In this pre-election interview with BizNews, United Independent Movement (UIM) President Neil de Beer says his party will deal “harshly” with the matter of its youth leader, Devon Hofmeyr, attending a gala fundraiser for former President Jacob Zuma’s MK Party. He vows the UIM will not form any alliances with the ruling African National Congress (ANC), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), MK or any cabal. De Beer talks about the fear that MK – on a “massive march” – and the ANC might “become family again” – and that South Africa might have an ANC government again “by hook or by crook”. He speaks frankly about the “rocky affair” of the Multi-Party Charter (MPC), of which his party is a member, but gives the assurance that the MPC is still together – and going into the election “as a team”. He also describes the faultless strategy followed by Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie in the war for the Western Cape. And he warns that the “continual slapping” of smaller parties by bigger parties at the dawn of coalitions, is “dangerous” because “it’s a smaller party that’s part of a bigger party’s probable win of 50 plus one”. Chris Steyn
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Highlights from the Interview
In an interview with Chris Steyn, Neil de Beer, president of the United Independent Movement and a participant in the Multi-Party Charter, shared insights on various topics concerning South Africa’s political landscape. De Beer discussed the challenges facing the country, including crime and healthcare. He criticized the government’s approach to crime, emphasizing the need for effective law enforcement strategies rather than indiscriminate violence. Regarding healthcare, he condemned what he saw as false promises by politicians, calling for genuine improvements instead of political theatrics.
De Beer also delved into the upcoming elections, highlighting the unprecedented uncertainty due to shifting political dynamics. He noted the fractures within the ruling party, ANC, and the rise of alternative parties like Gayton Mckenzie’s Patriotic Alliance and the MK party, along with the influence of figures like Jacob Zuma. Despite acknowledging the potential for surprises in the election results, De Beer expressed cautious optimism based on increased voter engagement both domestically and among South Africans living abroad.
Overall, the interview painted a picture of a nation grappling with deep-rooted issues and facing a critical juncture in its political evolution, with De Beer advocating for decisive action and genuine change to address the country’s challenges.
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Edited transcript of the Interview
00:00:05:11 – 00:00:18:20
Chris Steyn: South Africa is going to the polls next week amid much pre-election drama. We get the latest from Neil de Beer, the president of the United Independent Movement, a party in the multi-party charter. Welcome, Neil.
00:00:18:22 – 00:00:34:06
Neil de Beer: Very good morning, Chris. Beaufort West, this is where you’re getting me on my national tour. So, pardon me if there’s noise, but we’re sitting outside the restaurant. But I wouldn’t miss this interview, as always with you. So thank you very much.
00:00:34:12 – 00:00:48:21
Chris Steyn: Thank you, Neil. May we start with the drama in your own party? With the youth leader, Devon Hofmeyr, attending a gala fundraiser for former President Jacob Zuma’s MK party.
00:00:48:23 – 00:01:10:19
Neil de Beer: Yeah, Chris, you always say to yourself, you’re going to be isolated from scandal. You’re going to lock yourself up. You’re not going to allow anything to happen. You’re going to keep all your sheep in one burrow, and then one goes off into the wolves’ den. There’s nothing a person can do except be honest and truthful.
00:01:10:20 – 00:01:34:07
Neil de Beer: It was a huge mistake. It was an absolute wrong call. We are dealing with it, but it’s only obvious that we do not support MK. We are not with Louis Liebenberg whatsoever. It was a call made by Devon in his personal capacity. Unfortunately, Devon will have to deal with the brunt of that. There is now an investigation and whatever will follow. But these are the things that happen in politics. I always say in your own family, in your own person, there’s always one. And you have to deal with it. He is an adult, naively or whatever the decision was, the UIM does not support it. I mean, that’s only obvious, and we will deal with that matter harshly.
00:01:34:09 – 00:01:59:00
Neil de Beer: And to the point, the UIM is clear. We will not form any alliances with the ANC, the EFF, and now MK or any cabal. We are not interested. If we were, we wouldn’t have fought three years to be independently of mind like we are. So, we’ll deal with that matter. But I think everybody has the right to make a mistake.
00:01:59:02 – 00:02:24:17
Neil de Beer: I’m always in the truth, so it’s no problem for me. We will deal with it and we will deal with it harshly and move on. And that’s life.
00:02:33:10 – 00:02:39:18
Chris Steyn: Neil, meanwhile, you are still in the multi-party charter. How is that charter holding up?
00:02:40:00 – 00:03:11:07
Neil de Beer: Well, Chris, to say it’s all been brilliant is not true. Again, a person must be truthful. And I find that it’s refreshing that we can speak the truth in politics. And it doesn’t suit everybody. But it’s been, in my opinion, a rocky affair. It was an absolutely great ride since the beginning. We had over a year of constant and continued meetings. We discussed, but I’ll tell you straight, not wanting to throw the dishes out, I am not happy at the moment.
00:03:11:09 – 00:03:39:21
Neil de Beer: I am, in actual fact, saddened of where we are. But I think if this was not predicted, we are also foolish. You are talking about 11 parties with 11 leaders at this current moment, sitting and probably not facing a normal election. This is the biggest election since ’94. I think we don’t know how to deal with it.
00:03:40:01 – 00:04:05:20
Neil de Beer: We are all trying to make sure that we get the most votes in our election stride. I think we’ve not dealt with that yet. So to have a charter that says that we won’t go for each other and that we won’t be overzealous and that we won’t knock each other unfairly. That was a guideline to say, how do we keep the truce between 11 parties?
00:04:05:22 – 00:04:28:00
Neil de Beer: But we’ve never been through an election where we had to now go fight for our own piece of meat. So? So it’s getting rough. I can tell you that. And, yeah, I will tell you that as a newcomer, you know me, enthusiastic. I don’t believe in die. I always try and get the team together.
00:04:28:00 – 00:04:55:10
Neil de Beer: And in many cases, in the past couple of weeks, I’ve failed to do so. So, it’s getting to the edge, but it’s together. We have an agreement. We don’t all agree. Currently, where we standing in each other’s commitment on certain matters, but it’s fine. It’s good. You will have rumbles in teams and we face this almighty.
00:04:55:12 – 00:05:07:05
Neil de Beer: 29th as a team. And as a multi-party charter still together no one’s left. We are still committed to the grouping of what we sign and we take it further. But it’s very interesting times.
00:05:07:07 – 00:05:16:03
Chris Steyn: Where do you see the fate of small parties versus the big parties Neil going forward, especially after the election?
00:05:16:05 – 00:05:35:21
Neil de Beer: Yeah, Chris, it’s a continued debate. You know, I come from a rugby era where people said, but small people shouldn’t play rugby. You know, at SA rugby they used to say it’s a big man’s game. And then Breyton Paulse came and became one of the most prolific try scorers in the history of rugby. And how small was he.
00:05:35:23 – 00:05:56:08
Neil de Beer: You know so. So Cheslin Kolbe, you know, when you look at all these kinds of people on a sport format, you know, dynamite comes in small packages, and I actually get irritated when people say to you all the time, but you’re a small party, all the parties started small. They forget, you know. So I’m very outspoken. I’m very clear.
00:05:56:08 – 00:06:24:22
Neil de Beer: Every single political party that has and is currently on the ballot, we must not forget there was a very specific target given by the IEC to qualify. So those that could not qualify, that couldn’t get the 14,000 signatures, for example, they were told to go. So Chris, we made it to the post. We are there. We play a significant role.
00:06:24:22 – 00:06:52:12
Neil de Beer: And I’ll just end off by saying the continual slapping of the bigger party to the smaller party on this kind of dawn of coalition. It’s dangerous. And what it does to the smaller parties, it makes it very much more difficult for a bigger party to face us when we going to, without a doubt, sit around the conference table, because this is not how you work in politics.
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00:06:52:12 – 00:07:34:17
Neil de Beer: It’s detente. Politics is about getting on together when necessary, and we have gone past that about other parties calling us the popcorn or that. Jou moer, man. But make your own popcorn. But remember, popcorn is necessary in a movie. Otherwise, it’s absolutely awful. So. So get over yourself. We are going into a scenario where at certain towns again in 2026 and today in a province or in a country, you need to sit with us and En dan gaan ek vir jou sê wat ek dink van jou because continually we are talking about smaller parties, but it’s a smaller party that’s part of a bigger parties, probably when I’m 50 plus one.
00:07:34:17 – 00:08:01:09
Neil de Beer: So no, no, no, I reject it will contempt We are here. And let me finish by saying if all the bigger parties were so perfect, so brilliant, why the hell do we have voters? So the only reason why is because they know they’re not happy with a bigger one’s venue. They love our new restaurant, they love our buffet, and they’re chowing they’re eating from us.
00:08:01:11 – 00:08:08:15
Neil de Beer: They might not be eating as much as from the bigger buffet. But you know, we believe in quality, not quantity.
00:08:08:21 – 00:08:21:11
Chris Steyn: Neil, you’ve made so many predictions on our channel, all of which have come true. May I highlight Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance and, and please recap those predictions for us.
00:08:21:13 – 00:08:42:12
Neil de Beer: Hy’t gekom. Hy’t gekom. You know, the last time I made a prediction because you asked me. Because what you get from me is the truth. Nothing but the truth. So help me God. Daar’s hy… So I can’t tell you anything else except my analysis. I think you know me for years now. I’m a very good strategist.
00:08:42:14 – 00:09:15:02
Neil de Beer: And I love factual analysis. And I said, so I told you he is going to do the outlining rural areas. He’s going to surround it, he’s going to potfire it. And we are now focusing obviously on this Western Cape war which has now come alive. I said to you, he’s going to draw a line from the west coast to the Karoo and then to the south coast, and then he’s going to drip like a leak of oil and boom, there he was.
00:09:15:02 – 00:09:39:05
Neil de Beer: He was at Athlone Stadium, called it And this week he went into the Cape Flats with his attack strategy of Bonteheuwel, Athlone, etc. So he’s got to Cape Town and I predicted it. I said that would be the outlining strategy. He would fold out the rural areas of the Western Cape outline, and then you will sink it into the metro.
00:09:39:07 – 00:10:17:13
Neil de Beer: He knocked on the door the weekend. So no matter what you say, no matter what I think I’ve told you many times before, we don’t sit next to the same fire. We don’t always chow the same sandwich. But you can’t fault the main strategy. And that’s what I’m saying to the other parties. If you do not analyze, and if you do not connect with the reality, and you keep on watching a poll, you know, everybody’s on the polls, yeah polls give you statistics, but they don’t give you the news and the intelligence from the ground.
00:10:17:15 – 00:10:20:14
Neil de Beer: And I think there are a couple of the parties missed it…
00:10:20:16 – 00:10:35:09
Chris Steyn: Well Neil, Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa has been very busy signing into law a number of controversial bills. Do you attach any significance to the timing and the nature of these bills now?
00:10:37:03 – 00:11:11:04
Neil de Beer: Utter rubbish. Utter rubbish, utter rubbish. Signed with a crayon. You might as well have taken a nice bit of water-dosed paint and thrown it on a windscreen to go and stand there and tell the people that he is going to give everybody in this country medical aid and medical care across the board. His henchmen walking around on social media on record and telling the people of this country that after the 1st of June, you can walk into any hospital and get care.
00:11:11:06 – 00:11:37:04
Neil de Beer: And then a day later, then the people that are really the pundits they come up and they go, no, no, no, this will only be rolled over for the past the next ten years. Who rubbished who here? And this is a travesty of justice of what this ANC has done. Not for ten years, not for 20 years, but for 30 years continually.
00:11:37:04 – 00:12:10:13
Neil de Beer: To, sorry, you’re serving up hogwash. And this is wrong because we are not talking about promising people that they will get housing, promising that we will build more schools, promising that we will fix potholes. This is life or death for certain people. Chris, health care is something that has got a life-bearing and to use this, to use this as a matter of electioneering, that’s what it is.
00:12:10:15 – 00:12:36:00
Neil de Beer: He used it. He used that so that he can sign it. En dan sit hy en lag. And then he stands and says, no, I found my pen. Well, listen to me. Soekie Cyril, We don’t need to find a pen. We bloody have many pens. And the minute that we get into government, the same pens that you use to sign in the BELA Bill, to sign in the NHI Bill,
00:12:36:00 – 00:12:57:09
Neil de Beer: We’re going to sign it out because it is absolutely wrong to go and tell people this kind of smokescreen on the back of getting your party, which is a loss-kicking, dying entity. More votes. My Ma sou gesê het, Skaam jy jouself nie? Het jy nie skaamte nie. Sies.
00:12:57:11 – 00:13:11:01
Chris Steyn: In the same vein Neil there have been the usual prediction job creation promises. But with the high unemployment figures, what will it take to even put a dent in that to now create such unrealistic expectations?
00:13:11:03 – 00:13:45:18
Neil de Beer: The King is naked. This king is past naked? He’s sommer suntanned. I mean, you stand there and you say to this country, you’re going to contribute in the next couple of years, 1 million, 2 million, 3 million jobs. And the next very day, Chris, the stats of unemployment hit the newspaper 32.9% of people who are eligible to work in this republic don’t have work.
00:13:45:20 – 00:14:20:07
Neil de Beer: That’s 8 million people. And what makes it even worse is that 42.5% of all youth have no jobs. So again, when do we come to the point where we don’t drink this over oros? That’s been fed down to our lips from a group of people that stand out and have got no more credibility now, let me tell you, I’ll say it.
00:14:20:09 – 00:15:00:06
Neil de Beer: I’ll say it repetitively if you say it to a person. Chris, get back to basics. First ask if the person has been into basic. You know, you know, I would like to know a poll. How many of the 400 people that sit in Parliament have ever run managed a business? No, I’d like to know that. Do you think that would be a very interesting poll if we found out how many of the 400 members of Parliament in the past 30 years actually founded started, funded, operated and built a business.
00:15:00:08 – 00:15:39:20
Neil de Beer: Now, I’ll tell you, I don’t know, but my poll will say only 8%. Now, if that’s a fact, you are shocked, then, that these people who dictate hopelessness should be run, that actually controlled business ethics, morality guidelines, procedures, and laws. They’ve never run a business, so they can’t start jobs because they can’t, I can. And the way that you stimulate an economy is by removing the first draconian laws that this country has to stifle business growth, jobs can be created by the following five methods.
00:15:39:20 – 00:16:18:09
Neil de Beer: Are you ready for it here it comes Number one, no more red tape. Red carpet. No more red tape. Red carpet. Roll out the red carpet for all foreign-based investors. Roll it out. And what do I mean? The laws that talk about nationalization. You know, when you say to a person nationalization, it sends a cloud shiver down any person that wants to do free-market capitalism, that’s a fact.
00:16:18:11 – 00:16:53:19
Neil de Beer: So instead of making laws of BEE, nationalization land without compensation, you are making laws that are totally anti-free market business. That’s a fact. So scrap the laws. Number two, we have to relook at our system of tenders and employment because it’s not working. And that’s why I said we’d better scrap the tender process that has become the biggest tool for looting in this country, undoubtedly.
00:16:53:21 – 00:17:21:21
Neil de Beer: And give an alternative, where most probably we presented something like an adjudication board with municipalities have half governance and half civilian people that are elected onto an adjudication book because then you award a contract based not on race, not on color, not on skin, not on prejudice, but on the basis that you could do the job. You have a track record and you are capable.
00:17:21:23 – 00:17:49:05
Neil de Beer: So we’ve got to scrap that process. Thirdly, we’ve got to educate. You know, we have a team with College System that everybody forgot. We’ve got to go back and employ our people that can work with their hands, our plumbers our electricians, our construction people. Fourthly, we’ve got to look at government expenditure. We’re going to cut it. You’re going to cut it.
00:17:49:06 – 00:18:08:13
Neil de Beer: And it will start with halving this cabinet tighten the belt and let’s see how we can turn this thing around when we as government don’t employ. But we create a great opportunity for employment. And the last one Chris sorry, stop stealing. Stop stealing. Those are the five action plans I’m looking at.
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00:18:08:13 – 00:18:17:19
Chris Steyn: Meanwhile, alleged criminals are suddenly being shot dead left, right, and center all over the country. Is the Minister of Police suddenly doing his job? Or is this another pre-election reality show?
00:18:18:01 – 00:18:47:02
Neil de Beer: Another sad show, another matter. Where we are so desperate to get things going, where we are so desperate when we are looking at health and crime and issues that are so close to us, and we’re putting politics first, there’s no doubt that criminality in this country is absolutely out of control. I can’t predict that this is a matter of political sabotage or intervention, but the people are now being pushed back.
00:18:47:04 – 00:19:10:21
Neil de Beer: And I’m sorry, I’ve said from the beginning like, you know, and this is a mantra that I will have zero tolerance for crime. If you want to fight crime, fight it. Don’t go standing. Say, I’m going to eradicate crime, eradicate it. If a criminal picks up a gun and points it at a police officer or a civilian, fire on that person, fire.
00:19:10:23 – 00:19:37:08
Neil de Beer: Because that’s where we need to show that there is a force of law. But just killing people, shooting people does not address the symptom of crime. And that’s why I said, if you’ve not been to police college, if you’ve not received training in forensics, if you haven’t seen what it does when you have to do crime investigation, crime intelligence, if you don’t know pathology.
00:19:37:10 – 00:19:58:12
Neil de Beer: These are all things that you get taught when you go through a police college system. And unfortunately, the leadership, you know who I’m talking about. That’s right. Bheki “tafeltjie, stoeltjie” Cele. If that man just gets the understanding that he wasn’t a good national police commissioner, and the reward for not being a good police commissioner is that I made him the Minister.
00:19:58:14 – 00:20:19:23
Neil de Beer: So from my point of view, it will start at the top and we have to chop it down to the bottom. Chris, you don’t kill a tree by chopping off a branch. You remove the roots. And that’s where we all have to go and change this government and change everything. Want hy is vrot, man, vrotsleg up till the pointing of the root.
00:20:19:23 – 00:20:29:17
Neil de Beer: We’ll have to chop it up. But we can get we can we have the people to do it. We have the football and we have the will of the South African people.
00:20:29:19 – 00:20:48:08
Chris Steyn: Now, Neil, I think even the most experienced pollsters would be cautious going into the predictions for the outcome of next week’s election. It certainly seems very much too close to call. But would you like to make a prediction based on your experience on the ground in recent weeks?
00:20:48:23 – 00:21:16:10
Neil de Beer: It’s a bun fight. You know, I, I, I always say to people, I’ve not been in politics as a politician long, but I’ve been in politics all my life. What makes this election totally different? Pre-94, it was a one-party state. They can argue with a one-party state. Post-94 for 30 years.
00:21:16:12 – 00:21:42:08
Neil de Beer: One-party state, we can argue, if it’s what you want. The time has run out for the ANC. I can tell you that the mood there, they can tell us numbers, they can give out as many Kentucky-like fried chickens and T-shirts. Gaan nie werk nie, my broer. They are absolutely at the last throw. If it’s not this year within the next five, what’s making it interesting is the broken arrow.
00:21:42:10 – 00:22:14:23
Neil de Beer: So the broken arrow experience is that within this arrow of power, it is collapsing and breaking at several levels. And that break and collapse of the arrow did not start this year. It started, in my opinion, at the biggest ANC conference of dispute, failure, and antagonism. And that was the conference at Gallagher Estate where Cyril Ramaphosa was fighting in Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for president.
00:22:16:11 – 00:22:38:04
Neil de Beer: That one, and I was there. I was actually running to then become a member of the NEC of the ANC because I wanted to say I want to make a change inside, and I failed and that’s why I am where I am now. But that conference was the final crack of the arrow of the ANC.
00:22:38:06 – 00:23:03:14
Neil de Beer: So the most interesting thing is when you look at the people that have left the ANC in years, if you look at Sam Shilowa, COPE, Terror Lekota, Yes, Julius Malema and the latest Jacob Zuma. If you look at those four and obviously what people don’t get is Ace Magashule’s crack. This was the secretary-general of the ANC.
00:23:03:14 – 00:23:39:17
Neil de Beer: One of the most powerful people in office was thrown out. So we had in the past ten years in the ANC era, five formidable cracks in that system and they’ve not recovered. They are not recovering. They are splitting even more so this massive march of the MK is, in actual fact, a consequence of the 2017 split in that broken arrow, and it has faced it to such a point where you saw what happened this past weekend.
00:23:39:19 – 00:24:02:15
Neil de Beer: They were trying to stop them. They threw everything in their place and they had a full Orlando Stadium. That’s going to be the most important crack within the ANC stable. I’m watching that. And that’s the prediction that because of the growth, Yah people are saying because of propaganda is the failure of MK they fighting each other that daughter’s running it.
00:24:02:15 – 00:24:48:03
Neil de Beer: All that doesn’t matter MK is rolling. And if it doesn’t happen in momentum this year, it could happen again. But my worry is that they become family again, and that’s going to be a problem. So here’s the prediction I fear that at this current moment in time, we might have an ANC government again by hook or by not, Chris I think one of the things that we must now focus on after we’ve discussed the whole Broken Arrow that Jacob Zuma no doubt has become and has always been that charismatic force that no matter where he goes, he draws that kind of support and that is the thing that’s messing up the total prediction of the ANC.
00:24:48:03 – 00:25:12:18
Neil de Beer: Win or lose. And I can tell you that no one can call today that that’s going to be the effect of 51 or less than 51. It is still something so fluid. But I think that people that are predicting that it’s going to be over 51 in a major way, I think they’re very I think they’re going to get a major shock.
00:25:12:20 – 00:25:40:20
Neil de Beer: I think the rest of the parties, the MPC was last time between 33 and 36, I think that was nearly two months ago. That has risen and that might gain momentum. But if you look at the overwhelming people that went to the polls in Europe and overseas in the past three days, no doubt you are seeing major, major amounts of people that coming to the voting that never came.
00:25:40:22 – 00:25:59:22
Neil de Beer: So if you judge what was happening in London, if you judge in the Netherlands, people are phoning me and telling me, showing me their thumbs. To say we voted for the UIM in Netherlands. In Italy, you can see that the voting might in this country have a bigger turnout than they expected. And that’s what we pray.
00:25:59:22 – 00:26:14:07
Chris Steyn: Well, thank you. That was Neil de Beer, the president of the United Independent Movement, a party in the multi-party charter, speaking to BizNews about the latest election drama leading to next week’s watershed national election. Thank you, Neil.
00:26:14:13 – 00:26:22:02
Neil de Beer: Thanks, Chris. And to everybody out there. God bless you and God bless this Republic. Let’s go do the right thing.
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