Cadre deployment, cross-border crime - and a R6-million funeral, but there’s hope in the Free State…
Summary
TLDRIn this interview, Democratic Alliance leader in the Free State, Roy Janilson, discusses the impact of national politics on provincial governance. He highlights the recent shift in power, with opposition parties gaining committee chairpersonships for the first time since 1994, due to the ANC's vote share dropping to 52%. Janilson expresses optimism about the legislature's strengthened position to hold the executive accountable. He also addresses state capture, corruption, and cross-border crime, emphasizing the need for political will and improved law enforcement to combat these issues.
Takeaways
- 📉 The ANC's support in the Free State dropped to 52%, leading to a shift in committee chairpersonships within the Free State Legislature for the first time since 1994.
- 🔄 The Democratic Alliance (DA) and other opposition parties gained chairperson positions in the legislature, reflecting a change in political dynamics.
- 🗳️ The legislature's size is small, with only 30 members, which makes the distribution of positions significant in terms of political influence.
- 🤝 The DA indicated a willingness to work more closely with other parties within the legislature to fulfill its constitutional mandate.
- 🛠️ The legislature's role is to hold the executive accountable, and the DA intends to continue this role from its new positions.
- 📊 The opposition's increased representation on committees from one to two members per committee strengthens their influence in legislative decision-making.
- 🏛️ The ANC had to reduce a cabinet position to provide an additional seat in the legislature but still couldn't achieve the necessary majority.
- 💡 Roy Janilson, the DA leader in the Free State, is optimistic about the legislature's ability to improve oversight and service delivery.
- 🛑 A report by the Public Protector criticized excessive spending on a provincial official's funeral, revealing conflicts of interest and the need for cost capping.
- 🚨 Cross-border crime, including smuggling and cattle rustling, is a significant issue in the Free State with economic and social impacts.
- 🛡️ There is a call for a change in law enforcement culture and policies to effectively combat crime, including the use of technology for rural crime prevention.
Q & A
What significant change occurred in the Free State Legislature last week?
-For the first time since 1994, opposition parties received chairpersonship of committees within the Free State Legislature due to the ruling party's vote share dropping to 52%.
How did the Democratic Alliance (DA) benefit from the recent political developments in the Free State?
-The DA managed to obtain two chairperson positions in the legislature, one for the committee on petitions and the other for the committee of infrastructure, strengthening their position within the committees.
What was the reason behind the ruling party's inability to fill all committee chair positions?
-The ruling party was left with only six seats in the legislature after the executive was constituted, which was insufficient to fill all the required positions due to the opposition having 40 seats.
How does Roy Janilson view the impact of the new legislative dynamics on the Free State?
-He is optimistic, believing that the legislature will be stronger and more capable of holding the executive accountable, which he sees as crucial for addressing service delivery issues and corruption.
What was the Public Protector's report about regarding the funeral costs of an MEC?
-The report agreed with the DA that the funeral costs were excessive and found a conflict of interest within the Premier's office, recommending capping state funeral costs and disciplinary action against involved officials.
How did the crossborder crime affect the Free State according to Roy Janilson?
-Crossborder crime, including smuggling, cattle rustling, and human trafficking, has a significant economic impact and poses serious challenges to law enforcement in the region.
What is the role of the Portfolio Committee of Police in addressing crossborder crime?
-The Portfolio Committee of Police, which includes members like Ian Cameron, is expected to improve law enforcement culture and implement policies to effectively combat crossborder crime.
What are some of the challenges faced by the Free State in terms of state capture and corruption?
-The challenges include the continuation of cader deployment policies that facilitate state capture, a lack of political will to address these issues, and the ongoing impact on service delivery and human rights.
What is the significance of the arrest and extradition of the former Premier of the Free State?
-The arrest and extradition are seen as an opportunity for the state to demonstrate its commitment to fighting corruption through convictions, which could send a strong message to the public.
What are the recommendations made by the Public Protector regarding state funeral costs?
-The recommendations include capping state funeral costs by the President and the National Head of Treasury and subjecting certain officials to disciplinary action within specific time frames.
How does Roy Janilson suggest improving law enforcement to combat crime in the Free State?
-He suggests decentralizing law enforcement to provincial and local levels, implementing special rural units equipped with technology like drones and cameras, and changing the culture and political will to enforce existing laws.
Outlines
🗳️ Opposition Party Chairpersonships in Free State Legislature
For the first time since 1994, opposition parties have secured chairperson positions in the Free State Legislature due to a significant drop in the ruling ANC's support to 52%. The legislature, which consists of 30 members, saw the ANC reduced to six seats, while the opposition holds 40. After negotiations, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) each obtained one chairperson position, leading to a more consensus-based dynamic within the legislature. The ANC had to reduce one of their cabinet positions to gain an additional seat in the legislature, but still couldn't fill all required positions. The DA's Roy Janilson expresses optimism for the future, as the legislature is now better equipped to hold the executive accountable.
💰 Excessive Funeral Costs and Public Protector's Report
The DA reported the excessive spending of nearly 6 million Rand on a provincial government official's funeral to the Public Protector. The report agreed with the DA, highlighting a conflict of interest within the Premier's office and unauthorized increases in the tender. Recommendations include capping state funeral costs by the President and National Treasury and disciplinary actions against involved officials. The report also calls for an investigation by the Hawks. Janilson emphasizes the importance of holding the executive accountable and the negative impact of such excessive spending on public perception.
🛡️ The Fight Against State Capture and Corruption in the Free State
Roy Janilson discusses the ongoing battle against state capture in the Free State, emphasizing the need to eliminate the cadre deployment policy responsible for corruption. Despite rhetoric from ANC leaders, the same officials who implemented these policies remain in place. Janilson calls for the ANC to make a decisive change and implement expertise-based appointments. He also addresses the impact of state capture on service delivery, particularly the human rights issue of water scarcity, and the submission of a report to the Human Rights Commission for intervention.
🚨 Cross-Border Crime and Its Impact on the Free State
Janilson addresses the serious issue of cross-border crime, including smuggling, cattle rustling, human trafficking, and drug trafficking, which have significant economic and social impacts. He describes the lack of visible law enforcement and infrastructure at the border, which facilitates these activities. The community has reported tragic stories of local children becoming addicted to drugs trafficked across the border. Janilson calls for a change in the culture of law enforcement, the implementation of special rural units, and the use of technology to combat crime. He expresses hope that the new minister of police and parliamentary portfolio committee will take effective action against cross-border crime.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡National political developments
💡Provincial rule
💡Democratic Alliance (DA)
💡Opposition parties
💡Legislature
💡Accountability
💡State capture
💡Cader deployment policy
💡Crossborder crime
💡Public Protector
💡Human Rights Commission
Highlights
Opposition parties in the Free State received chairpersonship of committees for the first time since 1994.
The ANC's vote share dropped to 52% in the Free State, leading to a smaller legislature with 30 members.
The Democratic Alliance grew to seven seats in the legislature, half of the 14 non-ANC seats.
Negotiations post-election resulted in the DA obtaining two chairperson positions in the Free State Legislature.
The EFF and Freedom Front each received one committee chairpersonship.
The new dynamic within the legislature is expected to be more consensus-based.
The ANC had to cut a cabinet position to provide an additional seat in the legislature.
The Public Protector's report on excessive funeral costs for an MEC was discussed, with 6 million Rand spent.
The report found a conflict of interest within the Premier's office regarding the funeral costs.
Recommendations include capping state funeral costs and disciplinary action for involved officials.
The fight against state capture in the Free State is ongoing, with calls to end cadre deployment policy.
Crossborder crime, including smuggling and cattle rustling, is a significant issue in the Free State.
The lack of visible law enforcement and infrastructure at the border was highlighted.
Human trafficking and drug trafficking are also part of the crossborder crime problem.
The impact of crossborder crime extends beyond the border communities, affecting the entire province.
The arrest and extradition of a former Premier in the US is expected to lead to convictions in corruption cases.
The need for a change in the culture of law enforcement and political will to implement laws was emphasized.
Decentralization of law enforcement and use of technology to combat crime are suggested as potential solutions.
Transcripts
[Music]
today we look at how National political
developments have affected provincial
rule in the Free State and we speak to
Roy janilson the Democratic Alliance
leader in that Province welcome Roy good
morning Chris thank you Roy what
happened last week we had an
interesting event that took place last
week and that is that for the first time
opposition parties this is since
1994 have received chairpersonship of
committees within the Free State
Legislature and that's as simply because
of pure mathematics thec dropped by
almost 10% to 52% in the Free State we
have a very small legislature of 30
members so after the executive
was constituted and put together thec
were left with six seats in the
legislature as opposed to the total
oppositions 40 and we were very happy
because we grew with an additional seat
to seven so we comprise half of those 14
seats so what it came down to is that
thec were unable to fill all the
positions because after they' filled the
speaker Deputy speaker positions they
still had chair of chairs Chief whip Etc
and um there are eight committees that
needed to be filled so after some time
of negotiation since the election we
managed to obtain um two chairperson
positions the committee on petitions and
the committee of infrastructure in the
legislature and the eff and freedom
front each got one committee
chairpersonship as well and then thec
were able to take up the committee chair
positions this brings in a new type of
dynamic within the legislature where we
will be more consensus based we did
indicate that we will continue to play
an active opposition role in the
legislature because the legislature's
Constitutional mandate is to hold the
executive accountable and that is what
we'll do we'll just be able to do it
from different positions within the
legislature we also increased our
numbers on committees from one person
per committee to two people per
committee which will also strengthen our
position within committees So within the
legislature I think we'll be working
closer together as political parties to
implement the legislature's
Constitutional mandate it's also
interesting because thec even had to cut
one of their C their cabinet positions
one of the
mec's um to give them an additional seat
in the legislature but in spite of that
they they couldn't get the necessary
majority they needed to fill all those
seats and this is something that we
predicted during the election
campaign Ro does that make you more
optimistic for the future of the
province I remember the last time we
spoke you were quite
respondent yes I think um it it makes me
optimistic for two reasons I think the
legislature is stronger and one of the
reasons why we've seen the decay in the
free state of Service delivery and large
scale corruption is because the
legislature wasn't able to carry out its
mandate to hold the
executive um accountable because all the
SE all the senior positions in the
legislature all the committee chair
positions were also held by thec who
were also in the executive which is not
an ideal situation that the P that the
people who cheering the oversight
committees um report to the same people
um within the party over whom they are
supposed to do oversight and who they
supposed to hold accountable so I think
things will look better from the
legislature side and um we obviously
will do everything we can to put
alternatives on the table and ensure
that these benefit the people of the
Free
State Roy now you recent recently
received a public protectors report on
the funeral costs of an MEC can you tell
us what that report contain please yes
um several months ago before the
election one of our mec's passed away
tragically in a motor vehicle accident
near
Windber and unfortunately the provincial
government decided to use this to spend
large amounts of money and close to 6
million Rand was spent on the funeral
costs of the Mec Andy protector and we
regarded this these amounts as excessive
and we reported it to the public
protector and um last or two weeks ago
the public protector brought out a
report and agreed with a DA that the
funeral costs were excessive but went a
little bit further um in the investig
ations and also found that there was a
conflict of interest within the office
of the Premier where officials were
sitting um on the B adjudication
committee but these same officials were
also the people who drafted the
specifications which is a clear conflict
of interest and then there were also
interestingly um increased amounts on on
the tender that weren't in the
specifications that were also approved
subst stantial amounts and the
recommendations of the public protector
are firstly that the president and the
national head of Treasury have to set
the costs for um for State funeral so
they must cap those costs which I think
is a good outcome for the country at
National and provincial levels where
these costs weren't capped previously
and became um excessive and then
secondly the public protector also said
that certain individuals from the
director General in the Free State and
the officials who were involved um must
be subject to dis to disciplinary action
and this within specific time frames and
then also that the walks have to
investigate this and I have confirmed
that the walks are looking into these
costs as well it is tragic that um a
funeral of someone has to be turned into
a public protector report and um we did
our duty as the official opposition but
I think that the executive must take
into account that they're not doing
anyone any favors when they do this and
it it's not it's not good for for them
or for the families involved when this
type of thing happens R the last time we
spoke uh you told me that state capture
was perfected in the free state that the
rule book was written there and was
already applied somewhere else and
that's much of that happened under the
premier ship of a
mar how is the fight to hold him
accountable going Chris that's a that's
a loaded question because in some
respects there have been some
improvements but in other respects it's
more of the same um at provincial level
we've heard rhetoric from our previous
Premier and our current Premier
regarding corruption and how they're
going to fight corruption but the big
fight against corruption is not going to
be from political platforms and in
rhetoric it's going to be actually doing
away with the cader deployment policy
which caused this and and ASM took that
CER deployment policy and turned it into
State capture in the Free State and in
fact fact our always said perfected it
there um as a perfect instrument to
implement um these deals with with with
tenderers in the province and that is
the ma was the major CA of state state
capture in the province and then this
was also exported to the rest of the
country not that it wasn't taking place
in other parts of the country previously
but I think in the pre free state we saw
our um political power merged with
executive authority to implement this
and and perfect it um so there there has
been the retoric from
ourc leaders the newc factions in the
free state but those caders who
implemented these policies are still in
place so the ANC still has to take this
major decision and that is to do away
with kada deployment and bring in
expertise as the main
um instrument for implementing or for
for appointing officials within the
administration and that has yet to be
done and of course at Municipal level
State capture is continuing unabated
because um we see the the impact of this
on Service delivery in our
municipalities as we speak many
municipalities and individuals on the
ground of struggling still struggling
with water they were struggling before
the election and this hasn't changed for
those people's people and this is a
human rights issue we drafted a
substantial report for the Human Rights
Commission before the election which we
submitted to them during their public
hearings in the province we also
published this internationally and we
hope that this will have an impact um on
Service delivery on the ground so we're
waiting for the Human Rights Commission
to bring their report and their
recommendations as well but you know it
impacts on the right to water it impacts
on people's educational rights it has an
economic impact which impacts on
people's right to find employment and um
to look after themselves to to supply
livelihoods for themselves and their
families so it is very Broad in the Free
State because you can't have any
development without water people can
still live without electricity in roads
but what is a basic human right now
Roy former PA has been arrested in the
United States and is going to be
extradited what will that mean for his
upcoming trial well we hope that we will
have convictions because we've seen in
the past that many officials have been
arrested and officials are thrown under
the bus during these investigations
and if we could get a conviction of
someone like a mul's trial starts in
August in Earnest hopefully this time um
it will send a clear message to the
people of the Free State and the country
that the state is serious about dealing
with corruption and we hope that the
state do have a watertight case in this
regard and that we're not going to seen
it like with other previous politicians
in the in the Free State um thrown out
of court um or having the case withdrawn
we hope that we will see convictions but
um obviously it's going to depend on how
well our state prosecution um State
Prosecuting Authority performs and the
state prosecutors and of course on the
political will to actually drive this
through and make sure that that we have
a good outcome and a good outcome is
convictions we want to see people in
Orange overalls in jail not just in the
courts um endlessly turning to other
crime in your region Roy uh some of
bus's viewers have been touched to
complain and share their FR frustrations
with crossborder smuggling of vehicles
with the cattle rustling that's also
continuing unabated what can you tell us
Chris this is one of of the most serious
crimes in the fre that is the
crossborder crime that is taking place
and it has a huge economic impact not
just for our border communities but e
also the larger communities because it's
not just the crime that's taking place
um it's also the the crossborder influx
of illegal immigrants who also involved
in for example the Zama Zas in vom and
the the human trafficking that's also
take taking place there within those
mines the abuse of people in those mins
and um there doesn't seem to be a
solution from law enforcement agencies
for this problem I'm just setting up
special task teams is not enough we need
to see um a reduction in this on the
ground but the crossborder crime is
continuing unabated I visited the Border
um a month or two ago and um actually
witnessed firsthand the lack of law
enforcement On the Border firstly the
infrastructure there is no fence on the
border I I just you know you just walk
across you can see the poles where the
fences were and you just step across
from one side of the border to the other
and as you look across the the hills and
mountains there there's no visible
policing there's no South African
National Defense Force in sight there's
no um police presence there in sight all
what you see are the lutu um citizens
cattle grazing on the South African side
which happens um on a daily basis they
chase their cattle across the border
they graze there when the local farmers
or communities um threaten to impound
the cattle they set the grass and light
during the Fire season and cause fires
out of re venge attacks um and of course
they the physical attacks as well by
these cattle
rustlers but while we were there we were
also informed by the community of human
trafficking that takes place across the
border of the very serious drug
trafficking that's taking place and then
as you mentioned also the vehicle theft
syndicates who crossing the border into
lutu and um this doesn't only affect the
Free State obviously these vehicles are
coming from all over the country and the
drugs don't only flow into the free
state but also into other parts of the
country as well and it's it's some of
the stories we heard they are actually
tragic of um you know local schools on
the border on the South African side
where children are addicted to these
drugs and these drug traffickers come
across the border and during breaks
these kids um have to go and trade
themselves for the drugs we've also you
know heard stories of complicity with
our law enforcement agencies where um
they are in fact um assisting some of
these criminals who are perpetrating
these crimes and um it doesn't seem that
there's the political will at this stage
to deal with these issues at a national
or provincial level and what's also
taking plac is not just those types of
crime but we also see the trafficking on
in um illegal Goods such as um lion
bones for example from from farms in the
Free State because we have um sodic
protocols within the southern African
development community and anything
that's packaged within one of those
sadic countries is not subjected to
searches at our ports of exit so if you
package something in lutu in terms of
those protocols it goes through the
country and it is exported through our
ports of exit without being searched
because the sadic um
agreements um are written in such a way
that the countries are supposed to have
mutual trust so we find that things are
packaged there into containers um
hopefully not humans as well but it's
not impossible and then are exited um
and they not are taken through our
country and to our ports of exit and and
then find their way to places abroad
well with the appointment of a new
minister of police there are people who
are
hopeful uh that there could be action
certainly at National level and
hopefully also at provincial level what
do you think Roy well we are hopeful
that the new government of national
Unity will um follow a new approach when
it comes to dealing with crossborder
crime and we hope that Ian Cameron will
be very successful on the portfolio
Committee of police in Parliament and I
think you did interview him recently as
well so we are hopefully that hopeful
that things will in will improve but
what we'll need to do is improve the
whole culture of law enforcement in the
country um because I always say that the
best deterrent who would be criminals is
the knowledge that if you do commit a
crime you will be detected you will be
convicted and you will be punished the
type of punishment death penalty Etc I
think is less of a deterrent than the
knowledge that you will in fact be um
caught and you will be nailed and jailed
if you commit a crime and we need to to
to bring that about through perhaps
changes in policies and the most
important thing I think is the change in
culture and in the political world to
actually Implement our laws because it's
not the lack of legislation that is
causing the crimes but it's the lack of
implementation of this legislation and
we are very good policies as the da that
we think can assist in the fight against
Crime um the
decentralization of law enforcement to
provincial and local level and then also
the implement ation of special rural
units that can deal with crossborder
crime and Rural crimes using technology
drone technology cameras and various
other means to fight against Crime thank
you that was Democratic Alliance free
state leader Roy yilson speaking to
businesss viewers about crime and
politics in his Province thank you Roy
and I'm Chris
stain thank you Chris
[Music]
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