WAARHEID! Official Newspaper of the GOOD Party Vol 13 June 2021 Free Copy The ANC is running Jozi into the ground BY MATTHEW COOK Freezing weather, power blackouts and water cut-offs – this month included Eldorado Park, Westbury, Westdene, just more hot air. Johannesburg needs a deliverable plan on top of a surging pandemic. Sophiatown, Fairland, Northcliff, Hursthill, Crosby, to stabilise, upgrade and expand critical infrastructure Johannesburg residents can be forgiven for feeling the Coronationville, Montclare, Brixton, Lehae, Lenasia and to support local communities and economies. Armageddon has come this winter. In truth, however, they Soweto. are feeling the effects of decades of poor leadership, What it needs it doesn’t get, however, from a dilly- dishonest funding allocations, skewed priorities, lack of Hospitals were stranded without water, and it was left dallying, corrupt and incompetent government, led by accountability and absence of vision. to private organisations like Gift of the Givers to step in a man clinging to power despite serious corruption to provide water to the most vulnerable residents.GOOD allegations against him. The ANC-led Johannesburg Municipality is running Jozi members gathered outside Johannesburg City Hall on into the ground, and its DA/EFF predecessors are equally 11 June carrying posters noting their disgust. In October, citizens have the opportunity to effect complicit. They blame each other, they blame Eskom sustainable change when they go to the polls in local and they blame City Power. But their blame games don’t The protest followed a fact-finding mission to Eldorado government elections. mask the fact that in their collective hands this African Park, where residents said they felt utterly neglected powerhouse city has been reduced to rubble. and marginalised. They rejected the stream of unfulfilled See pictures on page 2 of GOOD Member’s protesting Areas that bore the brunt of the serial mismanagement promises from Mayor Geoff Makhubo and his MMCs as outside Joburg City Hall Youth Day: The struggle continues BY KEAGAN GERTSE It is said that no true change is achievable if young people the majority of adults: They have yet to escape the socio- Perhaps now is the time for young people to absorb the spirit are not leading the charge, and this is borne out by our own economic burdens of the past. The unequal and unfair of the 1976 reformers, and begin changing the current socio- history. The 1976 youth uprising will forever form part of the structure of society limits possibilities for their growth and economic priorities in favour of the underprivileged majority. revolutionary architecture that delivered our freedom. development. The tools for this change are available: Participation in From then, and increasingly through the 1980s, young people These circumstances have marginalised young people developing policy and the law, implementing programs were pivotal in the disintegration of apartheid and, ultimately, from participating in our democracy, greatly impacted their developed and spearheaded by youth, taking advantage of ushering in our democracy. position in the Constitutional order. the rights to political association and to vote. But the unsavoury truth is that there is little of substance They therefore feel under-represented and often challenged Our current leaders must do more than pay lip-service. that sets conditions the youth of today face apart from the by the decisions made on their behalf by those who they They must acknowledge the primacy of youth leadership for stalwarts of 1976. believe are out of touch with them. the sustainable development of the nation, and create and advance the channels for young people to participate. Sure, we have our democracy, and a constitution with an The enormous challenges South Africa presently faces, in the exemplary Bill of Rights which makes provision for equality midst of the double whammy of a pandemic and economic Those entrusted with our future would do well to remember the for all in South Africa. crisis, may be an opportune time for the youth to take greater Latin phrase: “Nihil de nobis, sine nobis”, meaning, “nothing ownership of their future. about us without us”. The majority of youth are, however, in the same boat as Page 1 Commemorating the young lions of 1976 Hawks arrest Cape Town Councillor Nora Grose Veteran DA Cape Town councillor Nora Grose has been Plato’s decision to pay the legal costs is itself unlawful. The court found Zuma was not entitled to use state arrested by the Hawks in connection with fraud and resources in these circumstances, a ruling upheld on money-laundering involving a church in Table View. Section 109 A of the Municipal Systems Act provides appeal just three months ago. that a municipalities may provide councillors with legal Her arrest followed an investigation into the representation when the legal proceedings arise out “Allowing officials to resist being held accountable, misappropriation of City of Cape Town Covid-19 Food of the exercise of their powers or performance of their by drawing on state resources to obstruct or delay a Relief funds unlawfully transferred to the church’s bank duties. prosecution, subverts both government and public account. interest,” GOOD Secretary-General Brett Herron said. The charges against Grose cannot be covered by this Mayor of Cape Town Dan Plato launched his campaign section, as the Mayor claims, since the conduct being “This Grose case is the latest example of the DA asking to return as the DA’s mayoral candidate for Cape Town investigated does not relate to her duties as a councillor. its supporters and voters to suspend their values and in local government elections in October at the same principles when they apply to one of their own. It’s both church last year. The DA knows this principle very well because it acted unlawful and the height of hypocrisy.” on the same basis to stop former President Zuma’s The ANC is running Jozi into the ground Soon after Grose’s arrest (she has been released on use of state resources to defend himself in criminal R10 000 bail) Plato announced that the City would cover proceedings. her legal costs. Hey, Dan Plato! Wat steek julle weg? But where the DA leads, it refuses to be held accountable. Herron led a GOOD demonstration demanding answers outside the Cape Town Civic Centre in June. Picketers, who included seven former Cape Town councillors, carried posters asking some of the questions the City has been refusing to answer. On the same day, Herron addressed a letter to National Minister of Cooperative Government Dlamini-Zuma asking for input and intervention. “This is a crude case of double-standards by the DA. I don’t believe it conforms with the intentions of the Constitution which is very clear on the principles of accountability and transparency,” Herron told WAARHEID! “Most of my questions have been asked on behalf of community members who don’t feel they have been getting service- GOOD protests outside the Cape Town Civic Centre delivery related information to which they are entitled. Other questions have related to issues of governance, spending and the selection of service providers.” “The DA seems to believe it is entitled to avoid scrutiny or accountability because it is not as publicly tainted by corruption as the ANC. The City of Cape Town has stopped answering questions the information Herron seeks is none of his business as the posed by GOOD in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature. City is not accountable to other levels of government. “The recent arrest of Cape Town councillor Nora Grose for fraud and money-laundering clearly indicates that the two old Over the past six months, each time GOOD MPL Brett Herron DA members of parliament routinely receive answers to parties have more in common than either would like to think,” has asked Western Cape MEC Anton Bredell questions about questions they ask about ANC-led municipalities across the Herron said. Cape Town, Bredell has responded on behalf of the City that country. From page 1...GOOD stage silent protest at Joburg City Hall on top Youth Day: The struggle continues GOOD stages silent protest at Joburg City Hall Page 2 Wishing our LGBTIQ Community a Happy Pride month. PRIDE: The counterpoint to persecution BY CAMERON ARENDSE GOOD PRIDE PROTEST support the principles of equal rights, equal The months leading up to Pride Month witnessed a series of dignity and equal respect for all. Why are pride gruesome attacks of LGBTIQ+ people, particularly in poorer flags most prominent in June? communities. Because this is the month the world’s gay In April, 34-year-old Sphamandla Khoza, a gay man, was community remembers the Stonewall riots, in murdered in Durban. In the same month, Andile ‘Lulu’ New York in 1969, where gay men and trans Nthuthula (40) was found mutilated, burned and buried in a people were persecuted, attacked and arrested shallow grave in his alleged murderers backyard. by police high on discriminatory laws of the day against homosexuality. In the Western Cape, a few weeks later, Lonwabo Jack, 22, was killed in Nyanga East for allegedly being gay. Then, Phelokazi More than 50 years later, through the hard work Ndlwana, a 24-year-old lesbian women, was stabbed to and perseverance of many activists and martyrs, death in Khayelitsha. laws in many jurisdictions have changed. Hate crimes occur not only in South Africa, but in many oppressive countries, including modern democracies, around But, globally, the persecution of members of the the world. GOOD members stood in solidarity with students of the DF Malan School LGBTIQ+ community has barely been halted at all. It’s a universal issues, not only because it occurs around the in Bellville, Cape Town, who were denied permission to acknowledge South Africa provides a grim perspective on the world, but also because it affects every individual represented Gay Pride during June.