ACDP Parliamentary newsletter - 20 February 2004

******************************************************
In this issue:

1. Ladysmith by-election success
2. ACDP not in Alliance with Peter Marais
3. ACDP economic policy supports prosperity for all
4. Budget needs more sustainable job creation approach
5. Property Rates Bill taxes right to ownership
6. Medicine price control will have unintended consequences
7. Education solutions for the poor
8. Films and Publication Amendment Bill debate

******************************************************
1. Ladysmith by-election success

A recent by-election held on 11th February in ward 12 in Ladysmith Kwa Zulu Natal saw the ACDP increase its share of the votes by 200%, from 4.1% in 2000 to 13.70%.

The DA vote decreased from 62.98% in 2000 to 44.29% and that the ANC did not field a candidate but instead opted for telling their voters to vote NNP.

Despite Ladysmith being an historical NNP seat the NNP together with the ANC could only muster 22% of the vote.

The increased share of the vote for the ACDP indicates an increased awareness among the electorate to turn to policies promoting family values, social stability and economic growth.

The ACDP would like to acknowledge the active participation of all those who came out to vote for their respective parties and all officials involved in making this by-election a success.

******************************************************

2. ACDP not in Alliance with Peter Marais

The African Christian Democratic Party is once again committing itself to its members and its voters in that the Party will not form an alliance or coalition with any political party in the 2004 election for mere political power.

The inaccurate media reports that the ACDP and the newly formed New Labour Party of Peter Marias has joined forces is once again a clear tactic to discredit the ACDP with its voters and members. The ACDP President, Rev. Kenneth Meshoe is rejecting any such conspiracy or misconception.

It is however true that Mr. Marais agreed to co-operate with another Christian Party, but it is not the ACDP. This co-operation between Marias and this other party, is again a clear indication that some political opportunists have seen the growth of the ACDP and of Christian Democracy in South Africa as a way and means to further their own selfish agenda. The majority of political representatives that the NLP and other party have, came about with the crossing-of-the-floor legislation.

In the last ten years of democracy in South Africa, the ACDP stayed true to its principles and policies and encourage voters to clearly investigate the motives of those who now all of a sudden want to fight against moral decay and godless government. The ACDP has done so alone for the last then years, and will continue to do so in the upcoming election.

******************************************************
3. ACDP economic policy supports prosperity for all
by Advocate Zwelethu Madasa MP

The African Christian Democratic Party is concerned that limited economic growth since 1994 has not translated into employment opportunities and prosperity for all. Millions of South Africans are unable to find jobs and the ACDP is concerned about the poverty plaguing the majority of our citizens.

Caring for the poor is a priority for the ACDP, as we believe that it would be economically senseless, politically suicidal and a neglect of the Christian mandate not to be concerned about developmental issues. The ACDP's emphasis on shared economic growth contradicts Thabo Mbeki's criticism that the ACDP is a free-market fundamentalist party. We believe that the state is unable to create wealth on its own and that government and the people must work together to ensure prosperity for all.

The ACDP is concerned that the global economy has a progressive tendency to shed jobs and increase poverty in countries with a poor education and skills base and only countries with strong knowledge-based economies are able to benefit from globalisation. The ACDP has emphasised the need to increase resource allocation towards the empowerment of the individual through education and skills whilst also addressing community development.

In the long term, only the ability of our economy to attract foreign direct investment in great measure will ensure sustained economic growth and increased wealth rather than merely the distribution of existing wealth.

The ACDP believes that a government's strategy must support small businesses, encourage skills development, invest in infrastructure and encourage a culture of hard work, investment and patient building of capital. We believe that the state has a role to play in order to alleviate poverty and that the government must foster a culture of entrepreneurship by underwriting private capital to small businesses or alternatively providing direct micro-loans as a retailer to promote small business and emerging farmers.

The ACDP supports affirmative action as an important means to address the legacy of inequality, however this should be a temporal measure with a sunset clause limiting affirmative action to a period of between 10-15 years. Once equality has been objectively achieved, the policy should be phased out. The ACDP has therefore called for BEE that prospers all, and not a select few.

The ACDP supports the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals to have every child educated, reduce infant mortality and maternal mortality and halve poverty by 2015. The ACDP supports the call for rich governments to underwrite borrowing in private capital markets to double development aid by 2015.

Societies underpinned by the values that the ACDP stands for have always been the most successful in the world, based on hard work, skills training, minimum regulation and without the dead hand of divisiveness and socialism. South Africa will only fully prosper when it motivates and engages all its people.

******************************************************
4. Budget needs more sustainable job creation approach

The 2004 Budget is very much in line with pre-budget expectations, but needs to focus on more sustainable job creation and economic growth strategies, says African Christian Democratic Party spokesperson on finance Mr Adriaan Blaas MP.

"The higher than anticipated budget deficit of 3.1% of GDP was surprising, but lower tax cuts and increased sin taxes will at least partly compensate for this," said Mr Blaas.

"Although personal taxes have not been cut significantly, the reduction will at least compensate for inflation. However consumers will be affected by the increase in the fuel levy by 15c per litre, which will unfortunately be directly passed on to them through higher prices," Mr Blaas said.

Mr Blaas said that indirect taxes, such as toll roads, UIF, workman's compensation and airport taxes, should also be brought into the budget discussion to see clearly where and when these funds are raised.

"On the expenditure side, the focus was mainly on assisting the poor directly or indirectly through welfare grants and job creation. While the ACDP is concerned about high unemployment and poverty levels, we believe the focus should have been on more permanent measures to create jobs rather than producing short-term results," Mr Blaas said.

"The ACDP would prefer the emphasis to change from social spending to job creation, which is more sustainable and has long term effects. Factors that can reduce input costs to businesses should be scrutinised to ensure competitiveness internationally.

"Domestic as well as foreign investments must be stimulated by giving more money to safety and security, while providing incentives, tax relief for small and medium businesses and soft loans to create jobs and stimulate economic growth," Mr Blaas said.

"The government's proposed job creation strategy of infrastructural development and public works projects through provincial and municipal structures is also questionable. While the intentions may be good, the ACDP believes it would be more productive to first ensure that these structures have the capacity to roll out such programmes before delegating the responsibility.

"Provinces such as the Free State have demonstrated the problem of being unable to spend their budgeted allowance on housing due to their limited capacity, leading to non-delivery in such a crucial area.

"The added pressure on municipalities and provincial administrations that are not coping could cause further collapse and lack of delivery," Mr Blaas said.

"While we are pleased that there is an increase in the budget for education to 20% of the budget, we are concerned about the efficient management of these funds. The education system and department must be streamlined to ensure that the money reaches where it is needed most - on the ground."

******************************************************
5. Property Rates Bill taxes right to ownership
Speech by Rhoda Southgate MP

Property rights are a taxpayers right to ownership and economic freedom. A taxpayer indirectly engages in the country's economy by creating a market value for his or her assets. A taxpayer employs his or her socio-economic rights to purchase property and to improve upon to gain maximum economic benefits out of such assets. Such engagements in the country's economy should be an inalienable or non-negotiable right.

Unfortunately it does appear that the Municipal Property Rates bill seeks to minimize the taxpayer's rights, and impose a property tax that is skewed in relation to property value, even though the bill provides for property rates to be determined by market value, since the rate regime offered within the bill is actually an added tax that will be difficult to recapture in real economic terms by property owners. Property rates should be according to service rendered and should not be enforced as tax.

Although the flat rate for property has been deleted from the current bill, the uncertainty exist whether market forces will have a free hand in property valuation, since the municipality has been given superior powers to those in the market to determine what equitable market value ought to mean.

This is direct political influence from above.

The ACDP feels that the bill will have an adverse effect on property valuation as improved value of property will be taxed causing owners to disinvest in property development.

The ACDP agrees that municipalities ought to remain solvent to operate effectively. We do not however argue that we should overtax our citizens. One principle that is close to the ACDP values is that land and property should not be in the control of the state, or manipulated in such a way that will impoverish or control property owners.

The Bill makes provision that all property owners will be included in contributing to municipal revenue; this includes rural areas, townships, farm areas etc. However the danger exists that municipalities may enforce a tax regime where there will be those who will pay more taxes than others, which will on the one hand diminish wealth accumulation, and on the other hand perpetuate the poverty cycle.

The Bill may have its merit in that municipalities will benefit from a broader tax base, but in terms of providing an equitable and agreeable tax structure, the prospects are dim for some property owners.

The ACDP believes that this bill errs on creating a redistributive regime that will not contribute to real economic stimulation, and therefore abstains.


******************************************************
6. Medicine price control will have unintended consequences

Open competition, and not state interference in the pricing of medicines, is the solution to bring down medicine prices and bring about the greatest good to the largest number of people, says African Christian Democratic Party spokesperson on health Mrs Cheryllyn Dudley.

New regulations relating to transparent pricing in terms of the Medicines and Related Substances Act were presented to the Health Portfolio Committee on Tuesday. The ACDP opposed the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Bill which was passed in the National Assembly in October 2002, saying the pricing committee should be scrapped, as it would only drive up costs and ultimately prices.

"The ACDP is not in favour of state interference in pricing as we believe that the availability of generics and open competition will adequately bring down medicine prices. Nothing drives up prices and eats into public funds like bureaucracy," Mrs Dudley said.

"The interventions government has embarked on to artificially drive prices down are more likely to destabilise the industry, negatively impact our economy and create even greater accessibility problems as businesses fold and careers in the pharmaceutical industry become less and less attractive," Mrs Dudley said.

"As medicine is not a normal trading commodity, stakeholders accept that regulations to prevent perverse incentives and unethical dispensing practices are necessary. According to pharmacists however, community and retail pharmacies, pharmacy manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers in the industry are in grave danger of collapsing if present proposals on restricted mark-ups are accepted."

During the meeting earlier on Tuesday, the Health Minister told MP's that she expected them not to allow themselves to be lobbied by pharmaceutical companies and pharmacists, saying that those who said they would no longer be able to do business in South Africa should leave allowing others to come in.

"Liberty requires more public choices therefore the more supply points the better," Mrs Dudley said. "Additional courses to dispense must be available and encouraged for medical doctors, especially doctors who are already dispensing. In fact, this material should be included in the university curriculum to encourage more access points for medication for the public.

"At the same time, pharmacists should be able to prescribe ethical medicine, thereby giving the public more choices, which is the best public protection. "The ACDP would like to see government declaring South Africa a pharmaceutical manufacturing 'Free Zone'. This would attract investment and increase competition, bringing the desired results as opposed to counterproductive government manipulation at taxpayer's expense," Mrs Dudley said.

The ACDP also objected to competition policy being decided by the Director-General through licensing determined by need, which it said would also drive up prices.

While the regulations were published for public comment in the Government Gazette on 16 January 2003, the department will be open to receive and hear public submissions from 8 March before the deadline on the 16 April 2004.

******************************************************

7. Education solutions for the poor

Amid calls on the government by the African Christian Democratic Party to assist schools which are subsidising those who cannot pay school fees, the Director-General of Education announced that the compensation of schools catering for the poorest is presently a matter of debate.

Outlining the department's priorities for the next five years in Parliament on Tuesday, the Director General said that the government's policy is to subsidise certain schools that cater for disadvantaged learners. There is however pressure on these schools as this has encouraged an influx of learners who hope to benefit from the government assistance.

"Many schools catering for the poor are not yet categorised as such and this is putting a strain on school budgets and creating much hardship for teachers, learners and parents" said African Christian Democratic Party spokesperson on education Mrs Cheryllyn Dudley.

Questioned about whether the department would consider the prospect of funding schools across the board in relation to the amount of learners they have who cannot pay or subsidising individual learners, the department said that it was not keen to do this at present

"Assistance across all schools would relieve schools that have to accommodate the great numbers that they are not equipped to handle," Mrs Dudley said.

"It would also prevent a stigma being attached to schools, which may become known as 'poor' schools. In addition, this will allow parents who are temporarily incapacitated, to keep their children in the schools they are in and minimise disruptions or hardships they might experience," Mrs Dudley said.

In addition to ensuring that schools are not burdened by learners who are unable to pay for their education, Mrs Dudley agreed that adult literacy and teacher development were two more priorities on the department's agenda that the ACDP believed were critical to the development of South Africa's people and that success in these areas would translate into real hope for a prosperous South Africa.

******************************************************
8. Films and Publication Amendment Bill debate
Speech by Cheryllyn Dudley MP

"Child pornography is universally condemned for good reason. It strikes at the dignity of children, it is harmful to children who are used in its production, and, it is potentially harmful because of the attitude to child sex that it fosters and the use to which it can be put in grooming children to engage in sexual conduct." These are the words of Deputy Chief Justice Langa in 2003 when the Constitutional Court ruled that the possession and production of child pornography should stay illegal.

The Film and Publications Amendment Bill makes provision for the prohibition of child pornography and more effective investigation and prosecution of child pornography offenders. These objectives are commendable but the bill does not go far enough as Adult pornography is still legal and defended in the name of free speech. Children, are vulnerable and easily become victims of those who have been aroused by adult porn and not just child porn.

In 1996 the Films and Publications Act legalised pornography in South Africa for the first time. According to the South African Police Services Child Protection Unit, "This made it possible for child abusers, rapists and paedophiles to obtain all the material they needed. Statistics," they say, "tell the story as South African Police Service records show that child rape increased.over 400%". The Police report further noted that research with child sexual offenders revealed that ALL had used pornography.

Every 26 seconds, a women is raped in South Africa, often by a man known to her and increasingly under excessively violent circumstances and every 24
minutes there is a rape or attempted rape of a child. Shockingly, child on
child rape is on the increase in South Africa and the age of rapists is declining. This is not surprising given the circulation of pornographic magazines in our schools, not child pornography but adult pornography.

According to Police in the Mitchell's Plain Child Protection Unit, the bizarre ideas employed by child-on-child rapists are likely gleaned from pornographic material, which is also used by gangs to lure children from school playgrounds and motivate them to take part in illicit sexual activities. Pornography desensitises, removes inhibitions and undermines moral restraints. It is addictive, progressive and dangerous. Pornography is not freedom of expression. It is the abuse of freedom, for degradation and exploitation, and children are prime victims.

The ACDP is perturbed that the department, government and members of parliament who sit on the portfolio committee chose to ignore calls for this amendment to address adult as well as child pornography. Moral Regeneration will take real action and not lip service and it looks like the ACDP alone will have to implement that REAL CHANGE!

Doctors for Life, in their presentation before the constitutional court recently, drew attention to the latest research on the effects of pornographic images on the brain, mind and memory. These show that unlike real life images, which pass through a centre in the brain allowing the individual to decide whether it is real and should be stored or discarded, pornographic images shortcut this centre and are stored in the brain as real-life experiences. This has dramatic impact on the behaviour of a person exposed to this material and remains embedded in the memory for long periods of time.

While the ACDP will obviously vote in favour of this bill we place on record our disgust and disappointment that this amendment to did not address adult
as well as child pornography. Attention is so easily diverted from the
contentious issue of adult pornography by using child pornography as a
diversion. Both are of critical importance and one should not overshadow
the other.

The present breakdown of moral standards, the increase in lawlessness and br eak-up of families are related. All pornography is hostile to law and morality.

************************************************************************************************************