SPEECH TO COMMUNITY OF EERSTERUS

DELIVERED AT19H30

PATRICIA DE LILLE, MP AND LEADER OF THE INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATS


Fellow ID national leaders, the Gauteng Provincial Executive, ID branches, ID members and supporters,

I welcome each and every one of you here today at this Independent Democrats public meeting in Eersterus

We formed the ID in 2003 and since then we have taken part in two elections.

In the National Elections in 2004, 267 000 South Africans voted for the Independent Democrats.

In the Local Elections in 2006, over half a million South Africans voted for our vision and approach.

In these two elections, the Independent Democrats was the fastest growing political party in our country.

The ID now has representation at all three levels of government, with MPs, MPLs and Councillors – all fighting for your rights and offering solutions to you problems on a daily basis.

We are a part of Government in 26 municipalities across our country.

The ID’s membership has already passed 300 000!

Research conducted by Markinor shows that we are well on our way to doubling our support yet again and that 1 million South Africans will unite behind our vision and approach.

The ID believes in `Social Democracy’, where the state allows for free economic activity, but directs the market for the benefit and well-being of society.

It is our belief that Government has a responsibility to ensure that every citizen has the basic necessities such as food, water, electricity, healthcare, education, safety and security.

Citizens also need to contribute to government through becoming active participants in their community’s development.

So an ID government would be more humane, would put people first and would listen to you.

Die ID het ‘n konsekwente geskiedenis opgebou om waarheid tot mag te spreek ten opsigte van die mees belangrike uitdagings wat ons land in die gesig staar.

Ons stryd is vir sosiale geregtigheid.

We will continue to fight for the realization of the Constitutional rights of our people, especially of the marginalized: the poor, women and children and people with disabilities.

The Independent Democrats has consistently fought for your rights and offered solutions to your problems.

Tonight I want to share some of the ID’s achievements over the past 5 years.

At the beginning of this year, the ID mounted a massive campaign where our councillors across the country visited schools and compiled a back to school report card.

I took 5 government Ministers to court and forced the government to live up to the constitutional provision that children must not be detained in jail.

We have been fighting for the rights of children who live on the street and even we convened a meeting in Parliament for them to tell their stories of abuse on the street.

We took on the DA in the City of Cape Town when it did not include safeguards for the poor in its budget.

I blew the whistle on the Arms Deal, which led to the prosecution of Tony Yengeni, Schabir Schaik and charges being brought against Jacob Zuma.

The ID brought private prosecutions against 27 individuals who got discounted cars from arms manufacturers.

I have brought charges against the previous Justice Minister who was found to have interfered with the independence of the National Prosecuting Authority.

The Independent Democrats in Gauteng has brought fraud charges against former ANC spokesperson Carl Niehaus.

The ID launched the Wheelchair Fund, which has provided wheelchairs to people who are living with disabilities.

We took on airlines that were discriminating against passengers with disabilities.

We met with the Minister of Education to push forward the timelines for inclusive education so that all children with disabilities could receive an education.

We have consistently fought for the rights of fishing communities that were excluded from earning a livelihood due to the unjust quota policy of the government.

The ID has taken up the plight of the people of Schubert Park and Kruger Park flats who were left in squalor by the Tshwane Municipality.

We have been on patrol with Community Policing Forums across the country and have fought for more police to be provided to crime-ridden areas.

We met with the Safety and Security Minister to make a demand for a National Crime Summit.

I have personally fought for the rights of all those living with HIV/AIDS and I was the first Member of Parliament to go for a public HIV test.

I embarrassed President Mbeki’s AIDS denialist policy by revealing that many members of parliament were using their medical aid to obtain lifesaving ARV’s, while his government was refusing to roll it out to South Africans who needed them.

The ID met with the Minister of Health and got permission to inspect ARV roll-out sites across the country.

And we blew the whistle on the defective condom scandal.

This is just a small sample of what we have done over the past 5 years.

Our vision for our country is to create a South Africa free from poverty, crime and unemployment, where you are given excellent healthcare, the dignity that comes with having a home and the opportunities that come with education.

So while fighting for your rights is important, it is not enough.

We also need to offer solutions.

The ID’s approach is and always has been a positive one: of fighting for rights and offering solutions.

All the way through our Election Manifesto we outline practical solutions that will improve the lives of all our people.

In fact, there are approximately 100 solutions that we have proposed in our full manifesto.

These solutions speak to the main issues that face us as individuals and as a country: jobs, crime, corruption, HIV/Aids, housing and education.

Our Manifesto is therefore about you.

It is about finding solutions to your problems.

In our manifesto summary we have listed our “Top Ten Solutions” which we believe will improve your life and build a great South Africa.

Let me explain some of our ‘Top Ten Solutions.’

Firstly, let us talk about crime.

We do not feel safe in our own country.

Rape is still on the increase and our murder rate is eight times the world average.

My own sister was raped and murdered so I know what it is like to be traumatized because of crime.

An ID Government would take on the criminal minority that is holding our country hostage.

The aim of the ID's 12 Point Plan to fight crime is to create safe and caring communities.

And I want to repeat that you too can be part of the solution.

Let me give you an example.

Every few years the ANC government hires consultants to draw up a crime-fighting plan.

An ID government would not hire consultants.

We would convene a National Crime Summit, where representatives from the public sector, private sector, political parties, religious bodies, NGOs, schools, neighbourhood watches, ward committees, street committees, farmers and farm workers can get together to find solutions to crime.

Up until now the ANC has only looked for the advice of business leaders.

This a slap in the face for our poor, who, when they lose their loved ones, lose far more than profits.

Poor people do not have the luxury of electric fences and insurance.

When they are robbed they lose everything and they lose their dignity.

We must also look at the root causes of crime.

South Africa has a long history of violence and oppression, which has led to the breakdown of the South African family and caused massive damage to the social fabric of our society.

The ID would address the underlying social problems that push so many of our children into choosing a life of crime, alcohol and drugs.

We would invest in the youth and deploy thousands of social workers to impoverished communities, where the breakdown of our social fabric is the worst.

We would build sport facilities and many more alcohol and drug rehabilitation centres.

In 2006, 47 percent of murder victims were drunk at the time of their deaths.

An Independent Democrats government will ban alcohol advertising!

We need the support of communities and the police to ensure that we put an end to all underage drinking.

Another of our 12 points is that we need 200 000 well-trained, well-resourced police.

Special emphasis will be placed on recruiting detectives and forensic scientists.

We also need to restore the public's faith in the police.

We will bring back the Scorpions!

There will be no Jackie Selebi's under an ID government!

The ID will put criminals in jail and not in Parliament!

The ID would build the morale of the police by increasing their salaries and offering them benefits such as housing subsidies.

We will tighten up bail laws that too often see dangerous criminals released back on to the streets and we would re-introduce night courts as a way of dealing with the backlogs of court cases.

We will build more prisons, cut down on the number of awaiting trial prisoners in jail and encourage alternatives to incarceration for minor offences, to deal with overcrowding.

We must change our prisons from being universities of crime, to being rehabilitation centres.

Many prisons also still detain children despite a court judgement I obtained that showed this was unconstitutional.

In too many instances these children are abused by elder inmates and are taken further into the criminal underworld.

Another of our ‘Top Ten Solutions’ deals with poverty.

It is a sad reality that despite the wealth of our country, half of our population, roughly 20 million people, still live in grinding poverty.

Millions of our people still do not receive any form of social assistance from Government.

Our first solution is therefore to introduce a Minimum Income Grant.

The money for this will come from ending all wasteful Government expenditure and an increase in the deficit to between 2 and 3%.

This grant would lift millions of our people out of poverty and stimulate local economies and businesses, thereby increasing economic growth.

Of major concern to the Independent Democrats on the poverty front is that around 12 million South African children live in poverty stricken households.

The Independent Democrats would immediately extend the Child Support Grant to 18-year-olds, in accordance with our Constitution’s definition of a child.

Hunger does not stop at 14 and this Grant will go some way towards reducing our high school drop out rate.

Still another of our “Top Ten Solutions” concerns education.

An ID Government would improve infrastructure and teaching and introduce a Child Education Grant.

Within 2 years every school will have access to electricity, water and sanitation.

Within 5 years every school will have a library, a functioning science laboratory and free internet connectivity.

Teachers will be given training and performance bonuses.

The ID will run a national audit of all teachers in South Africa to find out which teachers have the necessary skills.

Teachers who are unqualified will be up-skilled and those that are unwilling to cooperate in the interests of our children’s future will be removed from the system.

We would also reduce the administrative work our teachers do – the classroom is the frontline of education.

Schools must become community centres – a node of support and care.

They must have social workers who can identify social problems, like sexual and substance abuse.

Communities must be encouraged to take ownership of schools.

For example, in the evenings we would provide adult education.

Still another of the ID’s solutions in education is to extend the School Feeding Scheme to weekends – hunger does not stop on Fridays and good nutrition is crucial for physical health and concentration.

Now I want to talk about unemployment.

40 percent of South Africans are currently unemployed and as the global financial crisis deepens, tens of thousands of our workers are losing their jobs.

70 percent of our young people are unemployed.

Job creation is therefore our number one priority.

The ID will introduce a wage subsidy for first time work seekers between the ages of 18 to 25, which would create jobs by encouraging companies to hire more people.

We will prioritise the filling of the hundreds of thousands of vacancies in the public sector.

Next, we will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the renewable energy industry.

Germany has already created a quarter of a million jobs in this industry.

Ons sal die son, die wind en water gebruik as kragbronne vir ons land!

Those are just a few of our ‘Top Ten Solutions’, which, with your support, will give us the opportunity to create a great nation we can all be proud of.

But tonight I want to tell you that it is not enough to nod your heads and say to the Independent Democrats – ‘thank you for fighting for my rights.

Thank you for fighting for my rights for a crime and corruption -free South Africa and for making sure that my voice is heard.

And thank you for the ID's efforts to find solutions.'

It is not enough to say this to me and then go and vote for the DA, or the ANC.

How will your voices be heard in ANC number one, a party whose youth leader uses hate speech and violent rhetoric in a nation that needs healing more than anything else?

How will your voices be heard in ANC number 2, Cope, a party that is top heavy with people who are unhappy that they lost their positions?

I want to say very clearly that it is not enough to say you like the work that Patricia de Lille and the ID is doing to improve my life and my country and to get criminals out of government and into jail.

You need to vote for me and the ID.

Vote ID!

I want to make a promise to every person in our nation tonight – double the ID's votes and I will triple my commitment to you.

For media enquiries, please call Steven Otter, ID National Media Officer, on 084 233 3811