Quote of the Week
"But the ANC is more concerned with preventing other parties from delivering than it is about ensuring that its own representatives in government are able to. There is a growing fear in the ANC that people will soon realise that there is a party in South Africa that can and does govern effectively – for the benefit of everybody. This is why the more the DA shows that life can get better where it governs, the more the ANC tries to close us down. The ANC would rather poor people suffer under the ANC than improve their lives under the DA. "
Helen Zille in her recent SA Today newsletter.
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Last Week's Highlights
Top Story: National Treasury praises DA run City of Cape Town
A recent report by the National Treasury, confirmed that the City of Cape Town attained its sixth successive unqualified audit. Tim Harris MP, DA Member of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) said that the report showed how well the City of Cape Town was doing, in terms of its quality service delivery, sound financial planning and good governance.
The National Treasury’s mid year budget and performance assessment praised the City’s “robust financial systems” and welcomed the “good planning and adequate capacity to spend by the City”, said Harris.
The report also welcomed the creation of 10,000 permanent jobs (and 16 300 temporary jobs), in spite of the economic recession. Statistics South Africa recently indicated that between the last quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate in the DA-governed Western Cape had fallen by more than 1%. No doubt, the City of Cape Town’s strong job creation record played a large part in this, said Harris.
Global Credit Rating (GCR) also awarded the City of Cape Town, one of the highest possible long term debt ratings of AA- this year. This was the highest credit rating that was achieved in the municipalities reviewed by GCR, and placed the City of Cape Town ahead of Buffalo City, the City of Johannesburg, the City of Tshwane, Nelson Mandela Bay and a host of other ANC run metros, stated Harris.
Harris welcomed the findings and said that the Treasury’s report stood out as testament to the DA’s excellent track record in government and the City’s financial planning capabilities and service delivery standards, serving as further proof that the DA was now both a party of government and the only other meaningful alternative to the ANC which continued to deliver on its promises to voters.
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R580-million payments backlog owed to land sellers
Annette Steyn MP, DA Shadow Deputy of Rural Development and Land Reform reported that the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform owed land sellers R580-million in outstanding payments on purchased land.
This was in response to a recent parliamentary question which further revealed that there were 21 court cases under adjudication for the non-payment of R494-million said Steyn.
This massive non-payment bill came on the back of the Department placing a moratorium on land purchases in August last year, as a result a lack of funds, yet sale agreements with farmers continued to be signed, said Steyn. She added that farms at a cost of R1.9-billion were purchased, with close to half of this figure, R496 782 870 not being settled by the Department.
Steyn criticised the ANC’s land reform process as a result of the disorganisation, mismanagement and a number of institutional inadequacies within the former Department of Land Affairs.
The DA proposed to expand the budget for Land Reform and Restitution grants by more than 50% to rectify the budget shortfall. The ANC government on the other hand, continued to prioritise spending billions on bailing out state owned entities like the Land Bank and the SABC and continued to under-prioritise land reform, said Steyn.
The DA supported an equitable and sustainable land reform process and called for a modification of South Africa’s skewed patterns of land ownership, she added.
Steyn concluded the DA would be writing to the Auditor-General requesting a thorough financial audit of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, as well as an investigation into the entire land reform process since its inception.
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IN OTHER NEWS
ValorIT contract cancelled after eight months of DA exposés
The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomed the pending cancellation of the R152.7 million ValorIT tender, which followed eight months of DA exposés and oversight work, said Andricus van der Westhuizen MP, DA Shadow Deputy of Trade and Industry.
The DA was intimately involved in exposing the truth about fraud and corruption at Cipro, South Africa’s critically important business information and registration agency, said Van der Westhuizen. Since September 2009, the DA had exposed a number of alleged activities building up to, and including, the irregular ECM tender.
Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies admitted that it was the series of questions that the DA posed, and the unsatisfactory answers he had to relay, that led him to realise that all was not well at Cipro. This vindicated our longstanding concerns about the ValorIT tender, and made a mockery of the series of counterclaims made by Cipro.
In addition to announcing the almost certain cancellation of the tender, the Minister also informed the committee that disciplinary charges against senior staff members of Cipro were being formulated.
Again, the DA played a central role in exposing the roles of Cipro’s chief executive officer and chief information officer in the ValorIT tender, and repeatedly called for action to be taken. We therefore, welcomed the latest set of developments, said Van der Westhuizen.
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16 172 eligible students denied funding
A parliamentary reply from the Department of Higher Education recently revealed that a staggering 16 172 eligible tertiary education students were denied funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in 2009.
Dr Wilmot James MP, DA Shadow Minister of Higher Education said that this represented more than a 45% increase in the number of eligible students being denied funding, compared with the 11 120 eligible students who were denied funding in 2008.
He said that the DA found it concerning that the NSFAS was increasingly developing a trend of not spending money allocated in their budget, or not ensuring that it is spent by tertiary institutions. James added that in 2008 more than R40 million was returned to NSFAS by Colleges and Universities as unspent money – which was simply unacceptable, especially considering that 11 120 eligible students were denied funding.
The DA believes that access to funding is crucial to extending opportunities to all South Africans, said James. This entire situation was compounded by the fact that there are many more needy students who fall outside of the current NSFAS funding threshold of R120 000 combined family income, and are unable to access funding, said James.
James concluded saying that the financial aid threshold of the NSFAS ought to be shifted from R120 000 to R160 000, to expand access to opportunities. He added that the DA would be writing to the Minister asking him to address this issue urgently, and to provide much needed action and leadership in ensuring NSFAS fulfilled its mandate of funding students.
DA at Work
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