KwaZulu-Natal SOPA: The ANC cannot save our province

4 March 2020

While KwaZulu-Natal Premier SihleZikalala’s State of the Province Address (SOPA) was packed full of promises and new campaigns it steered clear of the detail needed to address the big issues that the province continues to face.

Instead, it was a comedy of contradictions marked by vague rhetoric, with the Premier expressing ‘concern’ and ‘regret’ around numerous areas while failing to provide real solutions and proper timeframes to endemic problems.

Today, despite the damning evidence before him, the Premier continued with his political posturing in what was a dismal attempt to reassure KZN’s people that all is well when the writing is already on the wall.

Some of the more serious issues which the Premier did not adequately address include;

The fact that, despite his earlier assurances, KZN’s Health and Education budgets are set to be cut. This while government has not outlined how it will address shortages of staffing and equipment as well as infrastructure challenges

How he and his ANC-led government are going to deal with budget cuts to the province’s Human Settlements Department while backlog of those who need housing continues to grow

What his ANC-led government is going to do about the dire state of numerous KZN municipalities including Ugu where almost a million people have no water. This is a human rights crisis yet the Premier failed to offer firm timelines in terms of solutions, to declare the area a disaster area, to place it under administration or even to take active steps to end the ongoing sabotage and strike action, and

What he and his provincial government are doing about communities – and in particular rural communities – who are facing violence and crime on a daily basis

The DA notes the fact that the Premier has once again said he will be implementing skills audits for senior government officials. We are however not holding our breaths that this will happen. We are also disappointed that he was unable to be bold and extend this process to include lifestyle audits for KZN’s politicians. Municipal forensic reports have continuously pointed to politicians and officials being fingered in corruption and yet there is precious little that has been done, with the Premier saying only two people in the entire province have been charged with corruption.

We also welcome the Premier’s commitment to reduce consultants within the KZN Public Works Department. This is something we have heard before though and it remains to be seen whether he can follow through.

The DA also welcomes that the Premier has finally acknowledged the challenges within the LGBTIQ community. It is sad though that this was just a cursory recognition while this community faces violence and even murder as witnessed in the recent horrific incident of Lindo Cele in Umlazi. We call on the Premier to join the DA’s call to get President Ramaphosa to urgently take steps to help this community.

The Premier was in a position today to do something about the fact that almost one in every three people in KZN is unemployed. But he didn’t.

This was apparent from the lack of detailed plans within Agriculture and it is not clear that the Premier fully understands the significant role that this sector can play in rural development and job creation. To compound the problem, he also failed to address the severe capacity issues within this Department or the DA’s ongoing calls for it to be placed under administration.

Ezemvelo is another job creation opportunity sitting on a platter yet the Premier continues to ignore this, instead allowing this critical entity to collapse. If anything smacks of an uncaring government, this must be it.

If our province is to begin realising its vast potential, then the ANC will first have to take responsibility for what it has created and commit to a process of solution-based governance – rather than continuing to feign ignorance.

Tomorrow ,the DA will outline the way forward for the province of KZN. Across our province we continue to work hard to show the people that we are a viable alternative, that we care, that we offer workable solutions and that we are in fact South Africa and KZN’s only real opposition.

Issued by Mbali Ntuli, DA KZN Spokesperson on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), 4 March 2020