DA disappointed by selective SOPA

2 March 2023

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is disillusioned by the State of the Province Address of 2023.

The Premier said his speech was a reflection of the work done by this provincial government, but it was actually a reflection of the work not done by this provincial government.

The Premier laboured on about the decreased unemployment rate but failed to address the increased cost of living.

In respect of renewable energy, he failed to make any commitment to assist the agriculture sector to sustain food security during rolling blackouts, on top of the floods and other disasters. Or to assist local governments to sustain water and sewerage services during blackouts, which affects schooling and health care.

He selectively claimed that the National Senior Certificate exam results are on an upward trajectory. He looks at the Northern Cape matric pass rate of 74,20% but ignores the real matric pass rate of 43,6 which also takes the school dropout-rate into consideration.

He brags about the procurement of IPads for learners but says nothing about increased schools and classrooms to allow for additional school placements, in the overcrowded school system.

He speaks about the procurement of replacement ambulances but every year the department buys more ambulances to replace the old and broken ones. According to the latest health report, there were only 69 operational ambulances in the province in the 3rd Quarter of 2022/2023, in contrast to the need for 184 ambulances.

The Premier bemoans the state of municipalities. We cannot applaud the fact that all municipalities submitted their financial statements. This is not an achievement.

The Premier also doesn’t mention the crisis in a growing number of municipalities where salaries are not being paid. Thembelihle has not paid staff and councillor salaries for two months while Magareng has paid staff and councillors late for the past two months.

Things are definitely not as positive in the Northern Cape as what the Premier tried to make them out to be. I will address this in more detail in the SOPA debate scheduled for next week.

Issued by Harold McGluwa, DA Northern Cape Provincial Leader, 2 March 2023