Dear Editor In light of yesterday’s judgement of the Gauteng High Court, the Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the Tshwane Metro to suspend credit control on municipal accounts that are charged a City Cleansing Levy. The metro should also cease all threats of legal action and service cut-offs against affected residents, including SMS and email admonishments. Yesterday, the Gauteng High Court handed down a judgment preventing Tshwane from implementing the so-called City Cleansing Levy pending the …
Letters
Tshwane SAPS Forensic Lab Failing in Fight Against GBV
Dear Editor DA MPs Angel Khanyile and Lisa Shickerling on Friday visited the South African Police Services’ Forensic Science Laboratory in Tshwane. They met with Head, Major General Mulaudzi, and Brigadier Hlalele, who spoke on a facility crucial in our nation’s fight against GBVF on its knees. Already subject to probe in the Madlanga Commission, SAPS’ Forensics face a backlog of more than 30 000 cases of GBVF cases, including horrifying statutory rape. These cases are more than numbers, they …
Typhoid Crisis: Mayor Moya Is Silent, and Abroad
Dear Editor Since Friday’s reports that typhoid has broken out in Hammanskraal, Mayor Moya has been silent on the serious health risk that this poses. The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes the statement by the City of Tshwane that no Typhoid related bacteria have been detected in routine tests, but it is important that this data be released to the public or at least be given to independent water experts. We need second party verification. Moya’s silence on the matter does nothing but undermine …
Typhoid Outbreak in Tshwane
Dear Editor As the City of Tshwane coalition government lurches from serious crisis to more serious crisis, the apparent ourbreak of Typhoid in the city must be carefully managed to avoid tragedy. The Democratic Alliance (DA) is alarmed by a surge of cases in typhoid in Hammanskraal, a community in the Tshwane Metro that has not had potable water for many years. In the past few months, the DA has consistently drawn attention to the stalling of the project to supply Hammanskraal residents with …
Election of Cilliers Brink as Tshwane Executive Mayor a great opportunity
Dear Editor The DA in Gauteng welcomes the election of Cllr Cilliers Brink as the Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane. Mr Brink now leads the City’s Multi-Party Coalition government and we, like our coalition partners, have full confidence in his ability to deliver on the promise of clean and compassionate governance to make the Capital City one that works for all its residents. The lingering effects of reckless lockdown policies, unlawful ANC interventions in the City from other …
G4S and Correctional Services must account for Thabo Bester’s escape
Dear Editor Reports in the media that the Deputy Minister of Correctional Services was aware that Thabo Bester had escaped, and subsequently took no action is deeply concerning. The DA will write to the Chair of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services to request an urgent meeting with the management of G4S, the Minister and Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, and the National Commissioner of the Department of Correctional Services. The purpose of the …
Hate Crimes Bill will cause tension rather than prevent it
Dear Editor The Prevention of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill will most probably cause tension rather than prevent it. Especially in the hands of the ANC. The arrest of the former Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, for criticising the government should serve as a timely warning against the proposed law. Khan's arrest and the fact that a ban was placed on public speeches by the former cricket star demonstrate how a government can exploit a law like this to muzzle its critics. …
Human rights a joke under ANC rule
Dear Editor When it comes to human rights in South Africa, the ANC government is still living in the past. It is blind to the shortcomings that ordinary South Africans must live with. The truth is that ordinary South Africans are denied their most basic human rights while ANC office bearers and cadres live on the very best the country has to offer. After 30 years in power that is the legacy that the ANC will be remembered for. While the ANC celebrated Human Rights Day with great …
Stimulating Growth From The Bottom Up
Dear Fellow South African, We have reached the end of Human Rights Month. It is a time in which we reflect on the sacrifices that were made in the struggle for freedom, but also on the progress we have made in advancing the human rights of all. The right to social security is explicit in the Bill of Rights. This is an approach that recognises that social security is essential to other rights, including the right to dignity. It is this right that has underpinned the progressive …
ICC must use third parties to effect warrant of arrest on Putin
Dear Editor The unfounded criticism of the International Criminal Court by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, has now proven beyond any doubt that the ANC government has no intention to act on the warrant of arrest issued against Russian President Vladimir Putin by the ICC. The DA is now calling on the President and Chief Prosecutor of the ICC to consider triggering a United Nations Security Council resolution that will compel the ANC government to …