Hon Speaker, when the President said during the state of the nation address, and I quote, "the government continues to wage war against corruption", I frowned in disbelief. My only reason for frowning, like most members of this House, was because, as the President announced this with confidence, hon Yolanda Botha was sitting there with confidence that this pronouncement was not applicable to her. She was not alone as John Block, D D Mabuza and Ace Magashule were also in the House. They were not bothered by the President's pronouncement, because Nkandla is in the air, the rectitude of the Minister of Communications is still shining and the bank balance of her alleged boyfriend is still bulging.
We have now learned that the hon Premier of the Free State, Ace Magashule's director-general, has awarded a website tender to the tune of R140 million to somebody who is neither a businessman nor an IT specialist. The person to whom the tender was awarded only does business with the Free State government and no-one else. He publishes the ANC newsletter called Weekly, which is financed by the Free State government. As a result the people of the Free State are not surprised by the revelation of this website tender.
There are ANC members who called themselves the "regime change", who have opened a case of corruption against the Premier, his director-general and the Mayor of Mangaung. The response of the Premier is that he would not be shaken by this. Is it because he is above the law, or is it because he kissed the right one, and is protected from high up?
I challenge the ANC, the President, to investigate all the allegations against the Free State Premier, and take appropriate action. And in this regard, appropriate action cannot constitute deployment to a cosy job within a state-owned enterprise. [Applause.]