Agang SA response to Office of the Public Protector's report on Nkandla
Cape Town, 19th March: The depth and breadth of the cover-up by the governing party, and the number of instances of maladministration by officials from several departments including the South African Police Service, the Department of Defence, and the Department of Public Works should be proof that this is a government utterly incapable of either ending corruption, providing ethical leadership, or running an efficient administration.
"Thuli Madonsela's office should be commended for fearlessly making its findings known, for resisting political pressure and attempts to sabotage her work; but also for shining a light on the callous treatment of residents of Nkandla, many of whom were simply moved at great expense to the taxpayer from their land to make way for President Zuma's ‘township.'" says the President of Agang SA, Dr Mamphela Ramphele.
‘"Ït is frankly mind boggling how a project that was initially to have cost a little more than R20 million to meet the requirements of security personnel tasked with Zuma's safety, should end up at over R200 million and could be as high as R246 million when complete. And then to believe that the various Ministers and the President himself chose to take no appropriate action beggars belief," she says
According to Ramphele, while the shock of the revelations should ensure the citizens of South Africa make sure that the governing party is held to account at the polls on the 7th May, it is important to remember that the corruption that has brought Nkandla to the national mind is just one episode in the corruption problem that is now endemic to the government.
The Auditor-General recently reported that more than R30 billion from the state's coffers cannot be accounted for, leaving hospitals dysfunctional, schools unfixed, and children unprotected by a police service that at times seems uninterested in anything but exercising brutality against citizens.
"It is clear that President Zuma should go immediately. Even in the bad old days of apartheid, the then head of state John Vorster fell on his sword after the Information Scandal, yet now we are faced with a head of state twenty years into our democracy who has shown he will stop at nothing to hold onto power.
He has dragged his Cabinet colleagues into his mess, appears to have lied to Parliament and the South African people and systematically has dismantled law and order by disbanding the Scorpions and replacing them with the toothless Hawks, made political appointments to the South African Police Service and has crippled the intelligence services and the National Prosecuting Authority. He has presided over attacks on instruments designed to protect our democracy, such as the Public Protector and the judiciary," says Ramphele.
"Ïf President Zuma does not fall on his sword by election day, then South African citizens must turn out in their numbers to vote him and his complicit government out of power. We simply cannot stand by any longer as this government and this President wreak havoc with our democracy. President Zuma can no longer pretend to be the guardian of our Constitution, nor the protector of our democracy. Citizens now see him for what he is," says Ramphele.
Statement issued by Mark Peach, Director of Communication, Agang SA, March 19 2014
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