Date: 18/01/2009

Source: Independent Democrats

Title: ID: De Lille: ‘Fighting for your rights, offering solutions'

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 rally.

I stand before you not as a fat cat politician who only looks after his own pocket, but because I have dedicated my life to fighting for the rights of our people.

For 30 years I have fought against discrimination in all its forms. Since this political party was formed over 5 years ago, the Independent Democrats has taken on anyone who has tried to deny the rights of any individual or community. We have fought for the rights of our people to have a corruption and crime -free nation that is not led by a man who has a cloud of suspicion hanging over his head.

The Independent Democrats has fought for the rights of our people to have a decent education, a roof over their heads and a job. We have fought for your right to have leaders who understand that we are all equal before the law, whether we are in the ANC or not. We are still fighting to attain the visions and values of the struggle against Apartheid.

We have taken on the price fixers that make the lives of the poor even harder and we will continue to take them on. I last year submitted a Private Members Bill in Parliament to hold directors of these companies criminally liable. People who defraud the poor belong in jail. Today is a very special day for me for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the membership of the Independent Democrats has reached 300 000!
And we are part of government in 26 municipalities across our country.
In the past year we have won 10 by-elections, beating the so-called bigger parties like the ANC and the DA.
This makes it possible for me to stand here today and tell you proudly that we are well on our way to getting 1 million South Africans behind our vision of a country where all of us can taste the fruits of our democracy.

Secondly, there are just two weeks to go until the Independent Democrats launches its election manifesto, on the 1st of February. Our list process will be completed by the 15th of February and we are ready for any early election. The ID manifesto will offer comprehensive solutions to the problems we face.
This is because the ID is not a party that complains and complains.

Instead, the ID is a party that offers solutions. But before we offer solutions, we listen to the people by consulting with communities. This is because the ID believes that communities can, just like the ID, be part of the solution. The Independent Democrats want to build a delivery state that provides services to the poor and not poor service delivery. Today I will give you an idea of two of the issues we tackle in our manifesto, crime and corruption.

Let us talk about crime. We want to put criminals in jail and not in Parliament. Statistics are important for budgeting and planning, but what is even more important is that we feel safe in our homes, churches, mosques and streets. Right now we don't 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. Just this weekend I was patrolling the streets with the police and community of Kameeldrift and also visited the crime-infested communities of Cullinan, Bronkhorstspruit, Lodium and Eesterus. I visited the family of Rashida Ahmed in Lodium, who was bludgeoned to death. We are a nation in trauma and crime is compromising the vision we have for our country. The aim of the ID's 12 Point Plan to fight crime is to create safe and caring communities.

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. But 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. It is only then that the law-abiding majority can all take on the criminal minority that is holding our country hostage. Up until now the ANC has only looked for the advice of business leaders.
This a slap in the face for our poor people, 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 their dignity.

We must also look at the root causes of crime. In its latest crime fighting strategy government announced that it wishes to form partnerships with Community Policing Forums. The ID believes government needs to provide the resources for these forums to function properly.

South Africa has a long history of violence and oppression. This has led to the breakdown of the South African family and it has caused massive damage to the social fabric of our society. The ID would implement a comprehensive plan to 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. Government departments such as social development, sport and recreation and housing should be given measurable indicators of crime prevention strategies and must be held accountable for implementing them. We need sport facilities, sustainable neighbourhoods and many more alcohol and drug rehabilitation centres.

We would also ensure that the current backlog of 5000 social workers is addressed and that they are deployed to all violence-prone communities, where the breakdown of the social fabric of our society is the worst.
We don't only need more police, but an equal number of social workers to prevent young offenders from becoming violent criminals.

The ID would also ban all alcohol advertising. In 2006, 47 percent of murder victims were drunk at the time of their deaths. Alcohol is a huge contributor to social crimes and it is important that we start devising a comprehensive plan to deal with its effects. We also 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!

Human rights training should be conducted with the police service and those that behave in an unethical manner must be removed. The ID would build the morale of the police by increasing their salaries and offering them benefits such as housing subsidies. We are also concerned that so many of our police officers are under so much stress that they commit suicide. We must value our police and ensure that they have proper counseling services at their disposal.

The ID would tighten up bail laws that too often see dangerous criminals released back on to the streets and re-introduce night courts as a way of dealing with the backlogs of court cases. We must 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. Statistics show that 80 percent of criminals who leave jail go back to their criminal ways. 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.

The ID would also put an end to the hypocrisy of the ANC, where that party's election manifesto talks about putting an end to corruption, while in reality it has actively covered up for the corrupt leaders in its ranks.
No other political party in our country has exposed corruption and fought corruption like the Independent Democrats.

It is because of the ID that ANC President Jacob Zuma is in court.

All the Arms Deal crooks are now fighting amongst themselves. The ID laid charges against 23 other people that have received discounted cars. The ID laid charges against the former Minister of Justice Brigitte Mabandla and the ID will always speak truth to power. The ANC must learn that there is not a majority truth or a minority truth, but only one truth. We have also led the call for the regulation of political party funding because it is this that has led to the Arms Deal and Oilgate scandals, amongst many others. The ID fights corruption because it compromises service delivery. It betrays the millions of people that vote for you and put their trust in you. The poor are in desperate need of resources for education, healthcare, infrastructure and the fight against HIV/Aids and we cannot afford one cent to go missing. It is also an insult to the taxpayer when money is lost to corruption.

The Independent Democrats has other solutions to many of the problems our people face, which we will share with you on the 1st of February.

The ID is about social justice: whether for the poor, for women, for clean government or for safe streets.
No other party has fought for the same issues as consistently as the ID and we are confident that we will continue to grow stronger. We have taken on the ANC when it stole from the poor in the Arms Deal and we have taken on companies who have stolen from the poor through price-fixing. Ultimately we don't care who you are, if you are not serious about tackling the issues of poverty, inequality and transformation in this country we will certainly take you on. The ID is determined to build a new vision for South Africa. It is also a vision in which all of us stands up for what is right, from fighting corruption to demanding that every South African is given the dignity that comes from gaining access to basic services such as electricity, water, healthcare and quality education.

Everywhere I go people come up to me and say, ‘Patricia, 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.' And then they go and vote for the DA, or the ANC.
How will your voices be heard when 8 of the DA's provincial leaders are white? 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 is doing to improve my life and my country. You need to vote for me and the ID. At the last election in 2006 South Africa gave the ID half a million votes and we are certain that this time we will reach our target of one million votes.

Vote ID!

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