BY REGINALD KANYANE
DEMOCRATIC Alliance leader in North West, Joe McGluwa celebrated Freedom Day with the community of Lomanyane village, near Mahikeng on Wednesday. McGluwa said 22 years ago, the nation took a bold step into the new dawn of a democratic of South Africa. He said this day brought hope that the country would one day realise total liberation for all South Africans.
“The aim is to make South Africa a country of freedom, opportunity and prosperity. We want each South African to be the master of his/her own destiny. Let today be very significant and a day to remember.
“This is the day which heralded in our constitutional democracy. Democrats, as we celebrate this historic day, we agree that South Africa today is better than the South Africa prior to 1994. We have made considerable strides as a nation,” McGluwa said.
He said it astonishes that each and everyone has contributed to this success. McGluwa said indeed South Africans were amazing. He said all generations, ethnicities and genders played a foremost role in contributing to this success.
“Democrats, we should also be reminded that 22 years later, progress has been made. But it is not enough. Freedom was fought for and won, but freedom cannot be seen in North West as the majority of the people still live in abject poverty.
“Our constitution is under siege by the African National Congress. The corruption that is so endemic in the ANC is eating away at the gains that we have amassed. In the process, no one in the ANC seems to realise how wrong this is. Or they do, but they choose Zuma and his side- kick Mahumapelo over the constitution and over the people of South Africa,” he said.
McGluwa said in March 2016, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that President Jacob Zuma failed to uphold, defend, and respect the constitution as supreme law of land. He said this was in relation to the Public Protector’s report on the building of his sprawling palace in Nkandla.
McGluwa said Zuma was found to have unduly benefited from the public purse. He said Zuma supported by his drum majorettes, the ANC caucus in parliament as well as provincial chapters of the ANC and their senior leaders, most notably North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo.
“They disregarded the Public Protector’s report and sought to ridicule her. The Court unanimously judged that remedial action ordered by the Public Protector cannot be ignored without legal consequence.
“However Zuma should have challenged the report through a judicial process before disregarding it. He continues to undermine this judgment as if nothing has happened. What we have just seen is a less than genuine apology from the President and laughable letters of reprimand to some of his drum majorettes.
“Fellow Democrats, last year the ruling party laid the red carpet for a wanted criminal, Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, who is wanted for crimes against humanity. Calls were made for the arrest of this fellow, but the ANC government refused to arrest him despite being a signatory to the Rome Statutes and having a legal obligation to arrest Al Bashir,” McGluwa said.
-TDN
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