Punish the AN C severely or pay higher taxes & suffer more job losses - COPE
15 July 2016
Congress of the People urges South Africans, in their own interest, to punish the ANC severely at the polls on August 3, 2016. Otherwise it will be business as usual and the economy will take a further beating for the remainder of the year.
Investors want long term policy certainty. The greater the certainty, the higher will be their investment. The ruling party is failing to listen and unwilling to comply on this issue. The ANC, therefore, needs tough love to help to correct it and to stop its leaders and cadres from endlessly looting state resources. Only by punishing the party will it feel compelled to govern in keeping with the Constitution and the rule of law.
Continued support for the ruling party will unfortunately see everyone in power busy flouting the Constitution with impunity until the general election. The SAA will continue to delay submitting its financials, deadline after deadline, SAPO will put out the begging bowl, the SABC will be a law unto itself, parliament will remain as chaotic as ever and cadres across the public service will drain the country totally dry. The upshot of all of the financial irregularities will inevitably mean a declining economy, growing unrest and higher taxes for fewer and inferior services. The upper echelon, will still have their snouts in the trough. Nothing will change if voters do not punish the ANC.
In India, the once mighty Indian Congress was finally removed from power because absolute power corrupted it absolutely. Today, India is growing faster than any other economy in the world. The ANC too has become absolutely corrupted through the exercise of absolute power. The widespread looting presided over by Mr Zuma has drained the national treasury and now all of us face the prospect of increased taxes in February 2017. To give the ANC your vote and then to be smacked with higher taxes in return cannot be a sensible option for any voter.
Voters must instead smack the ANC at the polls in August so that 100% of its efforts after the election goes into growing the economy, as is happening now in India, and not into new ways of achieving even more state capture leading to the bankruptcy of the state.
Today, everyone will see what we so clearly foresaw in 2008 and what we so presciently predicted then. We were unequivocal in our condemnation of the wrong turn that the ANC was taking and today everyone can bear witness what a wrong turn it was. Had South Africa listened to us then, our country would have been spared Marikana, Inkandla, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, Dudu Myeni, Baleka Mbete and much more. The Scorpions would have been still in place and the National Treasury would have been as full as Mbeki had left it. Protests would not have escalated into insurgency, racisms would not have seen such resurgence as we are now witnessing and the rand would not have plummeted as it now has.
Voters who gave the ruling party a blank cheque should now punish them for grossly abusing their trust. The ANC has greedily emptied the cookie jar.
COPE says to the voters, punish the ANC or continue supporting the ANC and pay more taxes and suffer more job losses.
Issued by Ghaleb Cachalia, DA Mayoral Candidate for Edkurhuleni, 15 Jyly 2016
