SOCIAL activist Jay Naidoo yesterday called on South Africans to confront the abuse of power by politicians who had abandoned the poor and forsaken the public system.
In a hard-hitting address during the annual Neil Aggett Memorial Lecture at Kingswood College in Grahamstown, Naidoo slammed corruption in the government and civil service.
In particular, he slated the theft of some R800-million from the health department during 18 months, saying the money had all gone to “feather the nests of the parasitic elite living off the ”.
“How many vaccines could we have given, how many X-ray machines and incubators could we have bought? How many doctors and nurses (could we have) employed?”
He dismissed Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s announcement that the theft would be investigated by a special team.
“We don’t need any more investigations. It’s been done. We need people have stolen (the money) to be put in jail. We need people are cognisant to be put in their places.”
Referring to a mass march in Bhisho yesterday, he said the message was clear: “We want our political leaders to listen. We want them to stop this corrosive, systematic corruption that festers in our ship of state.”
The spirit of unionist and anti-apartheid activist Aggett, who died in police detention in the 1980s, lived on in trade unions, non-governmental organisations, journalists, activists and, even, some within government, he said.
“I know that these people, including myself, will be called counter-revolutionaries, neoliberals and agents of imperialism. Let them call us these names because we know what the truth is. The truth is that corruption must be excised with the scalpel of courage.”
Naidoo also spoke out against the so-called secrecy bill, which, he said, would prevent the sharing of information such as the theft of the R800-million.
“The secrecy law is not there to protect us against enemies of the state but rather to protect those are enemies of democracy.”
He urged the pupils attending the lecture to stand up and make sure that what had happened in the past, including the detention and torture of the likes of Aggett and Steve Biko, never recur.
He also said the youth needed to ask tough questions of its political leaders.
“Ask them if they will use public hospitals.”
Aggett was a former Kingswood College pupil. He went on to become a doctor and unionist. He was detained for 70 days without trial and was found hanging in his prison cell in February 1982, at the age of 28 – following some 60 hours of continuous interrogation by apartheid police.
Naidoo lambasts leaders
In a hard-hitting address during the annual Neil Aggett Memorial Lecture at Kingswood College in Grahamstown, Naidoo slammed corruption in the government and civil service.
In particular, he slated the theft of some R800-million from the health department during 18 months, saying the money had all gone to “feather the nests of the parasitic elite living off the ”.
“How many vaccines could we have given, how many X-ray machines and incubators could we have bought? How many doctors and nurses (could we have) employed?”
He dismissed Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s announcement that the theft would be investigated by a special team.
“We don’t need any more investigations. It’s been done. We need people have stolen (the money) to be put in jail. We need people are cognisant to be put in their places.”
Referring to a mass march in Bhisho yesterday, he said the message was clear: “We want our political leaders to listen. We want them to stop this corrosive, systematic corruption that festers in our ship of state.”
The spirit of unionist and anti-apartheid activist Aggett, who died in police detention in the 1980s, lived on in trade unions, non-governmental organisations, journalists, activists and, even, some within government, he said.
“I know that these people, including myself, will be called counter-revolutionaries, neoliberals and agents of imperialism. Let them call us these names because we know what the truth is. The truth is that corruption must be excised with the scalpel of courage.”
Naidoo also spoke out against the so-called secrecy bill, which, he said, would prevent the sharing of information such as the theft of the R800-million.
“The secrecy law is not there to protect us against enemies of the state but rather to protect those are enemies of democracy.”
He urged the pupils attending the lecture to stand up and make sure that what had happened in the past, including the detention and torture of the likes of Aggett and Steve Biko, never recur.
He also said the youth needed to ask tough questions of its political leaders.
“Ask them if they will use public hospitals.”
Aggett was a former Kingswood College pupil. He went on to become a doctor and unionist. He was detained for 70 days without trial and was found hanging in his prison cell in February 1982, at the age of 28 – following some 60 hours of continuous interrogation by apartheid police.
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