DA says NPA's failures make it necessary to introduce new anti-corruption unit
The party said it's pursuing what it calls "a bold reform package" for the NPA, which includes passing the DA's "Scorpions 2.0" bill to create an independent Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) with the power to investigate and prosecute high-level corruption.
ALSO READ: NPA shouldn't be let off hook for faltering on several cases: GL community safety committee
The party said the commission would go a long way in addressing some of the systemic challenges plaguing the NPA and will also attract much-needed prosecution skills.
The DA presented its bold plan on Friday morning after the NPA lost high-profile cases like the Vrede Dairy scandal, the Zizi Kodwa corruption case, and the Transnet corruption trial, which have all collapsed due to incompetence.
The party said even routine prosecutions were slipping through the cracks, with private groups like AfriForum succeeding where the State failed.
DA justice spokesperson, Glynnis Breytenbach, said the ACC would be free from political interference and go a long way in addressing the skills shortage.
"To fill up an Anti-Corruption Commission with competent staff would be much easier than the NPA. The ACC would not be hampered by the appointment processes that hamstring the NPA. The commission would have a different funding model, so it would be able to compete with salaries."
She's called on Parliament to support the reforms, "or continue protecting the status quo where the corrupt are able to walk away scot-free".
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TimesLIVE
5 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Parties support Nkabane's education vote, staying out of ANC/DA spat
The DA was warned against diverting attention away from the crucial matters of the higher education sector, with parties saying they refuse to be "swindled" into the DA's spat with the ANC. This follows a recent announcement that the DA intends to boycott the budget votes in departments led by controversial ANC ministers such as Dr Nobuhle Nkabane and Thembi Simelane, who leads human settlements. The DA has called for their axing. The fury of the GNU's second-biggest party was prompted by the ousting of their former deputy minister of trade, industry and competition, Andrew Whitfield, last week. However, parties say they will not allow the budget vote to stand in the way of the department's ability to continue with its functions. EFF MP Sihle Lonzi led the charge, saying that while they do not see eye to eye with Nkabane, they will not be hoodwinked by GNU's trouble in paradise. 'We are perplexed that the DA only discovered corruption when their deputy minister was fired. Before the firing, they were singing praises about the GNU, today they want to behave like an opposition. The people of South Africa are not stupid and can see through your lies. We are not going to waste time on this fake fight between the DA and the ANC. 'The DA will vote for this budget which funds each and every department, including the department of higher education and human settlements. The DA's narrative is a deliberate distortion at best and sheer ignorance at worst. The EFF has been at the forefront of confronting the crisis at higher education even when those who are making the most noise now stood on the sidelines.' The highly anticipated higher education budget vote took place in the mini plenary of the National Assembly on Thursday. Lonzi told the plenary the EFF will not fall for the propaganda of the DA that it can support certain budgets and not other departments, clarifying that the DA's stance is not going to be effective. 'There are four key budget votes in parliament. The first is the fiscal framework and revenue proposals which gives budget bills the blueprint and sets the economic policy direction, which the DA voted in support of. "The second is the division of revenue bill which deals with the appropriation of national and provincial government, the DA voted in support and it passed. "We are now dealing with the appropriations bill which allocates funds to government departments and programmes — the DA cannot cherry pick. Voting for the appropriation bill means approving the entire budget inclusive of all the departments.' Lonzi gave the minister seven steps to turn around the embattled education sector, which included the 'fixing' of NSFAS or complete removal of the controversial institution. 'You must rescue higher education from the collapse. There should be no reason NSFAS still struggles to pay students. We have about 19-million people on SASSA and an additional 9-million people receiving the R350 grant every single month. NSFAS only deals with an odd one-million students, why is there no efficient payment system that will pay students, institutions and accommodation directly?' He added that the minister ought to blacklist corrupt board members. 'You must clean up the SETAs. You must blacklist corrupt board members and CEOs, not this thing you are doing now where when someone is suspended in one SETA, you take them [into] another SETA,' he said. DA MP Karabo Khakhau who led the charge against Nkabane said she was not surprised by Nkabane's actions, saying that it is a result of the culture of the political party that has deployed her. 'To them, corruption is their daily bread. Living in a corruption-free South Africa is a threat against the very core of their existence. Unlike the other political parties who have today pledged their support to this budget under Nkabane, the DA has not forgotten about the people of this country. 'Our loyalty remains to nothing but the people. South Africa can count on the DA to fight for them and for justice against corruption. The real enemy of progress against young people is Nkabane - it is the ANC for protecting her and corruption, it is President Ramaphosa for refusing to fire her, it is the political parties that think R142bn is safe in the hands of Dr Nkabane.' She told Nkabane that she should voluntarily vacate office if she feels strongly about serving the young people of this country. 'Committing fraud under statutory offence under section 26 of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament Act is not only spitting on the graves of the forefathers of this democracy, but it is spitting in the faces if the young people whom you've failed to lead. It is a spit in the face of your DHET staff that you have sacrificed at the altar of your own protection. 'You said that you are dedicating this budget to the memory of the fallen heroes and heroines of the PSET sector. So I dare you, do the right thing in honour of them and resign! Detox the department of the toxicity of your poor leadership, arrogance, effective allergy to honesty and commitment to no-one but yourself. You don't need to wait for President Ramaphosa to fire you, if you mean it that you are a servant of the leadership of the people, serve and be honest and resign.' Build One South Africa's Mmusi Maimane argued that the sector had bigger problems, adding that the starting point was to clear the air around Nkabane's alleged wrongdoing. 'On leadership, we can debate whether this is the right minister or not the right minister. The issue of whether the minister misled parliament needs to be brought to a parliamentary committee and an investigation must be sought so we can get to the bottom of this. It's not a violation of anyone's feelings, it's about a constitutional obligation which must be followed.' He added that the bigger picture is to understand that the ambition of freedom could not be delinked to the sector overseen by Nkabane. 'You cannot delink the ambition of freedom from the ambition of higher education. We focused on the intrinsic nature of education but we've never linked it to our economic outputs. When we derive a plan for what South Africa needs to look like in the future, we become clear about the kind of graduates that we want to produce. 'This department progressively oversees the number of black students declining who go into higher education, but students who are Asian and Indian are increasing. It tells you that our empowerment story has been delinked from higher education.' He urged the ministry to prioritise access to higher education to fully commit to the transformation of the country. 'From a capacity point of view, it's clear that infrastructure build in higher education is poor. We are talking about a shortage of 500,000 beds in this country. If we are going to see the doors of learning open, as is the ambition, we need to fund the capacity thereof. 'It's now common cause that NSFAS is not an efficient institution for managing how many students we want to get in. It's either we reform NSFAS or we shut out the middle man.' Rise Mzansi's Makashule Gana told the committee that he refuses to take part in the scandal and spectacle that has brought attention to the ministry. 'Education, especially higher education, is not a luxury, it is a path out of poverty and is the foundation of a prosperous nation. The department's R142bn budget is substantial but not enough, because our crisis is not just funding — its spatial, access, and a system that is failing the poor. "Nowhere is that failure more glaring than in NSFAS. I'm a product of it, many of us are, but what we see today is heartbreaking because hyenas and tenderpreneurs are circling what should be a lifeline for our students. That R95bn for NSFAS has to go to students, not middlemen.' Despite the minister conceding that there is a R1.4bn deficit in the universities' budget, she vowed that the NSFAS budget would 'not be sufficient to meet the growing demand for access to higher education". NSFAS funding sits at R48.7bn this year, with further increases planned in the coming years. Nkabane's budget covered key higher education sectors, detailing that TVET colleges are to receive R14bn, up from R13.1bn last year. The combined allocation for Sector Education and Training Authorities and the National Skills Fund is R26bn. Meanwhile, university education rises from R91.7bn in 2024 to R96bn this year alone.
TimesLIVE
7 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
You should have withdrawn from GNU: Mbeki's open letter to Steenhuisen
Former president Thabo Mbeki has penned a scathing open letter to DA leader John Steenhuisen, saying he would have found it logical for the DA to withdraw from the GNU. Mbeki labelled Steenhuisen and DA federal council chair Helen Zille 'arrogant' after the party's decision to pull out of the national dialogue. In the 11-page letter, Mbeki said it was clear that the DA had serious problems with President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC concerning the functioning of the GNU after Ramaphosa removed deputy minister of trade, industry and competition Andrew Whitfield of the DA. 'It is also obvious that despite this you and the DA decided that you will not withdraw from the GNU and it is established that instead with the final straw ... you and the DA have decided not to participate in the national dialogue,' he said. Mbeki criticised Zille's statements that the dialogue was an ANC campaign strategy. He said the dialogue had absolutely nothing to do with Zille's 'fertile imagination of an ANC's 2026 election campaign, or what you called an ANC-run national dialogue'. 'And as you know, Zille, and therefore presumably the DA's view, is that the absence of the latter from the 'Parliament of the People' will make the Parliament 'a sham' and 'a hollow exercise'. It is very good that, at last, Zille has openly expressed her eminently arrogant and contemptuous view of the masses of the people, that these cannot think and plan their future correctly, without the DA. 'That, presumably, is also the view of the federal leader of the DA who must have felt very proud when he announced that effective immediately, the DA will therefore 'have no further part in this process. We will also actively mobilise against it.' I hope that in time the DA will explain to the people why it signed up to the commitment in the statement of intent of the parties in the GNU that parties commit to an all-inclusive national dialogue process, whereas, as Zille said, she had been very opposed to it from the start.' Mbeki said he would like to assure Steenhuisen that representatives of South Africans would attend the dialogue, adding that he was confident the dialogue would make historic and seminal contribution to the efforts to chart a way forward for the country. 'I sincerely hope that all political leaders and the parties they lead will recognise the inalienable reality that the people are our country's sovereign authority ... As I have said I have no doubt that the DA acts against its own direct interests when it decides to isolate itself from its sovereign authority when the latter decides to engage in a national dialogue to determine our countries (sic) future,' he said. He said the national dialogue was borne (sic) out of a 2016 agreement by the FW de Klerk, Thabo Mbeki, Helen Suzman, Desmond and Leah Tutu, Kgalema Motlanthe and Robert Sobukwe foundations who formed the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative with the dialogue as one of its objectives. He said while the ANC had agreed to a national dialogue, he advised the party that civil society would not agree to participate in the process led by the ANC and the GNU, proposing that instead the matter should be led by foundations. Ramaphosa then constituted a group of 4/5 people to engage the foundations, he said. He added that the national dialogue preparatory task team, made up of Nedlac executives, the foundations and four presidency officials, will cease to exist after it hands over the reins to the national convention in August. Mbeki said the ministry of finance should provide the funds necessary to hold the dialogue over and above donations from interested parties. 'In fact, the costs of the preparations to date have been borne by the foundations themselves while the day-to-day work relating to the national dialogue has been carried out by volunteers who are committed to building a better South Africa. These are men and women who are ready to lead the way in ensuring that citizens claim their agency,' he said. He said that the preparatory team believed that various matters would arise during the dialogue which will require action from government without having to wait for the dialogue's conclusion. This, he said, was why Ramaphosa appointed an interministerial committee to be on standby to act on those matters. 'It would seem to me that the DA is also saying that the people have forfeited the confidence to the DA. Perhaps the DA ... should distribute leaflets along the Nelson Mandela Boulevard in Cape Town telling the people that they should redouble their efforts to win back the confidence of the DA or face dissolution,' he said.
IOL News
8 hours ago
- IOL News
Nobuhle Nkabane stands firm against opposition criticism of higher education budget
Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane says she will not dignify direct attacks at her other than focus on the task at hand of serving the people of South Africa. Image: Facebook Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane on Thursday said she would not dignify the attacks levelled against her when the DA and some opposition parties rejected her department's budget. Nkabane presented her department's budget for the 2025/26 financial year in the National Assembly two days after doing so in the National Council of Provinces, where the DA, MK Party, and the EFF rejected it. The department has been allocated R142.4 billion and is set to increase at an average annual rate of 4.4% to R150 billion in the next financial year and R158 billion in 2027/28. 'This growth is not sufficient to meet growing demands for additional resources,' she said. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges have been allocated R14 billion, and both the Sector Education and Training Authorities and the National Skills Fund have a combined R26 billion. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is allocated R48.7 billion, and its allocation will increase to R51 billion next year and R53.4 billion in 2027. Nkabane said the allocation was not sufficient to meet the growing demand for access to higher education. 'We continue to seek efficient ways of allocating limited resources to ensure that no deserving learner is left behind.' She also said NSFAS remained committed to implementing a comprehensive student funding model for higher education to address the needs of the 'missing middle'. 'The National Skills Fund has set aside R3 billion over a three-year period.' Nkabane said the allocation for university education increased from R91.7 billion to R96 billion, with a R1.4 billion deficit on the universities' budget. 'We continue to work with National Treasury to find a sustainable adjustment to the universities' budget,' she said. Tebogo Letsie, ANC MP and chairperson of the Higher Education Portfolio Committee, said they would ensure that the department, NSFAS, and universities were accountable. 'We will ensure public resources are used efficiently, effectively, and transparently to deliver the ANC vision,' he said. Letsie took a swipe at the DA for its stance to reject the department's budget because they don't believe Nkabane should be the minister. 'When you vote in 2026, remember them, they will be saying your poor child must not go to school and university because they have a problem with the minister,' he added. MK Party MP Mnqobi Msezane said they rejected the budget because they don't have confidence in the Ministry and Director-General Nkosinathi Sishi, who they claimed faced allegations of gross misconduct, fraud, and corruption, and was not suspended or investigated by Nkabane. 'We don't have confidence in the Ministry and the department to oversee this budget,' Msezane said. DA MP Matlhodi Maseko said the higher education system was being systematically eroded by incompetence, deception, and the unchecked abuse of power in the system. 'The minister has repeatedly given conflicting representations to this House,' she said in reference to the SETA boards' chairperson appointment scandal and listed other challenges in the department under Nkabane's watch. Maseko said President Cyril Ramaphosa should remove Nkabane without delay. 'The future of our youth depends on strong, ethical, caring leadership, and until there is accountability at the very top, every rand in this budget will be another drop in a leaking bucket,' she said. EFF's Sihle Lonzi accused the DA of cherry picking which budget to support and also criticised it for discovering corruption in the department after former deputy minister Andrew Whitfield was fired from the executive. However, Lonzi said his party would not support the budget after presenting a seven-point plan to rescue the department. 'We have no certainty that the R142 billion is going to be used correctly,' he said.
