Caught Between Government Departments, Limpopo Families Live with Raw Sewage
Families in Lebawakgomo have tried for years to get someone to stop sewage flowing into their yards
Letter
Decisive Action Taken Against Rogue Stellenbosch Municipal Employee
Dear Editor The DA caucus in the Stellenbosch Municipality has taken decisive action against the senior municipal employee who was captured on video expressing racist views promoting unlawful labour practices. Within 48 hours of this news breaking, DA Mayor Jeremy Fasser took action by calling for a council meeting today. At today’s Council meeting, the …
Dear Lesufi: Get on Board Instead of on Your Bulldozer
Dear Editor The DA has a Bill before Parliament that will stop illegal land grabs and invasions being politically incited – because the DA is committed to addressing the cause of illegal land grabs, not just the symptom of them. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi should turn away from his demolition agenda, to bash down people’s …
Joburg NPA Boss Still Suspended on Full Pay
Dear Editor The Democratic Alliance (DA) urges President Cyril Ramaphosa to stop delaying the disciplinary hearing into the suspended Johannesburg NPA boss Adv Andrew Chauke. There can be no good explanation for this. It took the President two years to suspend the dodgy NPA boss and now it seems he is dragging his feet yet …
Confirmed: ANC Engineered Electricity Price Catastrophe
Dear Editor A damning new report confirms the extent to which ANC’s failed electricity policy is taxing South Africans into poverty to safeguard Eskom’s monopoly. This is why the DA is fighting for reforms that will turbocharge the economy by ensuring prices that are fair while keeping the lights on. The Competition Commission’s devastating new …
De Lille’s SA Tourism Cover-up
Dear Editor The Democratic Alliance (DA) has formally submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to the Department of Tourism to obtain the full record of Minister Patricia de Lille’s decision to dissolve the SA Tourism Board. The DA has since received official acknowledgement from the Department confirming receipt of our application. …
A Shocking 50% Increase in Parolees Re-Offending
Dear Editor The DA has submitted written parliamentary questions to Minister of Correctional Services, Pieter Groenewald, probing the very slow progress in overhauling South Africa’s broken parole system, because the DA can reveal a serious and growing problem of parolees re-offending. The DA calls on the Minister to urgently account for why parole reform has …
Disability Activists Disrupt City of Cape Town Transport Meeting Over Dial-A-Ride Cuts
Western Cape Network on Disability is challenging the cuts in court
NERSA Admits Errors and Wrongdoing
Dear Editor The Democratic Alliance (DA) is in possession of a letter (see attached) from the Chairperson of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), Thembani Bukula, which amounts to a stunning admission of gross incompetence and wrongdoing in the catastrophic R54 billion tariff bungle that will see South Africans pay billions more for …
Hope Restored
Dear Editor The DA in North West welcomes the decision by the COGTA Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa to place the Ditsobotla Local Municipality under national government administration as per Section 139(7). Ditsobotla residents can today again look towards the future with hope in a municipality that is responsive and that delivers services. This is the first …
Motion to Terminate Stellenbosch’s Kannemeyer
Dear Editor The DA welcomes that Mayor of Stellenbosch Municipality, Jeremy Fasser, has called for the scheduling of a special Council meeting on Friday 05 September to handle the matter of Municipal HR Manager Alexander Kannemayer. Race-based bullying, or bullying of any kind, has no place in any workplace. Every candidate and every employee must …
Western Cape Government’s Legal Challenge to the NHI Act Welcomed
Dear Editor The Democratic Alliance (DA) warmly welcomes the Western Cape Government’s decision to challenge the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act in the Constitutional Court. This challenge is about defending the right of South Africans to have a real say when laws are made. The NHI Act is one of the biggest changes to South …
UIF Millions Used to Bail out AMSA While Jobs Vanish
Dear Editor The Democratic Alliance (DA) is demanding answers on why Minister Nomakhosazana Meth has poured hundreds of millions of rands into bailing out ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), while thousands of workers elsewhere in the manufacturing and minerals sectors are still losing their jobs. In recent months, Ford has cut around 500 jobs, Goodyear nearly …
Buffalo City Metro Breaks Trust Relationship
Dear Editor The protest by Ncerha residents today, which brought the R72 to a standstill this morning, is the clearest signal yet of a total breakdown in trust between communities and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM). The Democratic Alliance (DA) recognises the right of communities to engage in peaceful protest to make their voices …
We Will Uphold Non-racialism
Dear Editor The Democratic Alliance is deeply concerned about a video purportedly capturing an official at the Stellenbosch Municipality expressing racist views and apparently promoting unlawful labour practices. The DA is committed to non-racialism. We reject all forms of discrimination, regardless of their source or target. In light of the video being circulated on social …
COGTA Fails to Exercise Oversight in Buffalo City
Dear Editor The decision by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) to allow Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) to dictate the postponement of an oversight visit by the Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee is deeply troubling. Oversight is a constitutional mandate, not a courtesy extended at the discretion of municipalities. This abdication undermines …
Gayton McKenzie vs Drug-Free Sport: Heated Debate in Parliament
Board was dissolved for spending about R1-million fighting a court case in Switzerland so that South Africa could stay in world sport
Famine in Gaza: What Next for South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel
UN report confirms hundreds have starved to death despite International Court of Justice ordering Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave
Explosive Tourism Revelations
Dear Editor Explosive revelations in Parliament today have blown Minister Patricia de Lille’s excuses to pieces. Former SA Tourism Board members directly accused her of ignoring warnings about CEO Nombulelo Guliwe, interfering in Auditor-General investigations, and deliberately delaying disciplinary action against a CEO implicated in wasting R4.1 million of public money. These revelations confirm what …
Stop Hunting Whistleblowers at the GPAA
Dear Editor The Democratic Alliance (DA) is outraged that public money is being used to track down the whistleblower who exposed alleged looting at the Government Pension Administrative Agency (GPAA). Whistleblowers are heroes. They protect taxpayers and expose corruption. Targeting them sends a chilling message: speak up and you will be punished. South Africa cannot …
Police Committee Intervention Needed to End Power Struggle
Dear Editor The DA has written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ian Cameron MP, to request that an urgent engagement be held to deal with the brewing dispute between the National Police Commissioner, Fannie Masemola, and Acting Police Minister, Prof Firoz Cachalia.South Africans cannot afford a stalemate forming between our top …
Answers Needed on R1.7 Billion Health Jobs Budget
Dear Editor The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, demanding clarity on how his Department spent the R1.778 billion that was meant to create 1 750 new healthcare positions. Minister Motsoaledi must explain exactly how many doctors, nurses, and specialists were employed with this money, broken down by …
On Ramaphosa’s Praise for Zimbabwe Land Confiscations
Dear Editor On Friday in Harare President Ramaphosa wrongfully praised Zimbabwe’s land confiscation process in the early 2000s as “essential” and “ambitious.” The DA condemns and rejects this praise by Ramaphosa for a process which left Zimbabwe in tatters, destroying its economy, destroying its foreign relations, and creating famine for its people. Because land was …
Progress on Foot and Mouth Disease Prevention Welcomed
Dear Editor The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the update by Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, on the measures being implemented to combat Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD). We note with particular importance: No new outbreaks have been recorded in the Eastern Cape since September 2024. The Northern Cape and Western Cape remain FMD-free. There are …