“I am not a pedlar but a real mine owner who is creating jobs for the people in Namaqualand.”
These are the words of serial diamond entrepreneur and independent candidate in the upcoming elections Louis Liebenberg, who has accused the DA of to govern the City of Tshwane and the Western Cape and slammed it for the attacks against him.
“They (DA and media) want to say I am an illegal miner. Anyone can come and check me. I have all my mining permits. (They) are legal. I have taken over De Beers and have more than 144 000 hectares of mines under my control. I mine thousands of carats of diamonds … a day, yet people say I am a pedlar.“
Liebenberg, who is is set to contest the elections in four provinces, was addressing members of the media during his campaign launch in Rosebank on Thursday.
His name is set to appear on the regional ballot papers of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Free State. The four provinces together represent 93 regional seats in the National Assembly.
“Have you tried to go to their beaches with a Gauteng registration number? They immediately block you. But in Brokhornspruit, which is still under Tshwane and under the DA coalition, and these ladies sitting in from of the municipality and will not go before they have water. Remember, it is not an informal settlement but a settlement, and it is part of the DA’s responsibility to cater for them,” he said.
On the issue of DA leader John Steenhuisen, Liebenberg questioned Steenhuisen’s ability to lead, saying that when he had met Steenhuisen, he could not utter a word as he was scared of him.
“The DA will never create two million jobs. Why do you have a person sitting in a DA position in Namaqualand and he breaks down everything that I am building up? I am having a camp project with the zama zamas of 300 people and I am working up to 5 000 people … in formal mines. I give them money and I support them.
“We are helping them and creating jobs and he is looking for dust in front of the mine. That is where the animosity comes from, because they create enemy groups,” he said.
On the issue of nationalisation, Liebenberg said his policy was that of nationalisation of state assets and not handing state-owned entities over to private hands.
“We must nationalise. We must nationalise the Reserve Bank. We must have a state bank and we must nationalise most of our industries. A developing country needs very stable state operators but the problem is if you are going to have cadre deployment, you are not going to achieve anything, but if you allow the state to pay the best salaries for the best person and you don’t concentrate just on (Broad-based BEE) and scrap some of ratio and you nationalise the most important asset. I say Ramaphosa is going the wrong route,” he said.
Liebenberg also slammed AfriForum and Freedom Front Plus for wanting to build Afrikaner universities.
Last week, Netwerk24 reported that the FF+ lodged objections with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) over the validity of signatures Liebenberg provided during his registration process.
“We don’t need another Afrikaans university. We have Stellenbosch in English. Do you want another Afrikaans university that will change in two years?” he said.
He added that farmers of all races were under attack and needed protection.
“Farmers must be protected. Pieter Groenewald asked me to come and see him to convince the Khoi San to vote for FF Plus. I am looking after white towns like Eureka because everyone’s safety is important … I do not care what colour they are. I also want to build a town for the Khoi San.
“In a democracy, we must allow the people freedom of choice. Why must others be protected in Orania? I am proudly black, white yellow, Indian. We must start loving all people.”
Saturday Star