Date: 04/02/2004
Source: Independent Democrats
Title: De Lille: Launch of the Northern Cape provincial executive of the Independent Democrats
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 Northern 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 eight months.
The Independent Democrats are growing by leaps and bounds throughout the country. Already four 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. Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to stand on this stage today and state that the ID has firmly arrived on the political landscape of South Africa.
It is not difficult to account for the growth in the support of the Independent Democrats. 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!
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. Progress has been made over the last ten years, but ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you will agree that this has not been nearly enough. We are still living in a country where unemployment is sitting at over 40 percent and 9 million people are living on less than R400 a month. Of the 40 percent unemployed over 70 percent have never enjoyed the dignity of working at all in their lives. The unemployment is particularly bad amongst our youth and ID will support programmes aimed at getting them to work again. This is not a time to sit back and pat ourselves on the back! It is a time to declare war on poverty, unemployment and social instability in this country.
There is a huge problem of unsettled land claims in the Northern Cape. The recent court judgement for the Richtersveld Community in their case against Alexkor is a huge victory for land reform. The question that needs to be asked though, is whether there is a sustainable and long term development for this community. ID will not allow them to simply be thrown on to a vast piece of barren land with no access to financial, technical and other needed resources. This has happened too often in the past with land claim settlements and ID will not tolerate it.
The Independent Democrats is also appalled at the way in which the Khoisan community has been resettled in the Northern Cape. They have far too long been suffering and have been treated as a forgotten people by this government. ID knows of your suffering and will be working with you to alleviate your plight.
The Independent Democrats is 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.
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 provide them with this platform!
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. In this province we have already exposed the corruption of senior ANC government officials. It was through the actions of the Independent Democrats that some of these members were forced to resign. Unfortunately though, the ANC is proving reluctant to take further action against one of these members and is protecting him within party structures. This is not surprising given the ANC's track record of giving their members slaps on the wrist when they are found guilty of corruption. The Independent Democrats reject this approach and we will hold all our members accountable to high standards. ID will not tolerate any corruption within its ranks, and unlike other parties we will not hesitate to discipline those who are found guilty of such practices. I call on ID members to report any incidents of corruption to the Independent Democrats.
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. We already have a membership of over 60 000 South Africans who fully support our positive vision to deliver more to the South African electorate. 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 deserve better than this, and ID will give it to them.
I thank you.
February 4, 2003
Independent Democrats
Source: Independent Democrats
Title: De Lille: Launch of the Northern Cape provincial executive of the Independent Democrats
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 Northern 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 eight months.
The Independent Democrats are growing by leaps and bounds throughout the country. Already four 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. Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to stand on this stage today and state that the ID has firmly arrived on the political landscape of South Africa.
It is not difficult to account for the growth in the support of the Independent Democrats. 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!
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. Progress has been made over the last ten years, but ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you will agree that this has not been nearly enough. We are still living in a country where unemployment is sitting at over 40 percent and 9 million people are living on less than R400 a month. Of the 40 percent unemployed over 70 percent have never enjoyed the dignity of working at all in their lives. The unemployment is particularly bad amongst our youth and ID will support programmes aimed at getting them to work again. This is not a time to sit back and pat ourselves on the back! It is a time to declare war on poverty, unemployment and social instability in this country.
There is a huge problem of unsettled land claims in the Northern Cape. The recent court judgement for the Richtersveld Community in their case against Alexkor is a huge victory for land reform. The question that needs to be asked though, is whether there is a sustainable and long term development for this community. ID will not allow them to simply be thrown on to a vast piece of barren land with no access to financial, technical and other needed resources. This has happened too often in the past with land claim settlements and ID will not tolerate it.
The Independent Democrats is also appalled at the way in which the Khoisan community has been resettled in the Northern Cape. They have far too long been suffering and have been treated as a forgotten people by this government. ID knows of your suffering and will be working with you to alleviate your plight.
The Independent Democrats is 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.
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 provide them with this platform!
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. In this province we have already exposed the corruption of senior ANC government officials. It was through the actions of the Independent Democrats that some of these members were forced to resign. Unfortunately though, the ANC is proving reluctant to take further action against one of these members and is protecting him within party structures. This is not surprising given the ANC's track record of giving their members slaps on the wrist when they are found guilty of corruption. The Independent Democrats reject this approach and we will hold all our members accountable to high standards. ID will not tolerate any corruption within its ranks, and unlike other parties we will not hesitate to discipline those who are found guilty of such practices. I call on ID members to report any incidents of corruption to the Independent Democrats.
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. We already have a membership of over 60 000 South Africans who fully support our positive vision to deliver more to the South African electorate. 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 deserve better than this, and ID will give it to them.
I thank you.
February 4, 2003
Independent Democrats
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