Speech delivered at the Eastern Cape Launch by Patricia De Lille
2004-03-02. Distinguished guests, ladies, gentlemen and members of the ID, It is a great honour for me to be here today at the launch of the Eastern Cape Provincial Executive of the ID. It always fills me with immense pride when I launch the Independent Democrats in a new province.
It is a sign of the extraordinary
commitment and dedication of our members in spreading the vision of ID.
Our members are the lifeblood of this party and I want to commend all
of you today for the hard work you have put in over these past ten
months.
The Independent Democrats are growing by leaps and bounds throughout the country. Already five provinces have been launched and the remainder will all be launching within the next two months. We have representation in all nine provinces and have opened up provincial offices in four cities. Our national office is inundated with membership forms and we are having to process over 1000 forms a day. I am also enormously encouraged by the fact that our members come from all the social groupings in South Africa and include the very wealthy to the poorest of the poor. I can confidently say that the Independent Democrats are a political party that has finally been able to break the traditional divides of our politics.
Some political parties in this country have spread this false belief that the Independent Democrats is fragmenting the opposition vote in South Africa. This theory is based on the fact that they believe the opposition vote in South Africa is limited and a new party will simply split it further. Ladies and Gentlemen, I can confidently say that the Independent Democrats are not fragmenting the opposition vote, but on the contrary, are growing it. The Independent Democrats are eating in to the support base of the ruling party, by demonstrating how effective and constructive opposition can make a meaningful contribution to nation building. South Africans are sick and tired of politics as usual and politicians whose only concern is for their own self-interest. The people of this country are rightly demanding more from their political leaders. ID has heard this call and we are answering it!
Our nation is still divided and many South Africans feel excluded from enjoying the fruits of our democracy. Over forty percent of our population is excluded from the dignity of work. Of those, 70 percent have never worked in their lives before. The vast majority of those living in poverty do not receive any form of social assistance from the government. Many South Africans, particularly the youth, also feel excluded because of their language and culture and the constant guilt they are made to feel for the sins of apartheid. In contrast, The Independent Democrats have an inclusive vision and concrete policies to assist South Africans in becoming productive and fulfilled members of our society.
The Independent Democrats are not a party that will simply point out the failings of government and rejoice in them. We have a different approach to the other opposition parties in South Africa, who merely look for instances where they can score political points. This country desperately needs a constructive opposition party that is able to act on our problems, rather than just complain about them. South Africans are tired of being told how bad things are. South Africans don't need politicians for that! People living in poverty and suffering under the effects of HIV/AIDS and intolerable levels of crime know only too well what the problems are.
All over this great country of ours we are witnessing so-called political leaders falling short of living up to the standards that we set for them in our constitution. The ID believes that our constitution is our solid launching pad for the future.
The Independent Democrats believe that this government has got its priorities completely wrong. Instead of directing its resources against the war on poverty, it is saddling South Africa with a huge debt for the purchase of fighter planes, corvettes and submarines. This is just an expensive exercise in buying "Toys for Boys." This was all justified by the ANC on the basis of offset investments. Just down the road from here, however, stands the Coega development, which is proving to be nothing more than a white elephant. No anchor tenant has yet been found for Coega and those Arms Deal companies are failing to live up to their offset obligations. ID knew this was going to happen, as offsets agreements have not worked anywhere else in the world. The Independent Democrats believe that the ANC government should finally listen to the voice of the people on this issue and scrap the Arms Deal once and for all.
What we really need is political parties to lead the way in showing South Africans what can be achieved if we all put our minds and hands to it. We have already shown this in our successful Access to Education initiative. I could not sit back and watch our children be denied the education that they deserve because of their parent's financial difficulties. It was for that reason ID ran the Access to Education Initiative, which asked parents to expose those instances where their children had been denied their constitutional right to education. Our call centre was overwhelmed by calls from not only affected parents, but also concerned South Africans who were determined to help in any way they could. This initiative has proven that ordinary South Africans are tired of being disempowered by the constant negativity and are looking for ways to confront our society's problems. ID is determined to be the bridge through which the huge divides in our country can be crossed!
In this province many children are not getting the education guaranteed to them under the constitution. In some of the rural areas over two thirds of the children are not going to school because they have to stay at home and herd the cattle. This could be avoided if the government simply provided people with fencing to prevent the cattle from eating their crops. It is a simple intervention, which the government would be aware of if they had simply taken the time to listen to the voices of the rural people.
In contrast, the voices and needs of the rural people in this province have been completely ignored by government. So many of our great leaders came from the Eastern Cape, but I am sure that they are now rolling in their graves at the way in which the ANC government has allowed this province to fall into complete neglect. The rural people of this province need to be provided with real support in the form of piped irrigation and agricultural training. The Independent Democrats is in favour of setting up a Centre of Excellence in Organic Agriculture in the Eastern Cape. This centre could be used as a public works programme, where unemployed people could be trained as agricultural extension workers. These people would then paid a salary to move out into all the rural areas of the province and train people in how to turn their pieces of land into a productive incoming generating asset.
At the moment people are unable to access hospitals, schools and police stations in rural areas because of the atrocious state of their roads. The premier of this province is not even aware of the dire states of these roads because he insensitively uses a helicopter to attend public meetings in rural areas. In its economic policy ID argues that the government should be giving contracts to Small and Medium Size Enterprises to repair these roads and provide desperately needed infrastructure to the province. This would not only boost employment in these areas but it would also provide the needed capital that these enterprises need to grow into viable business concerns.
Instead of repairing the existing road network the government in all its wisdom has now decided to run a four lane toll road through one of the most pristine and biodiversity rich areas of South Africa. If this government really wanted to encourage tourism development along the Wild Coast it would put in place proper procedures to approve ecotourism projects. The provincial Economic, Environmental Affairs and Tourism department is in a shambles and many prospective ecotourism development projects are not taking place because people are having to wait years for approval from the government. That famous Batho Phele philosophy that the government is trying to instil in civil servants has certainly not come home to this province. The Independent Democrats will empower people to demand better service from their civil servants.
Corruption is not something I have to tell the people of the Eastern Cape about. The Public Service Accountability Monitor found that almost R7 billion has been stolen, lost, wasted, used for unauthorised purposes or not adequately accounted for in this province's government departments. This is money that could have been spent on upgrading the infrastructure of the province. It could have been used to provide proper telephone lines to rural hospitals instead of the current radio towers that go down for weeks and see people die because they can't call for medical assistance. It could also have been used to set up pilot sites for the effective roll-out of Anti-Retroviral Medicines, which according to the government's plan will only be dispensed in the major cities of the province, effectively excluding the majority of our HIV positive people who live in the rural areas.
Instead, this money has gone into the hands of corrupt officials and contractors who have benefited from a culture of nepotism in the province. The national government keeps sending down task teams to deal with the financial problems of this province, but they have proven wholly incapable of arresting the problem. The Independent Democrats are determined to sweep this province clean of corrupt individuals who are depriving our people of the fruits of democracy and development. We have exposed and dealt with corruption on a national level, and we are more than ready to deal with it swiftly in this province.
ID is not a party of whingers, but a party of doers. We are committed to this country and will do everything in our power to contribute to the building of our nation. As a parliamentarian I cannot sit by and watch people mess up our country. It is for this reason ID will continue to speak out against corruption and government inaction on issues that are important to South Africa.
We have taken such a stance because we are on a mission to sanitise politics in South Africa. It is no wonder that we have such apathy amongst voters as they have lost all faith in our current crop of politicians. ID's message to these voters is that we are different from the rest and we are determined to prove it. ID has a concrete set of policies and strategies on how we intend to give life to this vision. More importantly though, we have principled leaders who are able to follow through on our vision and ensure that government is held accountable to the wishes of the electorate. All that remains now, is for all of us to go out there and rescue this province from its current maladministration and corruption. Our people are entitled to more, and ID will give it to them.
I thank you.
The Independent Democrats are growing by leaps and bounds throughout the country. Already five provinces have been launched and the remainder will all be launching within the next two months. We have representation in all nine provinces and have opened up provincial offices in four cities. Our national office is inundated with membership forms and we are having to process over 1000 forms a day. I am also enormously encouraged by the fact that our members come from all the social groupings in South Africa and include the very wealthy to the poorest of the poor. I can confidently say that the Independent Democrats are a political party that has finally been able to break the traditional divides of our politics.
Some political parties in this country have spread this false belief that the Independent Democrats is fragmenting the opposition vote in South Africa. This theory is based on the fact that they believe the opposition vote in South Africa is limited and a new party will simply split it further. Ladies and Gentlemen, I can confidently say that the Independent Democrats are not fragmenting the opposition vote, but on the contrary, are growing it. The Independent Democrats are eating in to the support base of the ruling party, by demonstrating how effective and constructive opposition can make a meaningful contribution to nation building. South Africans are sick and tired of politics as usual and politicians whose only concern is for their own self-interest. The people of this country are rightly demanding more from their political leaders. ID has heard this call and we are answering it!
Our nation is still divided and many South Africans feel excluded from enjoying the fruits of our democracy. Over forty percent of our population is excluded from the dignity of work. Of those, 70 percent have never worked in their lives before. The vast majority of those living in poverty do not receive any form of social assistance from the government. Many South Africans, particularly the youth, also feel excluded because of their language and culture and the constant guilt they are made to feel for the sins of apartheid. In contrast, The Independent Democrats have an inclusive vision and concrete policies to assist South Africans in becoming productive and fulfilled members of our society.
The Independent Democrats are not a party that will simply point out the failings of government and rejoice in them. We have a different approach to the other opposition parties in South Africa, who merely look for instances where they can score political points. This country desperately needs a constructive opposition party that is able to act on our problems, rather than just complain about them. South Africans are tired of being told how bad things are. South Africans don't need politicians for that! People living in poverty and suffering under the effects of HIV/AIDS and intolerable levels of crime know only too well what the problems are.
All over this great country of ours we are witnessing so-called political leaders falling short of living up to the standards that we set for them in our constitution. The ID believes that our constitution is our solid launching pad for the future.
The Independent Democrats believe that this government has got its priorities completely wrong. Instead of directing its resources against the war on poverty, it is saddling South Africa with a huge debt for the purchase of fighter planes, corvettes and submarines. This is just an expensive exercise in buying "Toys for Boys." This was all justified by the ANC on the basis of offset investments. Just down the road from here, however, stands the Coega development, which is proving to be nothing more than a white elephant. No anchor tenant has yet been found for Coega and those Arms Deal companies are failing to live up to their offset obligations. ID knew this was going to happen, as offsets agreements have not worked anywhere else in the world. The Independent Democrats believe that the ANC government should finally listen to the voice of the people on this issue and scrap the Arms Deal once and for all.
What we really need is political parties to lead the way in showing South Africans what can be achieved if we all put our minds and hands to it. We have already shown this in our successful Access to Education initiative. I could not sit back and watch our children be denied the education that they deserve because of their parent's financial difficulties. It was for that reason ID ran the Access to Education Initiative, which asked parents to expose those instances where their children had been denied their constitutional right to education. Our call centre was overwhelmed by calls from not only affected parents, but also concerned South Africans who were determined to help in any way they could. This initiative has proven that ordinary South Africans are tired of being disempowered by the constant negativity and are looking for ways to confront our society's problems. ID is determined to be the bridge through which the huge divides in our country can be crossed!
In this province many children are not getting the education guaranteed to them under the constitution. In some of the rural areas over two thirds of the children are not going to school because they have to stay at home and herd the cattle. This could be avoided if the government simply provided people with fencing to prevent the cattle from eating their crops. It is a simple intervention, which the government would be aware of if they had simply taken the time to listen to the voices of the rural people.
In contrast, the voices and needs of the rural people in this province have been completely ignored by government. So many of our great leaders came from the Eastern Cape, but I am sure that they are now rolling in their graves at the way in which the ANC government has allowed this province to fall into complete neglect. The rural people of this province need to be provided with real support in the form of piped irrigation and agricultural training. The Independent Democrats is in favour of setting up a Centre of Excellence in Organic Agriculture in the Eastern Cape. This centre could be used as a public works programme, where unemployed people could be trained as agricultural extension workers. These people would then paid a salary to move out into all the rural areas of the province and train people in how to turn their pieces of land into a productive incoming generating asset.
At the moment people are unable to access hospitals, schools and police stations in rural areas because of the atrocious state of their roads. The premier of this province is not even aware of the dire states of these roads because he insensitively uses a helicopter to attend public meetings in rural areas. In its economic policy ID argues that the government should be giving contracts to Small and Medium Size Enterprises to repair these roads and provide desperately needed infrastructure to the province. This would not only boost employment in these areas but it would also provide the needed capital that these enterprises need to grow into viable business concerns.
Instead of repairing the existing road network the government in all its wisdom has now decided to run a four lane toll road through one of the most pristine and biodiversity rich areas of South Africa. If this government really wanted to encourage tourism development along the Wild Coast it would put in place proper procedures to approve ecotourism projects. The provincial Economic, Environmental Affairs and Tourism department is in a shambles and many prospective ecotourism development projects are not taking place because people are having to wait years for approval from the government. That famous Batho Phele philosophy that the government is trying to instil in civil servants has certainly not come home to this province. The Independent Democrats will empower people to demand better service from their civil servants.
Corruption is not something I have to tell the people of the Eastern Cape about. The Public Service Accountability Monitor found that almost R7 billion has been stolen, lost, wasted, used for unauthorised purposes or not adequately accounted for in this province's government departments. This is money that could have been spent on upgrading the infrastructure of the province. It could have been used to provide proper telephone lines to rural hospitals instead of the current radio towers that go down for weeks and see people die because they can't call for medical assistance. It could also have been used to set up pilot sites for the effective roll-out of Anti-Retroviral Medicines, which according to the government's plan will only be dispensed in the major cities of the province, effectively excluding the majority of our HIV positive people who live in the rural areas.
Instead, this money has gone into the hands of corrupt officials and contractors who have benefited from a culture of nepotism in the province. The national government keeps sending down task teams to deal with the financial problems of this province, but they have proven wholly incapable of arresting the problem. The Independent Democrats are determined to sweep this province clean of corrupt individuals who are depriving our people of the fruits of democracy and development. We have exposed and dealt with corruption on a national level, and we are more than ready to deal with it swiftly in this province.
ID is not a party of whingers, but a party of doers. We are committed to this country and will do everything in our power to contribute to the building of our nation. As a parliamentarian I cannot sit by and watch people mess up our country. It is for this reason ID will continue to speak out against corruption and government inaction on issues that are important to South Africa.
We have taken such a stance because we are on a mission to sanitise politics in South Africa. It is no wonder that we have such apathy amongst voters as they have lost all faith in our current crop of politicians. ID's message to these voters is that we are different from the rest and we are determined to prove it. ID has a concrete set of policies and strategies on how we intend to give life to this vision. More importantly though, we have principled leaders who are able to follow through on our vision and ensure that government is held accountable to the wishes of the electorate. All that remains now, is for all of us to go out there and rescue this province from its current maladministration and corruption. Our people are entitled to more, and ID will give it to them.
I thank you.
