Vision 2029: Use your vote to elect a government that cares

The following remarks were made by the DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, at a public meeting in Bohlokong, Bethlehem. The public meeting formed part of the Free State leg of the national Vision 2029 Tour. The Leader was joined by DA Free State Provincial Leader, Patricia Kopane MP and DA Free State Provincial Chairperson, Dr Annelie Lotriet MP.

My fellow South Africans.

This visit of mine to Bohlokong is an important part of my Vision 2029 Tour, and I thank you for welcoming me into your community. It is an important stop on my tour because your municipality of Dihlabeng is one of the many municipalities in South Africa that is facing a crisis of ANC government.

On this tour, I have been traveling to every province in South Africa, speaking to many communities such as yours, about the DA’s vision for South Africa. And everywhere I’ve been, I’ve seen people who have been neglected and forgotten by their local and provincial governments.

But nowhere is this clearer than here in Dihlabeng. Most of the problems faced by communities like yours are because of a government that has stopped caring. All the issues that affect your daily lives are a direct result of this.

If this government cared, they would prioritise your service delivery. If this government cared, they would spend their full budgets on you, the people. If this government cared, they would appoint people who can do their jobs instead of people who have political connections. If this government cared, they would stamp out corruption and waste.

The provincial government here in the Free State along with the local government here in Dihlabeng municipality do none of these things. Instead, they follow the example set by President Zuma and your Premier, Ace Magashule. They care only about enriching themselves and increasing their own power and influence.

Of all the services provided by the state, none demonstrate this idea of a caring government more than the standard of healthcare. By definition, this is the area where you can really tell if a government looks after its most vulnerable citizens: the very young, the very old, the sick and the weak.

And it is heart-breaking to see what has happened to healthcare here in the Free State. Under the current ANC Provincial Government of Ace Magashule, the quality of healthcare in the province has dropped to just about the worst in the country. Not a week goes by without another horror story about Free State healthcare in our news.

And it is no coincidence that people like Ace Magashule and his MEC for Health, Benny Malakoane have big shadows of fraud and corruption hanging over their heads.

It is a fact: when corruption increases, service delivery falls. When politicians care more about their own financial interests than the wellbeing of the people they were elected to serve, then it is the people who suffer.

And if you want to see evidence of this, you need look no further than your state hospital right here in Dihlabeng. The list of things that are wrong at Dihlabeng Hospital is so long, it would keep us here all day. Positions aren’t filled, medical equipment and stock is not ordered, lifts don’t work. Patients in Dihlabeng Hospital die due to factors that could easily be prevented.

When doctors here wrote to the Health Minister to complain about the conditions, he promised action. Four different government teams visited the hospital and vowed to fix things here. But months later, nothing has changed. Dihlabeng Hospital is still a shameful reminder of everything that is wrong with the Free State government.

And Dihlabeng Hospital is not alone. Across the length and breadth of the province, state hospitals are crumbling, their shelves stand empty, their patients sleep on the floor and their doctor and nursing positions remain vacant.

Free State doctors became so frustrated at the situation that they compiled their own report of the enormous challenges, and this report makes for frightening reading. Basic medical consumables aren’t ordered, ambulance staff aren’t trained, new hospital buildings remain closed and doctors aren’t employed.

If this government cared, they would have filled the positions at these hospitals long ago.

If this government cared, they would have stocked the medicines and equipment by now.

If this government cared, they would have acted to save these hospitals the very first time they promised to do so.

Instead, Premier Magashule is more concerned with running this province as if it’s his own private empire. Many doctors have applied for work at Free State Hospitals, and yet their applications lie untouched on desks.

Instead of filling these positions as a matter of urgency, Premier Magashule is more concerned with taking a massive 72-person delegation on a 2-week, R14 million holiday to Cuba to go and recruit doctors and engineers.

And he’s told us he plans to make this Cuba trip every year. This Cuban project of his to replace qualified South Africans with Cubans will cost the Free State Province R185 million over the next three years. His Cuban fascination has now even extended to naming Free State buildings after Fidel Castro.

Premier Ace Magashule thinks this province is his to do with as he pleases.

And the Free State’s problems don’t end with healthcare. In 2013/2014, not one single Free State municipality got a clean audit. This means every single local government in the province is plagued with massive financial mismanagement, wasteful spending and corruption.

The list of government corruption scandals in the province is as long as my arm. Premier Magashule has poisoned just about every department with dodgy deals and terrible appointments.

One of his biggest cronies, Mosebenzi Zwane – the former Agriculture MEC and a loyal friend to the Guptas – has just been promoted to Jacob Zuma’s cabinet as the new Mining Minister. Considering all the favours this province has already handed out to the Guptas, we dare not take our eyes off Minister Zwane for one minute.

But you see, people like Ace Magashule and Jacob Zuma don’t care. They don’t care about the people they have been elected to serve, and they don’t care that people know this either. They are beyond caring what people think of them, because they see themselves as untouchable.

They think they will be shielded from attacks and investigations forever because they have surrounded themselves with loyal deployed cadres. With Yes-men who will do their bidding and protect their empires.

But it seems not everyone in the ANC is so sure. During the week I was alerted to a post on the Dihlabeng ANC’s Facebook page calling on ANC members to defend Bohlokong from the DA’s visit today. To intimidate and reject us.

Clearly these people do not share the bravado of the likes of Magashule and Zuma. On the ground, in municipalities across South Africa, the ANC knows we’re coming for them, and they’re worried. They are worried enough to rally armies of “frontline soldiers”, as they call them, to keep the DA’s message away from you.

But I’d like to make it very clear to them: We will not be intimidated, and we will not stay away. The DA is on a mission to bring Freedom, Fairness and Opportunity to all the people of South Africa, and a bit of dirty politics and a few threats will not stop us.

The DA is growing and the ANC is shrinking across South Africa. That includes the Free State, and that includes Bohlokong here in Dihlabeng. People have had enough of an uncaring government, and they are turning to the only party that can deliver on the promise of economic freedom made over 20 years ago.

Between the last two national elections, the number of DA voters in the Free State grew by 37%. Between the last two municipal elections, the number of DA voters in the Free State grew by 32%. After next year’s municipal elections, you can bet these numbers will be even higher.

The ANC’s days in government are numbered. And, under a DA government, millions of South Africans will get to realise their full potential.

We will make sure your children get the type of education that will empower them in life.

We will make sure you have access to the world-class healthcare you deserve.

We will make sure that you can live with dignity and pride by prioritising the delivery of basic services to your community.

We will make sure you are safe in your homes and in your streets here.

We will make sure that businesses can thrive, that the economy can grow and that jobs are created.

And we will make sure that every cent of public money is spent on you, the people.

That is the DA’s promise to you. But you have a job to do as well. And, in a democracy, yours is the most important job of all.

Your job is to use your vote to get rid of the government that is not working for you and hire one that will. And if you don’t do this first, nothing that we have planned can happen.

Soon, the government will announce the weekends on which you can register to vote in the 2016 municipal election. Use these dates to make sure that your name is on the voter’s roll.

And then go out and vote for the type of government you want and deserve. Together, we will make Bohlokong, the Free State and South Africa great again.

Issued by Graham Charters, Acting Spokesperson to the DA Leader, 4 October 2015