Speech by Dr. Pieter Mulder, Leader Freedom Front Plus, Speech: Coalition against Corruption, Durban, September 28 2012

Fellow South Africans, Friends and Colleagues,

We stand before you this morning as a united opposition.

We are here because we want to indicate to all South Africans and to the media that a future coalition of these political parties can govern this country on behalf of its good citizens.

The ANC understands one language well, a language they have used to bring the previous government to a fall. And that is the power of public demonstration and unity in the face of oppression. Therefore, we should start exercising it ourselves. If this is what is necessary to bring the ANC back from the brink of insanity and addiction to power and self-enrichment, then this is the tool we should utilise.

The people of this country are not enslaved by any political party for the sake of the party. No! A political party exists for the sake of its people and therefore it must always be transparent and exercise the power of the state only in the interest of the people. If the governing party loses sight of this, then it should be replaced by the people! And today a united opposition stands before you to speak against the Secrecy Bill and against corruption and in favour of accountability and transparency.

We should take a moment to consider the power that we are showing by joining hands as the parliamentary opposition.

We have shown convincingly that the public's voice can be heard by government outside of elections and that we can force the government to take the public's interest to heart. Since we started these united actions, the ANC made considerable concessions on the Secrecy Bill in the portfolio committees of Parliament. They still have not gone far enough but we are making headway.

This week Mr Malema appeared in court. In a recent argument with an ANC leader, he said that Malema is an ANC factory fault. I disagreed. Malema is not a factory fault, as he is a product of the ANC's propaganda factory. He was brought up on irresponsible ANC propaganda and in a culture of arrogance and self-enrichment. Malema told supporters outside the court that other ANC members have many charges against them; he has only one charge against him. His campaign slogan is thus: "Vote for me, I'm less corrupt and skelm!"

Watter soort leiers soek ons? Die Bybel stel dit duidelik in Eksodus 18 waar Moses raad kry:

"Verder moet jy onder die volk bekwame manne uitsoek, dienaars van die Here, mense wat die waarheid liefhet en nie hulle eie voordeel soek nie. Dan moet jy hulle oor die volk aanstel."

Exodus 21 in the Bible goes further with regards to the type of leaders we seek:

"...thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them to be rulers."

I am not aware of any significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully fighting corruption and maintaining moral values without the aid of religion.

There is much wrong in this country, the central issue relates to how this government spends our hard earned tax money.

The ANC are excelling in non-service delivery with a high tax burden placed on the middle and working class. A few examples:

· Lack of service delivery at local government level is increasingly leading to service protests. The Auditor-General has indicated that the central reason for this is the lack of skilled people in local government due to ANC cadre deployment.

· In plaas daarvan dat plaaslike regerings strate teer -- spandeer hulle miljoene om strate nuwe name te gee;

· In plaas daarvan om riool en skoon water te lewer -- spandeer hulle eerder die geld om dorp- en stadsname onnodig te verander.

· All wasteful and fruitless expenditure of tax money.

These factors are leading to an increasing level of unease and irritation with the voters.

Die ANC probeer hierdie foute wegsteek. Maar jy kan nie 'n vuil gesig wegsteek en skoonmaak deur net grimering bo-oor te smeer nie.

The ANC is trying to hide these transgressions by making use of the Secrecy and other Bills. Therefore, we must continue to fight these types of Bills. But we must not stop there.

The protest against the Gauteng E-Toll System was the first modern tax revolt in this country. It was a message to the ANC that they cannot use our tax money as they deem fit. Our protest against the Secrecy Bill is a message that the ANC cannot hide from us what they do with our tax money. So, let's continue the fight and hold the government accountable as they serve us. If they stop doing that, let's go forth and replace them.

Here we sit: all the opposition parties together. Your vote can bring a new accountable coalition government into power that will consist of a diversity of voices. Your voices. Let's continue this fight on our way to the 2014 election.

Issued by Freedom Front Plus, September 28 2012

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