Zuma’s pals can’t stop corruption

2 July 2016

Note to editors: The following remarks were made outside the Tshwane City Hall at the launch of the DA’s plan for Corruption-free Cities by DA Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane, Solly Msimanga, DA Shadow Minister of Justice,Adv Glynnis Breytenbach MP, and DA Deputy Federal Chairperson and Western Cape Minister for Finance, Dr Ivan Meyer MPP. The full Corruption-free Cities document can be found here.

We have come to City Hall today to take a stand against corruption, not only in the City of Tshwane, but in every municipality across South Africa.

Corruption is more than stolen money and favours-for-friends. Corruption is a disease that has infected every aspect and every level of the ANC government. This disease now stands in the way of making progress towards a better life for all.

Corruption robs individuals and communities of the resources that would otherwise have been used to build schools, clinics, and homes, or provide vital services to improve the lives of vulnerable residents. 

Corruption alienates business and destroys jobs. Municipalities with rampant levels of corruption often suffer from high levels of unemployment and poor service delivery. 

Corruption kills economic development because business people cannot nor want to operate in places where you have to pay bribes and develop corrupt relationships with officials just to succeed.

Corruption is inherently unfair and only prevents honest individuals, who are not politically connected to ANC insiders, from getting jobs and having access to opportunities such as tenders.

The ANC have allowed corruption to become a part and parcel of the party’s very fabric by their sheer unwillingness and inability to deal decisively with corruption. 

From President Zuma, who still faces 783 charges of corruption, fraud and racketeering, to outgoing mayor of Tshwane, Sputla Ramokgopa, whose corrupt and unlawful PEU smart-meter contract, has cost our City in excess of R2 billion.

We cannot sit by and watch scarce resources squandered by a selfish and uncaring ANC government that places political patronage above the needs of the people.

The truth is that Zuma’s pals can’t stop corruption because the ANC cannot operate without it.

Imposing Thoko Didiza does not change the fundamentally corrupt nature of the ANC.

The only way that we, as a City and a country, can start moving forward again is if we cut this disease out like the cancer that it is.

Today we are launching the DA’s plan to build corruption-free cities; by stopping corruption we can move forward again.

The DA believes in clean and honest government, a concept that has become alien to the ANC under President Zuma.

Clean local governments attract job-creating investment and generate more money to spend on providing the basic services that our communities deserve. 

Where the DA governs, resources are allocated where they are needed most and residents enjoy the levels of service delivery they deserve. 

Honest governments create trust and incubate the right kind of relationships with business and residents. Jobs and other opportunities are fairly allocated in honest municipalities – they are not just awarded to connected political insiders.

This is the change the DA wants to bring to municipalities across South Africa; the change the DA brought to Cape Town when it inherited a city drowning in corruption from the ANC in 2006.

The first step toward combatting corruption is to create an environment that encourages people to report corruption when they see it.

This requires the establishment of an effective system that allows individuals to report fraud and corruption easily, confidentially and without the fear. 

This will allow whistle-blowers to provide tip-offs anonymously by telephone, e-mail, social media or any other platform that makes individuals feel secure and protected.

In the City of Cape Town, the DA government set up a Fraud Hotline which allows whistle-blowers to report incidences or suspicion of corruption. Reports are promptly investigated and action is taken against those involved. This zero-tolerance culture is the bedrock of the DA’s anti-corruption stance.

On a more practical level, the DA believes in eliminating corruption in areas such a RDP housing and EPWP job allocation.

In order to stop the practice of ANC councillors who allocate housing and job opportunities in exchange for bribes and favours, the DA will ensure that process is open, transparent, impartial and fair.

Lists for housing opportunities, including serviced sites, must be managed in a transparent and credible way that is free from manipulation.

People should be able to see their position on the housing list and their progress. “Queue jumping” and advantage based on “who you know” cannot be tolerated.

To ensure fairness in the EPWP, we would implement an impartial system similar to the one adopted in the City of Cape Town to address the re-employment of workers and the exclusion period for previous beneficiaries. 

Most importantly, the recruitment system must exclude councillors from involvement in the recruitment process to prevent the potential for any corruption or manipulation.

Similarly, public servants should be prohibited from doing business with government. A zero-tolerance policy must be adopted countrywide and offenders should be forced to vacate their posts.

Tender processes should be opened up to the public at the adjudication stage to ensure that they are awarded fairly to companies which offer the most value for money.

In fact, all Council and committee meetings should be open to the public as far as possible so that local government decisions are open and transparent. This will allow residents to engage with their elected representatives.

By eliminating the opportunities and potential for corruption, we can start to turn the tide against this disease.

Finally, we will promote transparency through the fair appointment of government staff, based on the value that they add to the organisation and not their political connections.

The DA’s policy of appointing only “fit for purpose” candidates after strict and thorough screening ensures that public servants have the necessary skills to make a success of their jobs and serve the people.

Public representatives should constantly be measured against individual performance agreements which contain key objectives, such as regular contact with the residents they serve. 

The DA requires that each councillor signs our Councillor’s Charter, unique to the DA, that commits them to a required standard of service so that the Party’s values of freedom, fairness and opportunity are upheld. 

This goes a long way to stop corruption and ensure better delivery for all the residents in DA-run towns and cities.

Fellow South Africans,

Corruption steals from the poor. That is the bottom line.

Corruption deprives those most in need of the opportunities they should have access to in order to get ahead in life.

And corruption allows for a small-connected elite to benefit and get richer, while the poor get poorer.

Corruption is the enemy of our democracy and must be stopped.

On 3 August the people of South Africa can vote out the ANC and the corruption that has infected them.

On 3 August they can vote in an honest and responsive DA government that will fight the cancer of corruption as we have done where we govern.

Together we can bring change not only to this City, but to South Africa at large, and see it more forward again.

Issued by the DA, 2 July 2016