Freedom Day: Zuma must personally stop R4 billion jet deal

27 April 2016

Note to Editors: The following remarks were made today by the DA Leader, during a Freedom Day event in Zandspruit, Gauteng.

Today we South Africans celebrate the 22nd anniversary of our first ever democratic election.

We call it Freedom Day, because it is the anniversary of the day we won our political freedom. The day millions of South Africans, for the first time in their lives, took part in steering our country on its new path towards peace and prosperity for everyone.

Unfortunately for many, the liberation movement that became the party of government took their foot off the accelerator once this political freedom had been achieved, and we have been coasting slower and slower ever since. Today, in 2016, we have come to a complete stop.

Yes, we may have won our political freedom in 1994, but the real work is to turn that political freedom into economic opportunity for all. And when I look around me today, I can say that this work has not yet been done. The people of Zandspruit, like so many other forgotten communities across South Africa, are not yet free.

People are robbed of their true freedom by corruption. Corruption takes money that could be spent on opportunities for the poor and redirects it to the pockets of the powerful and well-connected. Corruption is the greatest evil facing our democracy and is undermining our freedom. But it has now been joined by a new kind of corruption: state capture. This ANC government has allowed the state to be captured by a private family that has never been elected. This is undermining all of our democratic freedoms. 

Corruption is getting worse. We thought Nkandla was bad. At Nkandla, the President spent R246 million of public money. You would have thought that after the Constitutional Court told the President that he had violated his oath of office, just a few weeks ago, the President would be embarrassed. 

But now, President Zuma has ordered himself a new jet for R4 billion. Last Friday, 22 April, Armscor published the tender for the lease of a new luxury jet following their Request for Information (RFI) last year. While the exact specifications for the new tender are not publicly available, the RFI stipulated a luxurious aircraft with an interior that meets VVIP standards and has a range of 5500 nautical miles non-stop with 18 passengers on-board, or 7200 nautical miles non-stop with 30 passengers on-board. 

R4 billion is equivalent to 16 Nkandlas! That’s not his own money. It is public money - your money. Our president can order a R4 billion new jet for himself, but communities like Zandspruit do not have a reliable electricity connection. This is how corruption robs us of freedom and opportunity. 

I’m sure President Zuma will say that he didn’t ask for the jet, just like he says he didn’t ask for Nkandla. He will say he wasn’t involved in the decision, just like he says he wasn’t involved in Nkandla. Then he will try every trick in the book to try and hide the truth from the public. 

This is nonsense, and we will never accept it. In Nkandla, the money had already been spent. It was too late to stop the corruption. Now, we know about the jet order before its actually happened. So we can stop it, and we must stop it. 

We will not let the ANC spend R4 billion on a private jet for the President, while communities like this have no electricity. President Zuma cannot claim ignorance now - he must come out and publicly instruct the government to stop this order immediately. It is wasteful, unnecessary, corrupt and totally inappropriate in the middle of all of the struggles our people are facing. 

And what cost does this corruption truly have? It’s much more than R4 billion. Electricity is a basic service that transforms a community. It changes the way we live, the way we communicate, the way we move around. Without electricity, businesses close their doors and jobs cannot be created. It’s a basic human right – one which governments must provide. And it is unthinkable that an urban community like Zandspruit, nearly two decades into the 21st century, still has to go without power. It’s equally unthinkable that this community cannot get a straight answer, or even a face-to-face meeting, with their mayor to solve the issue.

The City’s solution was simply to cut off all electricity connections, including households and businesses that were legally connected. And when Mayor Parks Tau was meant to come and hear your grievances and accept a petition from you, he sent someone in his place. I don’t think this is good enough, and neither should you.

But Zandspruit’s problems don’t end with electricity connections. This is a community that has been forgotten and neglected by the ANC-run metro for years, and life here is hard for the 50 000 people who call Zandspruit their home. Pit toilets, water cuts and long periods without refuse collection is part of everyday life here. And that cannot be right.

The primary school here is overcrowded, and there is no high school. Murder, rape and nyaope abuse have torn families apart. The only clinic here is way too small, and isn’t open long enough to service the community. Informal traders are constantly harassed, housing development remains an empty promise, and the taxi rank is too far away from the transport routes. We cannot accept this.

We cannot celebrate Freedom Day here in Zandspruit and pretend that the people of this community are free. Yours is a freedom that still needs to be fought for. And if the mayor is not interested in listening, and the President is too busy picking out a new jet, then you must send them a clear message in this election. Vote for a party that will never treat you like that. 

For the DA to truly help the community of Zandspruit, we have to be in government. We need the people of Johannesburg to kick out the government that’s not working for them and vote in a government that is honest, responsive and efficient. There is only one such government, and that is a DA government. The ANC tells black South Africans that they can’t vote for any other political party. This is not what Freedom Day is about. The Constitution guarantees your right to vote for whoever is going to serve you best. 

Even before we are in government in Johannesburg, the DA will take your message to Parliament. I will take the petition you tried, unsuccessfully, to hand to Mayor Tau, and I will table it in the National Assembly so that it can be discussed in the Portfolio Committee for Local Government. Because this community deserves to be seen and heard. If the ANC here in Johannesburg won’t respond to you, then vote for a party that will. 

And when that same ANC local government comes knocking on your door before the August elections, you must remind them of all the times you knocked on their door for help. You must remind them that in a democracy, loyalty works both ways.

Thank you.

Issued by the DA, 27 April 2016