Culture of corruption now part of ANC: DA
THE culture of corruption has become part of the ANC and cannot be corrected, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said at the weekend.
Speaking at a public meeting in Matjhabeng, Free State, as part of his national #Change19 tour, Maimane said on Saturday he believed everyone agreed on the need for change.
“Our country is heading the wrong way and soon it may be too late to turn around. We have stopped making progress as a nation. We are no longer marching towards economic freedom for all.
“Communities like yours here in Matjhabeng are fast being forgotten by a government that promised to take you forward but has no intention of honouring that promise. And here in the Free State you suffer under the double threat of a national ANC government under Jacob Zuma and a provincial ANC government under [premier] Ace Magashule.
“Because these two men are the same. The promises they make to their rich friends, the Guptas, mean far more than the promises they make to you before elections,” he added.
“There has been a lot of talk recently about whether the ANC will kick Jacob Zuma out and replace him with someone else. I assure you, this will make no difference at all to the ANC. The culture of corruption – of stealing money that was meant for communities like yours – is part of the ANC now. It cannot be corrected.”
Replacing Zuma with someone else would just increase people’s suffering. Similarly, replacing Magashule with another ANC leader in the Free State would not change the way it was governed. It would only change the name of “the person handing out tenders to friends and family”.
“When I talk about change on this tour, I mean total change. I mean a whole new way of looking at South Africa. I’m talking about a South Africa that has entered its second struggle era – the struggle for economic freedom for all. The struggle to escape the economic oppression of ANC rule.
“I’m talking about a South Africa in which all of us have a say in how this country must be rebuilt... and how we can all benefit from it. I’m talk- ing about a South Africa built on tolerance and respect for each other... where violence against women is not tolerated,” Maimane said.
“I’m talking about a South Africa that is no longer the rape and murder capital of the world, where children don’t disappear every day and where our streets and our neighbourhoods belong to the people who live there once more. A South Africa where the leaders set the examples for others to follow. Where law and order starts at the top... a South Africa that works. That creates jobs in every town and every city and that invests in educating and training our youth.
“I’m talking about a South Africa free from the ANC.
“A new government that rescues our country from the ANC will have to be built on coalitions and co-operation. This is how we are turning around metros like Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay, and this is how we will turn South Africa around.
“We need to think differently and vote differently.”