Zuma's ANC has abandoned the people of Mothotlung

Note to editors: This was the speech delivered by the DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, during an oversight visit to Mothotlung in Brits today. 

Dumelang bagolo [People of Mothotlung] 

Ke bua le lona gompieno  ka pelo e bothloko [ I speak to you today with a heavy heart] . During these past weeks you have experienced great pain and suffering. 

The government here has delivered blood, and not water. 

Instead of basic services you have been met with corruption. 

Puso e e maaka gae thusi setshaba [Instead of a government which tries to solve a problem honestly, you have been met with lies] 

And instead of a police service which is meant to keep you safe and protect you, you have been met by a brutal killing machine.

People of Mothotlung,

I have just returned from visiting the families of those who lost their lives at the hands of the police last week Monday. 

To the mothers of Mike Tshele, Osia Rahube, and Lerato Seema - I do not know what it is like to bury a child. 

But I do know grief; grief that clings to your soul and refuses to let go. I cannot make that grief go away.

But I can tell you that with the love and support of your family and community, you can overcome it. 

Tragically, yet another person from this community died in hospital last night due to sustained injuries. 

From the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of the Democratic Alliance, I send my condolences to you and your loved ones, and to your community.

People of Mothotlung,

While our hearts are heavy, we owe it to the memories of Mike, Osia and Lerato to ensure that what happened to them, and to all of you, is never repeated again.

I am here today as part of my own efforts - as a DA member of parliament to ensure that there is accountability.

I have come to see with my own eyes what is happening in Mothotlung so that I can take this matter back to Parliament and use every mechanism available to hold the government account for how you have been treated.

Because we cannot allow our people to be treated like animals and have a government which has forgotten the people get away with this indifference and brutality.

Go tshwanetse gonne le boikarabelo bao ba leng molato ba nne boikarabelo mme ba fe dikarabo tsa gore go diregileng eng mo Mothutlong.

[There must accountability. Those responsible must answer for what has happened here.] 

This is equally important for the rest of South Africa too. Because what you have experienced is what many other people across our beautiful country are experiencing too. 

It is the story of Ficksburg, where Andries Tatane was killed after being repeatedly fired upon by police officers.

It is also the story of Marikana, where 34 mineworkers lost their lives - some of them shot in their backs by members of the police.

It is the story of Brandfort, where I walked 4 km with women to collect water from the water works - because their taps ran dry for weeks and continue to run dry to this day. 

The story of Mothotlung is becoming the South African story.

It is the story of a government run by a party which has forgotten what it once stood for. 

At the dawn of our democracy, Former President Mandela committed this country to upholding the values enshrined in our Constitution. We committed to ensuring South Africans have access to clean drinking water. 

Jacob Zuma's ANC has deviated from that promise. 

The ANC of today has abandoned Nelson Mandela's ideals and the promise of 1994.

It is the conclusion of President Zuma's ANC disastrous term in office - where the progress which was made by South Africa's first democratic government is being reversed.

And why? Because a corrupt elite is being allowed to run rampant by President Zuma's ANC - where leaders only care about enriching themselves. 

Corruption hits the poor and those most in need the hardest. It kills basic services; it kills small businesses; it kills jobs; and increasingly - through the barrel of a gun - it is killing people too. 

This was clear for all to see here in Madibeng Municipality.

Despite calls by the DA during council meetings since 2009 to maintain the municipality's water plants and pumps, the ANC councillors and government did nothing. 

The ANC had to put the Madibeng Municipality under administration by the provincial government. That helped for a little while. But when the provincial government left, the ANC municipality still refused to do the maintenance work on the pumps, and the taps ran dry once again.

People of Mothotlung, here is the Ministerial Task Team Report compiled for the Minister of Water Affairs, Edna Molewa, last year which shows that the ANC Minister, the ANC Provincial government and the ANC councillors all knew of the water crisis in this municipality. 

But still they did nothing. Instead, the Minister and the provincial government sat and watched while the ANC councillors gave out government contracts worth R1,3 million per month to companies with water tankers to deliver water to affected areas. 

Why must a company deliver water tanks to the people at a cost of R1,3 million per month when the Municipality could use that money to fix the water pumps? 

Why did the ANC councillors and the Mayor refuse to answer the DA's questions in the Madibeng Municipality regarding these contractors for the water tankers? 

It is the arrogance of those who believe that they can get away with corruption. And they know they can, because the man at the very top is setting the trend.

Why would the government here be worried when our President spends over R200 million of public money on a private palace in Nkandla? Why would they think of delivering you water, when they are building the President ‘fire-pools' and ‘reservoirs' at Nkandla?

Why would they think of delivering you water, when the Premier of the North West, Thandi Modise, spends more than R1.3 million on a new luxury car while failing to deliver to the people of her province?

This ANC corruption will not bring you water. It will only deliver more Nkandla-Presidents and BMW-Premiers.

The DA cannot and will not accept this. There must be accountability. There must be answers.

Today I will be writing to the Public Protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, to request that she launches a comprehensive investigation into the entire crisis which has unfolded here.

This must be more than a probe into corruption. It must be a probe into the inter-linked saga which has left us where we are today - from the failure to act on maintenance warnings, to the R1.3 million tankers contract, to the use of deadly force by the same police who killed people at Marikana.

I will also ask that my colleague, Dr Dion George MP, take this matter up with the Chairperson of the Standing Committee of Appropriations in Parliament. SCOPA can act on this corruption and investigate what has happened with the people's money which should have been spent on delivering water. The DA will demand that everyone from the Premier to the local ANC councillor is summoned to give testimony.

Because there must be accountability. There must be answers.

People of Mothotlung,

I stand here today before a community that has lost its loved ones. I cannot make up for the loss that you have suffered. I cannot take your grief away. But I can fight so that not one more mother of Mothotlung must bury her child because of the ANC's failure to deliver the most basic, life giving substance: water.

The DA makes this promise to you today. 

Issued by the DA, January 20 2014

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter