DA to boycott Magashule's 2018 State of the Province Address
26 February 2018
The DA, alongside our colleagues in the EFF and the FF Plus in the Free State Legislature, has taken a political decision to boycott Premier Ace Magashule’s 2018 State of the Province Address (SOPA) scheduled for tomorrow evening in his home town Parys, as well as the debate following the SOPA. We will also not attend his budget vote speech later next month.
The DA cannot in good conscience add legitimacy to the premiership of a severely compromised individual. In addition to hosting an expensive farewell function disguised as a SOPA event, the Free State Legislature has failed to effectively hold Magashule to account for the numerous allegations of maladministration and corruption that surround his administration.
Magashule has been a pioneer of state capture through the establishment of an intricate patronage network that is characterised by allegations of corruption throughout the province under the guise of the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment. Magashule’s hand in the appointment of officials have seen Free State departments such as Health, Education and Social Development collapse, municipalities are left bankrupt, while basic service delivery are increasingly becoming non-existent.
Magashule first captured the Free State to serve his party political factional ends and has now sold it to unscrupulous business people such as the Guptas, most notably with the controversial Vrede Dairy Project.