Johannesburg - Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete has given her blessing to protest marches in Cape Town that will coincide with President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address on Thursday, saying they are an expression of democratic freedoms.
Referring to a #ZumaMustFall march for which permission has been granted for 5 000 people to gather, a march by Ses’Khona People’s Rights Movement (1 500 people) and a DA gathering of about 500 people, Mbete said granting of permission should be welcomed as “there was a time when marching was not allowed”.
“If you didn’t allow that venting of whatever the issues are that people are carrying with them, what you do is force them underground, and when that comes out, it normally comes out in a more explosive manner than it needs to,” Mbete said on Tuesday at a final briefing on the state of readiness for the address.
“So I think it’s correct that in a democratic South Africa, people are allowed freedom of expression.”
Civil-society organisations, meanwhile, highlighted misspending of state resources as a key issue Zuma should address so that social programmes don’t suffer from the depressed economic climate and possible cuts in government spending.
Bafana Khumalo, the director for strategic partnerships at Sonke Gender Justice, said that judging by Auditor-General reports, there was “a lot of money” in the country that was being misappropriated, misspent or returned to the Treasury because it hadn’t been spent.
He said mismanagement of parastatals and the economy was also costing the fiscus and undermining confidence. Zuma should outline a national strategic plan to combat gender-based violence, Khumalo said.
Mark Heywood of social justice movement Section27 said basic education and health, his organisation's focus areas, needed more public funding, not less, as they were both in crisis.
Given the ”difficult fiscal climate”, one of the key messages from Zuma should be zero tolerance of corruption, which should include special courts to expedite prosecutions.
“That would be a way of finding billions of rand that aren't otherwise available, so he’s not without options. We’re going to see whether he’s a president who is beholden to his cronies or a president who can act in the interests of the nation,” Heywood said.
There was also a ”skewed” structure of human resources in government departments, in which top-heavy management was increasing while efficiency was decreasing.
Management should be trimmed and those who remained made to perform, while essential staff like doctors and teachers should be retained.
The government should also suggest to trade unions that the focus in the public service should shift from wages to working conditions.
“More can be done to assist trade union members by improving the quality of the infrastructure in which they work - toilets in schools, security around schools and clinics, supply of medicines, etc - that allow the people who have jobs to do their jobs properly,” Heywood said.
Sbu Zikode, president of shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, said the people he represented had lost faith in Zuma’s government. His only faith was in the justice system, which he hoped would “bring the politicians to their senses”.
He would be watching the proceedings in the Constitutional Court, where argument in the Nkandla matter was heard on Tuesday, with interest.
The Star