STATEMENT BY JAMES SELFE MP
DA SPOKESPERSON FOR CORRECTIONAL SERVICES

Yesterday the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services was due to have a meeting in which we were to be briefed by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on progress in the investigation into the award of a catering contract by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS). This meeting was cancelled on the instructions of the ANC Chief Whip, for reasons which are not clear.

Had the meeting taken place, I would have passed on to the SIU the information we are releasing today. These documents raise serious questions about the way in which this contract was awarded, which the Democratic Alliance (DA) hopes the SIU will be able to answer when it finalises its investigation. (more…)

STATEMENT BY MIKE WATERS MP
DA SPOKESPERSON ON HEALTH

On 23 October the KwaZulu-Natal health department issued a statement declaring that, despite a budget crisis it was facing, there was “no moratorium on [the filling of] clinical posts” at hospitals in the province. This assurance is directly contradicted by calls we have received from several doctors and student doctors saying that such a moratorium does in fact exist. (more…)

SPEECH BY MARTIN STEPHENS MP
DA DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
National Assembly, Cape Town

Madam Speaker - The Committee on Public Accounts called four Water Boards to appear before it to deal with the findings of the Auditor General regarding ther financials. It is deeply disturbing to note the complete inability of these boards to function to acceptable standards. (more…)

SPEECH BY KOBUS MARAIS, MP
DA SPOKESPERSON ON FINANCE
National Assembly, Cape Town

Chairperson, as we know the Mid-Term Budget Policy Statement, which the Minister of Finance tabled on 21 October 2008, is not a mid-year budget as commonly known, but importantly it provides the framework on which the 2009 Budget is to be constructed. It is also the obligation of National Treasury, in terms of section 28 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), to table annually a multi-year budget projection for revenue, expenditure and key economic projections. In this process it gives an indication of government’s assessment of:

- The state of the economy
- The fiscal framework
- The budget priorities, and
- The division of revenue between national, provincial and local governments (more…)

SPEECH BY KOBUS MARAIS MP
DA SPOKEPERSON FOR FINANCE
National Assembly, Cape Town

Chairperson, by now everyone is aware of the effects of the global economic turmoil on our economy. The statement by the Minister and this debate confirms the seriousness of its current and potential effects on South Africa.

It is expected that this crisis will pass, given the nature of economic cycles.  The role of government must be to attempt to smooth this cycle.  Fiscal discipline and a prudent policy approach are essential in weathering the storms now at our front door. (more…)

SPEECH BY DESIREE VAN DER WALT MP
DA SPOKESPERSON ON ARTS AND CULTURE
National Assembly, Cape Town

“[A] larger-than-life lioness of the struggle and a songstress in whom Africa had found her voice”

This is how publicist Mark Le Chat so aptly paid tribute to Miriam Makeba in his forward to her 2004 album, Reflections, as he recounted his presence in the “hot and fevered” atmosphere where her arrival was awaited in a downtown club in Johannesburg in December of 1990. (more…)

MEMBER’S STATEMENT BY JANET SEMPLE, MP
DA MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE EKURHULENI CONSTITUENCY
National Assembly, Cape Town

The shoddy workmanship of the toilets being built in Mogoba settlement near Putfontein in Ekurhuleni is an absolute disgrace. The summer rains in Gauteng have barely begun; but by the registration weekend, about 38 toilets had actually fallen down, most are so badly built and the foundations so shallow that there are cracks all around the base. (more…)

MEMBER’S STATEMENT BY EDDIE TRENT MP
DA SPOKESPERSON FOR PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
National Assembly, Cape Town

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is serious about ensuring that Parliament plays its oversight functions as effectively as possible.

It is for this reason that we agree with the statement, less than five hours ago, made by the newly appointed Chairman of Committees in the Auditor General’s briefing, when he said that “this parliament must leave a firm foundation upon which the next parliament will be able to build when it comes to oversight”. (more…)

MEMBER’S STATEMENT BY DESIREE VAN DER WALT MP
DA DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR EDUCATION
National Assembly, Cape Town

South Africa’s children need a coherent, workable and practical curriculum in order to learn the skills that will help them to drive South Africa’s future prosperity. So the DA welcomes the recognition by the Department of Education at a recent education indaba that there are problems with Outcomes-Based Education that must be addressed. (more…)

MEMBER’S STATEMENT BY SANDRA BOTHA MP
DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE PARLIAMENTARY LEADER
National Assembly, Cape Town

It is the promise that we can turn South Africa into a free society in which everyone has a fair shot at achieving their dreams, irrespective of the circumstances of their birth; and,
It points to our renewed determination to address the injustices and to transcend the racial divisions of our country’s past, for the benefit of all the people of South Africa. (more…)