I will wear the hon Manuel's scorn as a badge of pride. Just last week the widely awaited Manase forensic report into ANC-run eThekwini Municipality was released. The report revealed that for years politicians and deployed cadres in the administration had been involved in dodgy tender deals and irregular activities amounting to over R2 billion.
The report has recommended that criminal charges be instituted against the officials and the politicians concerned. One wonders if the ANC are going to have the power to do the right thing and to sack the officials and councillors involved, and to press those charges. Or are they going to be recycled only to appear in other government departments?
This was certainly the case in the matter of the erstwhile municipal manager of the Bitou Municipality who was dismissed for serious cases of violating the Municipal Financial Management Act, MFMA, yet was appointed as a municipal manager in another ANC municipality. This beggars belief. People like these should be fired, criminally charged and barred from serving in our Public Service ever again. [Applause.]
The DA will be introducing private members' legislation in this Parliament which will seek to have public officials found guilty of corruption, fraud and maladministration, blacklisted and prevented from being public servants again. It is essential that we prevent this slide into a failed state.
But it doesn't have to be like this. The DA has shown the way by example in the Western Cape, namely that clean and accountable government can be achieved and that clean and accountable government attracts investment, both locally and internationally. [Interjections.]