SOUTH AFRICA



CURRENT NEWS

Bob's brutality knows no bounds (20/07/2008)
Since coming into power 28 years ago, Robert Mugabe has single handedly engineered the most spectacular economic melt-down in history bringing this once prosperous country, previously known as the "breadbasket of Africa" to the brink of total collapse.
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No solution offered for continuing crime (20/07/2008)
Charles Nqacula, Minister of Safety and Security, has criticized South African for not being united in the fight against crime, which he says "affects us all". What he failed to explain, however, is exactly what he meant by this statement. Who is to unite with whom in the battle to put an end to this scourge that is plaguing our country?
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Hoodwinked by Halaal? (22/03/2008)
An email was received from the Concerned Citizens Council, raising serious concern about the manner in which Halaal is implemented in South Africa. The CDP wishes to bring this information to the attention of all South African citizens!
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Christians are 'uniting' in South Africa (22/03/2008)
The newly formed NIRSA (National Initiative for Reformation in South Africa) believes that Christians of influence or leadership must come before God to seek His face regarding the very serious situation prevailing in our country at this time. NIRSA has invited the CDP Party Leader to take part in a consultation with other Christian leaders who are in positions of influence & responsibility, to determine the way forward for both the Church and our nation.
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Load-Shedding costs RSA economy millions (22/01/2008)
Eskom's load shedding practice is hitting the RSA economy hard with financial losses escalating with each power cut. Not only the manufacturing industries, but also medium and small enterprises across the economic spectrum are suffering because of bad strategic planning and poor management.

The financial impact on the economy is estimated at several billion rand and in addition to direct financial losses, Eskom's unreliable power supply has resulted in many industries having to spend millions on supplementary power support systems - something our economy can ill afford at this stage.

And then we hear that the situation is going to get even worse - one wonders what happened to all the promises of infrastructure improvement when South Africa was announced as the 2010 World Cup hosts. The clever people in the ANC Government and Eskom obviously do not consider electricity supply of strategic importance. It is time that citizens, retailers and manufacturers stand together and hold the Government accountable.

Another alarming aspect of load shedding is the fact that it will inevitably further add to escalating food prices and will also contribute to food inflation over the next few years which will impact directly on the living standard of people on the lower end of the economic scale, many of whom voted for the ANC.

Just a word of advice to all those millions of households and businessmen affected by the power cuts - you can do something about it - next time use your vote and get a credible alternative in power that will again manage the country according to first world standards. And please, when we get to the 2009 elections, do remember the many dark nights and frustrating hours you spent in traffic jams, not to mention the losses you incurred in your business as a result of the power cuts.

The CDP, as a member of the newly formed Christian Democratic Alliance, will not keep you in the dark. Our economic development policy is based on sound principles with the emphasis on strategic infrastructure support. For a better future - vote CDP/CDA in 2009

Joe Hanekom
Co-Federal Leader, CDP


Ward 59 By-election (22/11/2007)
A Municipal By-election will take place in Gauteng, Ward 59 in the Tshwane Metro [Pretoria] Municipality , on the 28 November 2007, and will be contested by the CDP Candidate - Ms Augusta (Gustie) Prins.

Click on the image below to read more about Gustie Prins and the CDP

(This is a large PDF file so please be patient while it is loading)


Floor Crossing (06/09/2007)
It appears that those who feel that they can benefit from floor crossing are in favour of it, while those who fear it could work against them are opposed to it. The press has consistently taken the view that floor crossing is not acceptable as according to them it goes against the will of the electorate who had voted for a particular party.

To make an informed decision on this matter, however, the following needs to be taken into account:

  • The proportional representation electoral system used in South Africa, which I personally support, affords a voice to many, at all levels of government who would otherwise never have been heard. However, it also gives great power to the political parties over their representatives.
  • Should an MP, MPL or councillor, during his/her term, find that the party they represent, no longer adhere to the basic policies or principles they were elected on; or that leadership has become increasing dictatorial and prescriptive, floor crossing would give them the opportunity to, without loosing their livelihood, express their dissatisfaction.
  • Should an MP, MPL or councillor disagree with the leadership of the party, on one or other matter of conscience, they invariably have to bite their tongue, as opposite views are seldom tolerated and as the threat of expulsion is ever present.
  • We need to remember that under the constituency system, elected members were always permitted to leave the parties they were in, without loosing their position.
Thus, as with most things in life, floor crossing could be either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what motivates the floor crossing.

Theunis G Botha
Christian Democratic Party

Floor Crossing (01/09/2007).
A report in the Mail and Guardian August 31 to September 6 2007 quotes Toni Leon former Leader of the DA as saying that new parties brought little to the political landscape and instead contributed to a political mitosis and entrenched one-party domination of the process.

There is, however, some thing he forgets to mention and that is that the DA owes its majority in the Cape Town Metro to a coalition formed with various smaller parties. I say smaller parties because in comparison with the ANC the DA itself is just a small party unable to either address the needs of voters or fulfil some significant niche in the political arena. Before every election Tony Leon has, without fail and without success, tried to influence the voters, who in principle, vote for "smaller" parties, to vote for the DA. He tried for years to turn South Africa into a two party state comprising of Socialists and Liberals, only paying lip service to the concept of a multi party democracy.

Crossing the floor to "new" parties is symptomatic of the fact that existing parties such as the DA are not the answer as far as many voters are concerned. If they were, these floor crossers would have gone to them, and the DA would have been strong supporters of floor crossing instead of opposing it, as they do now that they don't expect to benefit from it.

Floor crossing, like most things in life, can be either negative or positive, depending on the motive behind it. If it is used for monetary advantage or egotistical reasons it is a bad thing. If however the decision is based on a principled consideration then it could be a good thing.

Theunis Botha
Party Leader


A Father thanks God that his son is alive. (31/8/2007)
For those who read the newspapers or watch sky news in particular, the names of Madeleine McCann and Rhys Jones will be well known. The reason is that front page reports, in all forms of media in Britain have for months in the case of Madeleine and weeks in the case of Rhys, expressed outrage and public grief at what had befallen these two children. Madeleine (4) was kidnapped in Portugal and Rhys (11) was shot in the neck and killed in Merseyside in England.

But how many of us have heard of Bahumi Moyorosi (13)? The ordeal of this unfortunate young boy of Pella in Rustenburg, was reported on page 4 of the Sowetan on Friday August 10 2007. He was viciously attacked, leaving him with his lips sliced off, his left arm chopped off and his genitals severed.

It is reported that "despite the severe mutilation of his body" Bahami crawled from the scene of his attack to a nearby hut where some boys called for help. He is now in the ICU of the local hospital fighting for his life. According to his sister, it appears that he was drugged before two men used butcher knives to cut him up.

What sort of society can spawn such evil incarnate? Evidently another boy, who's name is not even mentioned, was also gruesomely attacked, in the same area, and killed three weeks before. These sorts of mutilations are usually associated with witchdoctors or so called traditional healers and the evil of ancestral worship.

Where is the outrage and grief expressed by South Africans over incidents such as these?

A nation in which such things can happen without cries of revulsion reverberating throughout the land is either sick to the core or numbed by the incessant reports of death and destruction in our newspaper. It is time that we fall to our knees, repent and cry out to God for forgiveness so that He may heal our land.


Condom recall - fraud and bribery (30/8/2007)
It would appear that the "previously disadvantaged" are doing every thing in their power to - as fast as possible - become the "presently rich and prosperous".

Ministers, MEC's, Mayors, Councillors, Head of Departments and officials, of which 99% are from the ranks of the "previously disadvantaged", have been caught with their fingers in the public till.

The past 13 years has seen fraud by so-called "public servants" escalate alarmingly. Perhaps "public exploiters" will be a better name for them. This doesn't include the hundreds of millions of rand that have been wasted by so-called BEE companies. These, often incompetent, companies are given lucrative government contracts and invariably achieve below average and questionable results, for which they appear to be paid without question.

With so many of these incidents, reported daily in our Newspapers, we have begun to take them for granted and to accept them as "normal". But the recent behaviour by Zalatex, a black empowerment company, established by Latex Surgical Products, has gone too far and shocked the nation. It seems that over 6 million defective condoms, paid for by tax payers money, have been released to an unsuspecting public, putting millions at risks of contracting HIV and resulting in more unwanted pregnancies.

It was reported that a testing manager at the South African Bureau of Standards, Sphiwe Fikizolo, had allegedly accepted a bribe to certify defective condoms, which did not conform to the prescribed Quality Standards. Jerry Hurwitz, director of Zalatex, Sajeen Joseph and Sphiwe Fikizolo are all facing corruption and fraud charges.

It appears that the lust for money knows no bounds and that there is nothing that the "previously disadvantaged" and in some cases the "previously not so disadvantaged" won't do to get their hands on it.

This callous act and flagrant disregard of human life however, goes beyond the bounds of reason.


PLC Workshop
The CDP management attended an Extended Party Liaison Committee (PLC) Workshop to be informed about the new laws relating to the 'cross-over', which is to take place between the 1-15th September 2007. The 'cross-over' is sometimes viewed as an unfair procedure, but it can actually work to the benefit of a party in the event of an alliance or a merger.


(L-R): R Verheijen, R Botha, T Botha, L Pretorius, G van der Walt.

© CDP 2006-2008