Jacob Zuma's ANC is profiting from our power emergency

Note to Editors: This is an extract of a speech delivered by DA Leader Helen Zille, at the Launch of the DA's Mpumalanga Election Campaign in Mbombela today. 

Democrats and voters.

Last week the DA launched our national manifesto in Polokwane, Limpopo - Together for Change, Together for Jobs.

Tens of thousands of South Africans came together to kick off the DA's election campaign.

Ngiyajabula kuba lana emphakatsini lomuhle wase Mpumalanga.

It is wonderful to be in the beautiful province of Mpumalanga today for the first provincial launch of our manifesto. We are going to take our manifesto to every corner of the country, but we chose Mpumalanga to be first. 

eMpumlanga indzawo lakuphuma khona lilanga.

Mpumalanga is the place where the sun rises.

And it is the place where the DA's sun is rising too. We have been growing in this province in every election. More people than ever in Mpumalanga are now part of the DA's movement for change and real jobs. 

We are bringing our manifesto to Mpumalanga first because it is here that voters need change most urgently. 

Mpumalanga is the powerhouse of South Africa. It is here that most of the electricity that we use all around the country is generated. It is here that the coal used in our power stations is mined. 

If South Africa's economy was growing and creating jobs, Mpumalanga would probably be the province to benefit the most. There would be tens of thousands of new jobs in this province - in mining, in transport, in new power stations, and in hundreds of other businesses. 

But Mpumalanga is not growing. 

Hhulumende waJacob Zuma awuletsi intfutfuko

Under Jacob Zuma's ANC, our progress is being reversed.

According to StatsSA, the unemployment rate for Mpumalanga increased from 26.5% to 27.2% at the end of last year. That means, in real terms, that 14 000 more people are unemployed in this province.

And we do not need to look far to see what is really going on. 

While the Mpumalanga economy is not growing and more people are unemployed, while South Africa is in a power emergency, and while our electricity prices increase every year, Jacob Zuma's ANC is profiting. 

Yesterday, it was announced that the ANC's front company, Chancellor House, will sell its shares in Hitachi Power Africa for an "undisclosed amount" - several billion rand at least. 

Hitachi Power Africa is the company that got contracts of R38 billion to install boilers at the Medupi and Kusile (right here in Mpumalanga) power stations. But those projects have been delayed because of many mistakes and bungles by contractors, including Hitachi itself. Medupi is not yet even close to being complete, and Kusile has only just begun. 

For years we have been saying that it is a clear conflict of interest and corruption for Jacob Zuma's ANC to be making money off government contracts. That is corruption, plain and simple. 

I can summarise the situation like this: Zuma's ANC is getting contracts from Zuma's government, contracts which they then mess up, causing big delays and power emergencies for the whole of South Africa, which makes more people unemployed, and then Zuma's ANC sells their shares and use the profits to get him re-elected. Qha! Ngci! 

That is why we need change! That is why we must stand together for change! 

The only reason Chancellor House is selling these shares now is so that the ANC can afford its election campaign. 

Zuma's ANC is sneaky. We have been calling on them for years to stop this corruption. They've always refused to do so, but all along they've known that they would sell their shares at exactly the right time - just before an election. 

The announcement even stressed that the price is very confidential - so that no one will be able to calculate exactly how much is going in to the election coffers of Zuma's ANC. 

It is a scandal, and all South Africans should be furious. 

It makes Nkandla look like a warm-up. 

This is how corruption works to destroy jobs.

Opportunities only go to those people who are well connected. Ordinary South Africans are cut out of the economy. Those who do get contracts can't fulfil them and ordinary people suffer again. 

That is why the DA's message to voters in this election is that if we stand together, we can bring change to South Africa. If we stand together, we can bring jobs to South Africa. And we can start right here in Mpumalanga. 

Let us make this province the power house of South Africa that it can be. 

Today our call is an invitation to every person in this country: Stand with the DA. Stand together. 

Together for Change. Together for Jobs. 

Issued by the DA, March 1 2014

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