Zuma must now put the public interest first and announce his
withdrawal from the presidential race until his corruption trial is
resolved.
GOVERNMENT OWES CITIES MILLIONS
Replies from Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney
Mufamadi in response to questions asked in Parliament by the
Democratic Alliance revealed that government departments owe city
municipalities around the country millions of rands in unpaid bills.
MILITARY EQUIPMENT LYING UNUSED DUE TO SKILLS SHORTAGES
Military equipment bought as part of the arms deal is lying idle
because of a shortage of skilled personnel.
BABY DEATHS: WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT HIDING?
The department of health needs to release a full report on the deaths
of 142 babies in the Ukhahlamba district in the Eastern Cape.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"In addition to being the mothers and caregivers of the next
generation, women today are leaders in every field: education,
medicine, law, politics and business...but despite this seemingly rosy
picture, women continue to bear the brunt of the many social ills that
bedevil South Africa…we need to redouble our efforts to ensure that
poverty, unemployment and domestic violence do not hinder future
generations of women to access all available opportunities and realise
their dreams."
DA Parliamentary Leader Sandra Botha calls on South Africans to give
Women's Day the significance it deserves.
ZUMA MUST ABANDON PRESIDENTIAL RACE
African National Congress President Jacob Zuma must withdraw from the
presidential race until after his corruption trial, the Democratic
Alliance said last Monday.
"The Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans' Association's (MKMVA) threat
of revolutionary violence should Jacob Zuma be found guilty of
corruption makes his candidacy as president of South Africa
untenable," said DA leader Helen Zille.
"Zuma must now put the public interest first and announce his
withdrawal from the presidential race until his corruption trial is
resolved," she said.
Zuma faces charges of racketeering, four charges of corruption, a
charge of money laundering and 12 charges of fraud.
His legal team has brought an application in the Pietermaritzburg High
Court to have the decision to prosecute him declared unlawful.
"The discourse surrounding Zuma's trial has shifted rapidly from the
menacing rhetoric perpetrated by ANC Youth League president Julius
Malema and others, to an all-out declaration of war by former
soldiers," said Zille.
"This is effectively a promise of a military coup if the courts find
against Zuma."
Zuma appeared to be unwilling or incapable of reining in those
threatening violence in his name, she charged.
He had never publicly stated that he was willing to respect the
outcome of the corruption trial and he had never called on his
supporters to do so either.
"As such, he is not fit to lead South Africa," she said.
"The public interest will not be served by a deal or a so-called
'political solution' that gets Zuma off the hook.
"It will be served by removing him as a candidate for the presidency
of South Africa."
Zille advised Zuma to heed the call of former president Nelson Mandela
for disciplined leaders who valued the protection and consolidation of
the country's democracy above all else and said he should remove
himself from the equation.
GOVERNMENT OWES CITIES MILLIONS
Replies from Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney
Mufamadi in response to questions asked in Parliament by the
Democratic Alliance revealed that government departments owe city
municipalities around the country millions of rands in unpaid bills.
DA provincial and local government spokesperson Willem Doman said the
City of Cape Town was owed more than R230-million in arrear service
fees, so there was less in the municipal kitty for delivery.
"But Cape Town is only the second-worst off municipality in the
country. The eThekwini Municipality is owed R400-million in service
fees," he said on Sunday.
The figures for Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay, Cape Town
and the City of Johannesburg were in response to the party's questions
on how much was owed to each municipality and for details of how much
was owed for residential properties, for commercial enterprises, and
for national government departments.
Cape Town's figures were supplied to the DA by city representatives, a
party spokesperson said, and all the figures were valid as at May 1
this year.
Ian Neilson, Cape Town's mayoral committee member for finance, said
unpaid municipal service charges led to the city having less to spend
on service delivery.
"We have to make provision on our balance sheet for bad debt, so we
cannot budget that amount to spend on other services," Neilson said.
He said the national Department of Public Works was the biggest
defaulter. The Department of Defence also did not pay its bills.
Doman said it was "simply unacceptable that government departments
should be contributing to the problem of unpaid debt that local
councils face".
The five metros named by Mufamadi in his response were collectively
owed R898 million by government departments, Doman said.
The amounts owed by national government departments to the cities were
eThekwini at R402 million, Cape Town at R234 million, Johannesburg at
about R77 million, Ekurhuleni at over R163 million and Nelson Mandela
Bay at R21.6 million, and this was information provided for only six
months.
Tshwane had still not provided Mufamadi's department with information
on its debts.
Doman said that if Tshwane had supplied its figure, the sum would have
taken the total owed to the six metros to well over R1-billion because
of the large number of government buildings in that metropolitan area.
"The situation is likely to be worse in local municipalities," said Doman.
"Municipalities throughout the country are plagued by high levels of
non-payment for services.
"Many of them are struggling to deliver quality services because of
insufficient revenue to finance these services."
MILITARY EQUIPMENT LYING UNUSED DUE TO SKILLS SHORTAGES
Military equipment bought as part of the arms deal is lying idle
because of a shortage of skilled personnel, the Democratic Alliance
said last Wednesday.
DA spokesperson Rafeek Shah said submarines and other military
equipment purchased as part of the R49-billion arms procurement
package were not being fully utilised.
"The Navy has denied the allegations that they are unable to operate
the submarines properly and insist that the submarines are not duds,
that the SAS Manthatisi is in dry dock as part of 'normal naval
procedure' and is being used for onboard training."
Shah said it was hard to understand how onboard training could have
taken place when this submarine had been in dry dock for the past six
months and also, that no explanation had been proffered as to what was
wrong with the submarine that necessitated it being placed in dry
dock.
"It is clear that the Navy as well as the Air Force are unable to make
proper use of the equipment bought at great expense as part of the
Arms Deal because of skills vacancies and lack of capacity," he said.
The air force was also experiencing similar problems.
"For example, in the Air Force, there are only two Gripen aircraft in
South Africa and none are yet operational, leaving South Africa
without fighter capacity to defend our airspaces, as the older
Cheetahs have been decommissioned."
Most of the equipment bought as part of the deal were neither suitable
for South Africa's local needs nor its peace keeping role throughout
Africa, Shah said.
"In addition, we experience serious skills shortages and vacancy
issues, which have resulted in our inability to properly utilise the
equipment," he said.
He said the Democratic Alliance had submitted parliamentary questions
requesting a full status review of the Arms Deal purchases, as well as
details on the plans to purchase any further equipment, such as a
fifth corvette.
BABY DEATHS: WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT HIDING?
The department of health needs to release a full report on the deaths
of 142 babies in the Ukhahlamba district in the Eastern Cape, the
Democratic Alliance said last Wednesday.
DA health spokesperson Mike Waters said the theory that the department
was covering up information about the deaths would only gain ground.
After months of pressure – including a Promotion of Access to
Information Act (PAIA) application by the Democratic Alliance - the
Department of Health last Tuesday released a 10-page summary of the
report into the deaths of the 142 children to a local newspaper.
"The full report has still not been released and the summary gives
little substantial information," said Waters.
"In the face of the monumental tragedy of these deaths, the Department
of Health has for months done nothing but deny responsibility and
suppress information; the release of this brief summary will do very
little to put the minds of the affected communities at rest."
He said that, while it should be welcomed that the Department had at
least admitted that problems with water quality had played a part in
the deaths, it was obvious that a lot of information was still being
withheld.
He said answers had not been forthcoming regarding whether criminal or
disciplinary action had or would be taken against anyone in either the
provincial health department or the water affairs department, and
whether the problem with the water had been addressed.
"Given the extent of the vacancies crisis in Eastern Cape hospitals,
and the Department's lack of progress in solving these problems over a
number of years, it is unlikely that it has suddenly been able to
rectify this problem."
"We need facts and figures about what action the Health Department has
taken before we can be convinced," he said.
DID YOU KNOW?
The lack of openness and transparency shown by government departments
is of great concern, as revealed by a Democratic Alliance study.
In the study, the DA wrote a letter to all the 28 government
departments probing the level of the skills challenges they face.
• Out of all the 28 government departments, only 51% of them
acknowledged receipt of the letter;
• Only 6 departments – namely Communications, Environmental Affairs
and Tourism, Justice, Labour, Mineral and Energy and Public
Enterprises - responded to the query;
• Only the Department of Justice responded to the letter with a
detailed answer within 30 days;
• The departments of Communication, Environmental Affairs and Tourism,
Labour, Minerals and Energy and Public Enterprises all took an average
of 38 days to respond to the letter.
FROM BELHAR TO BRYANSTON: HOW THE DRUG EPIDEMIC AFFECTS US ALL
http://www.eyeoncrime.co.za/?q=node/411
DA MAKES SUBMISSION ON SCORPIONS LEGISLATION
http://www.eyeoncrime.co.za/?q=node/410
POLICE ARREST ATM BOMBING MASTERMINDS
http://www.eyeoncrime.co.za/?q=node/409
SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS GOING ON HERE…
http://www.eyeoncrime.co.za/?q=node/407
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