african-national-congress-politicians

"About 85% of energy comes from coal, by the amount of energy that is produced however by value, in rand terms coal is about 90% in Nersa’s revenue determination model so if you tamper with any of the other things you are not doing anything and you have to go to the source, being coal"

"It is a fundamental error in estimation and points to a fundamental flaw in the revenue estimation model of Nersa"

"As long as you are black and poor, forget about justice"

"When I was at Transnet, I said South Africa must stop buying trains everywhere. We must manufacture our locomotives"

"To put it crudely, Eskom and Nersa are just conduits that extract money from poor South African citizens, who are surviving with minimum starvation wages to give to the rich called mining companies"

"The outcome of this is that the resultant high price of electricity is in fact a transfer via Eskom and Nersa of money from the clients of Eskom especially the poor to the rich coal mining companies that feed their insatiable appetite for profit"

"More importantly it points to the fundamental flaw in the operating model of Eskom"

"South Africans must stop consuming only. We need to get into the habit of making things as a country"

"If you are an ordinary person, a worker, working a menial job and the most vile deed is committed, just the cost of getting an application going, a notice of motion or founding affidavit, can run into thousands of rand"

"In South Africa, we don’t have courts of justice. We have courts of law. People don’t go to court to get justice. They go to court for a judge to apply the law, whatever the case may be"

"Eskom should not be a price taker in the coal industry but rather it should be a price maker. In reality, the opposite is true as Eskom officials rarely stand up to the bullying by rich mining companies who do not hesitate to use political and other methods of pressure to force exorbitant prices down the throat of Eskom officials"

"We have on a previous occasion successfully asked for indulgence from the chair in respect of the Inspector General’s testimony to the commission and so this was not malicious nor an intention to frustrate the work of the commission"

"Competition, when healthy, can strengthen industries rather than weaken them. Informal traders at taxi ranks, selling similar goods, compete without violence by improving their products and services. This spirit of coexistence must be embraced by our transport sector"

"The law enjoins me as Minister of Intelligence to exercise oversight and ultimate executive authority over all intelligence matters of the country – such oversight responsibility would be near impossible to achieve without information at my disposal - the least I am entitled to is a full disclosure of all intelligence information in the agency so that I can exercise my custodial responsibility as Minister of State Security"

"Our traditional taxi industry is an integral part of our economy and must remain so. However, it should adapt, modernise, and embrace healthy competition to ensure sustainability and service excellence"

"As a daughter of Soweto, I stand shoulder to shoulder with community leaders in condemning this senseless act. As Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, and Co-Chair of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster, I cannot remain silent when our people’s constitutional rights are trampled upon"

"The continent depends on us, South Africa, to showcase our capability, our commitment and what we can achieve as Africans. That responsibility now lies in your hands as law enforcement agencies, as we head into the weekend"

"The fact of the matter is, without consequence management, we will not be leading, we will be indirectly contributing to the prevailing problems and confirming the prophesies by the prophets of doom"

"The president is still going to elaborate further on his thinking around the reconfiguration of the department. And I imagine this process will come to act with the upcoming SONA which is scheduled for the 20th of June"

"The reality is that we cannot give employers more than 26 years to transform and they choose not to move. What we are saying now with the Employment Equity Act amendments is that Minister will have the power to negotiate sector by sector - and say let us agree on targets. Each and every company must put targets in place and these will not be imposed by the Minister – but will be set up by the industry"

"I am guilty of being at the same place, at the same time with the former COO [Hlaudi Motsoeneng] when I showed up to support the former president in court in Durban, which I don't know where they get a mandate to investigate my personal life"

"As we embarked on these oversight visits to the affected municipalities in Limpopo and North West, our objective was to ascertain the impact of the lost investments in service delivery"

"It would have been just and honourable for the authors to contact me to hear my side of the story than to rubbish my name in this manner"

"The work to rebuild and restore the credibility of the agency is underway in line with the recommendations of the High Level Review Panel and I cannot be the one to circumvent such efforts as some seem to suggest"

"but a deviation from norms and standards, and that impedes very negatively on the government to function optimally"

"We will work tirelessly with all relevant stakeholders to ensure justice is served and that this challenge is addressed decisively"

"I need to record that the intelligence reports and alerts that I refer to in my submission are not in my possession and they are classified. I do not have the authority to declassify any documents as they are in the possession and under direct control of the acting director-general of SSA"

"With that, I want to wish all law enforcement agencies the very best. We know you will do us proud, because you have consistently demonstrated your capability. [We] rely on you to distinguish between right and wrong and to act strictly within the laws and the Constitution of our country"

"[I]f my colleagues did not get updates from their own departments, I can hardly be held accountable and responsible [for that]"

"You are across the road. You can see what is happening. You don’t need state security for that"

"We must ensure a successful and incident-free event over the coming days as Heads of State arrive"

"some red alerts, some yellow and some orange. All of these go to the structures I have mentioned here to enable them to plan. So [the SSA, when I was still there] did warn about growing instability that undermined the authority of the state"

"These events were held across the country, and the analysis and reports we received confirm that all engagements, working rooms and meetings proceeded without incident. This is because of your hard work and dedication, and we thank you for ensuring that South Africa remains a place our guests can trust"

"They insinuate an unpalatable relationship which I seem to have had with the former COO, which in their minds led to this so-called interference which I seemed to have done at the SABC"

"The authors draw parallels where there are none, between my political life which they show disdain at and investigations into the editorial independence of the SABC. Their hangover of former president [Jacob Zuma] clouded their judgment"

"The lives of innocent people were put in danger when bullets flew around Maponya Mall. This is not only a matter of criminality but an affront to our democratic values"

"For as long as I hold the constitutional responsibility of being a custodian of national security, I will spare no effort in safeguarding matters of national security and to put measures in place to prevent acts of corruption from happening in the system"

"These intelligence briefings and alerts were provided to the SA Police Service before and during the unrest. But I might also clarify it was not only to the SAPS but to NatJoints, which is chaired by SAPS and co-chaired by SSA and the Department of Defence"

"What I will not do, is to come here and change things especially at the policy level. There is a weakness that whenever there is a new minister there are new programs. This is as if, these people are not coming from the same policy background where we are supposed to be guided by the same policy. This does not mean that when we see weaknesses in a particular area we cannot call for a review"

"Minister Oliphant was a real sister to me. At the level of work in relation to Public Works and this department, she was always there"

"It becomes necessary or if it becomes necessary, we will have to see where we contain costs. But more important, how can we mitigate the effects of the likely rise of unemployment"

"As a department we are far from helpless. There are resources available that could be better utilized. There are current programs which could be up scaled. There may be past programs which need to be revived. So this is what I’m asking of the DDG’s and heads of the various programs, to point to the areas where we can make gains in terms of employment creation and intensive training and retraining. We have to cut the red tapes, improve the operations of the labour market especially for the small businesses"

"a target is put in place to be met. The targets are flexible in that they offer a leeway to provide reasons for non-achievement"

"It is not good enough for the authors to point fingers at a cabinet minister and SABC board members and make reference to 'enforced' instructions from the top without evidence. Perhaps only a retired or tired person can do that"

"What stands between our current state of the arrested development and a prosperous South Africa that we want to build as it is espoused in the National Development Plan 2030, is the quality of public service to accomplish that objective"

"With the glaring unemployment, this shameful act of unkindness towards the poorest of the poor should be arrested without delay if we are to work in unison for the common good of our citizens"

"Where roads are closed, let us not force our way through. Let us understand that these measures are in the best interest of our country and our people. This event is important – it contributes to our economy and strengthens the standing of our nation"

"We appeal to parents and guardians to keep a watchful eye over them to ensure they are in a good place. We wish teachers, invigilators and markers all the strength they need to tackle the mammoth task at hand with all the zeal and fortitude that it requires"

"The leadership has committed to a selfless and honest approach"

"There is a crucial need for accountability from both municipalities and councillors to the citizens"