to the DA’s offer – from improved basic service delivery to a zero tolerance for crime and corruption. Over the course of the next year we will share this with millions of South Africans across the length and breadth of the country.

Our country has reached a crossroads. Only one way leads to a future with Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity for all South Africans. That way is the DA.

It is my job to make sure this road is very clearly signposted. But ultimately the power lies with the people of this great land and their vote. And I have no doubt that they will vote for change.

Change that builds the better future we all dream of.

Thank you.

Issued by the DA, June 11 2015