KZN is an untapped goldmine of potential jobs and economic growth which is not being realised
30 July 2019
Tourism
I would like to begin today’s Debate on a somewhat positive note in the sea of negativity that currently pervades KwaZulu-Natal. MEC – our beautiful province has huge potential in the tourism sector, but only if we cherish our geographic beauty and capitalise on the sector that can grow jobs.
In Italy, by harnessing the natural and historic beauty of its country, that country has boosted its tourism figures to 13% of the GDP. More than 58 million visitors visited that country in 2017, with 189 billion Euros being generated for the economy. That’s R3 trillion. Italy has the beaches, and the historic buildings. They have beautiful countryside and great places to eat. And guess what? So does KZN!
Our province has the potential to create tourism related jobs on an unprecedented scale. We even have the wildlife no other European country has. We are, in fact, sitting on an untapped goldmine of potential jobs and economic growth.
While some Members of this House may feel uncomfortable about the comparisons between a European country and this province, the hard fact of the matter is that we are in a perpetual tourism war with each and every country in this world. It’s simply not good enough to throw R80 million at Tourism KZN and expect miracles to happen. Coupled with a new raft of tourism laws and amendments, government is simply not making it any easier for tourism operators and emerging entrepreneurs.
And it also does not help when this ANC does not take the preservation of those very things that draw tourists to KZN seriously. Let’s be honest - no international tourist wants to come to KZN and be robbed, visit a dusty and dirty museum or see trucks being burnt on the N3. Nor, coincidentally, do they want to see ANC councillors being violently detained while protesting in support of Zandile Gumede outside Durban city hall.
MEC – then there are the rural roads leading to the very places we want foreigners to visit. These are nothing but obstacle courses with very few industries emerging along these routes. Not a good story to tell!
Economic Development
As we move into the 2019/2020 budget it is only prudent that we look back at the successes of the past. And that’s exactly the problem – there are hardly any, with 20 years of almost zero growth.
There has been a monumental decline in the formal sector, with hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost – forcing the once employed into the informal economy. Now, thanks to the ANC, and its misguided economic policies, we see the queue outside the SASSA offices getting longer and longer.
Our youth aged 15–24 years are undoubtedly the most vulnerable in the South African labour market, with the unemployment rate among this age group 55.2% for the 1st quarter of 2019. According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) results released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), a decline in employment (down by 237 000) and an increase in unemployment (up by 62 000) in the 1st quarter of 2019, compared to the 4th quarter of 2018, led to a decline in the labour force participation rate, which is now standing at 59.3%.
Meanwhile, unemployment in the 1st quarter of 2019 increased by 0.5 of a percentage point, bringing the rate to 27.6%. The burden of unemployment is concentrated amongst the youth (aged 15–34 years) as they account for 63.4% of the total number of unemployed persons.
Then there is the cost of doing business and the significant time delays in licensing and approvals for major projects. This simply makes KZN a place most investors skip in favour of the DA-run Johannesburg or Cape Town.
Essentially, the 2019/2020 budget is much of the same – big on all kinds of ‘pie in the sky’ empowerment initiatives – and low on economic outcomes. No matter what the budget promises, its high time government realises that the private sector drives this economy. And as I stand here today, I wonder exactly when the ANC lost its intestinal fortitude to really start helping the private sector.
The examples of ANC economic failures are legion. One only has to look at the near collapse of Tongaat Hulett and Rainbow Chickens. These practical examples are a stark reminder of the economic apocalypse that happens when the ANC gets into bed with its former struggle supporters like Russia and Brazil and China, in the process throwing local business under the bus. Allowing cheap imports to flood our markets has ruined the clothing, textile, sugar and chicken industry in our province.
The ANC have gone to a great deal of trouble trying to explain away the dismal state of this province. But, it would seem Provincial Government did not see eThekwini buy the former Rainbow chickens farm - the same ones that now stand derelict. And it would seem Zandile Gumede pushed for the farm acquisition - but now her chickens have come home to roost
Of course the ANCs answer to job creation is the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) - a system of part time labour that condemns people to hard labour for the rest of their lives, with little prospect of real economic empowerment. But perhaps this governments’ greatest economic failure has been its seemingly lethargic reaction to the multibillion new industries that could earn the province high economic benefits.
I refer to the bio fuels, cannabis and hemp industries. While the ANC government and this province have ‘talks about talks’, the policy and legal frame work to further the cannabis industry in particular remains a pipe dream. The medical cannabis industry is one that must be policy driven. And urgently. It is potentially one of the biggest new industries to emerge in the past 10 years, and I’m afraid, we are far behind the curve with many of our African neighbours already exporting cannabis to Europe. In the Netherlands, R6.4 billion in tax is generated from cannabis alone annually. In Amsterdam, tourist visits are up to 18 million people per year - much of it driven by the cannabis industry. But here, the ANC spins its back wheels while industrious individuals get on with it and advance this crop.
Imagine a province where our crops of failing sugar cane are diversified into hemp, with a massive resurgence in the clothing and textile industry. Imagine specialised medical manufacturing industries dotted across the province, harnessing the cannabis oil for the pharmaceutical industry. Imagine the jobs in the rural areas where economic development and new revolutionary industries are sorely needed! The great pity is this industry will grow, in spite of this ANC government. And with not a cent in tax being harvested.
But let’s dream even bigger. Bio fuel has the potential to turn each rural sugar mill into a creator of jobs in all sectors. We are aware of the talks at national level, but yet again, it’s just talk. How many years must we wait for the ANC to act while our economy haemorrhages and workers are left in the unemployment queue?
The DA will continue to drive these issues in this House. We will continue to fight for new economy to be developed. And we will certainly hold the provincial executive directly accountable. Again. If you cannot do it. Step aside.
Environmental Affairs
Today I speak to you MEC on behalf of those who cannot speak, who have been neglected, forgotten and simply underfunded by this ANC government for 15 years. I speak on behalf of those Rhino, who are ruthlessly shot in our very own supposedly protected parks – and then have their horns hacked off to be sold for medicine.
But more importantly, today I speak for the herd of 32 beautiful buffalo- both adult and juvenile, who were brutally shot in the head – chopped up and sold for R20 per kg. These beautiful animals, some of them worth more than R30 000 each, were not shot by poachers. In fact, they were shot by Ezemvelo Rangers who were instructed to shoot and sell the animals in an attempt to recoup their relocation costs from the Esimangaliso Park to the Hluluwe Umfolozi Park. Their only crime was that they were suspected of being TB positive after being contaminated by domestic animals. This again due to failed fencing contracts leading to some of the worst bio security issues this province has ever experienced.
They were lined up, shot and butchered because Ezemvelo could seemingly not find less than R300 000 to again relocate the buffalo to Mkhuze. The game capture units’ budget is depleted, and animals are shot. Yet Ezemvelo underspent its budget by R266 million. It is a disgrace and this act of brutality must be condemned in the extreme. It must also act as an example of how dire the consequences are when politicians and those they are supposed to do oversight on simply get it wrong. There must be consequence management
MEC, Premier – it is your failure to control the under-expenditure at Ezemvelo that has led to this killing. You remain complicit in the deaths of these buffalo.
It is encouraging that there are Members of this House who share my concern about the natural degradation of our natural heritage. But do they know that Ezemvelo employs only one veterinary doctor to care for all these animals? And do they know about the many animals that are fed every month, not by Ezemvelo, but by various NGOs and the private sector? Will the ANC speak for them? I think not. Because it is this very same ANC government that is now poised to approve a conservation budget where the three-year anti-poaching budget has been withdrawn. A budget that caters not for the core mandate of Ezemvelo – their preservation- but for the managers and executives.
It is also a budget that sees minimal cash for maintenance and repairs. A top heavy document that seeks to keep upper management in the pound seats while staff languish in dilapidated accommodation, tourists must brave substandard lodges and occupancy rates at what are supposed to be prime tourist attractions, are on average below 50%.
Exactly how Ezemvelo has failed so spectacularly in spending its budget in the last financial year boggles the mind. Driving economic development can be achieved through two ways – effective government interventions, or the private sector. The R266 million underspend by Ezemvelo could have massively boosted the economy by creating contracts and jobs for local communities. And it’s quite simple too. Use the money to build better access roads into our parks, securely fence them, or even upgrade staff accommodation.
The DA has a plan to make Ezemvelo work, despite the projected 5% decrease in equitable share predicted in the next financial years. It is a plan focused on innovative yet basic ways of spending unutilised budget on capital projects that lead to better tourism occupancy rates, safer and more prosperous communities that surround our wildlife area. The DA believes that we must start diversifying who gets the tenders to do fencing and capital projects.
The under-spend is a complete travesty, and one must ask how this could have happened if proper financial planning, and dare I say, political oversight from the former MEC, now our Premier, had taken place. Premier - if you have problems in spending budgets then please do step aside. The DA has a plan that can boost the economy, uplift our wildlife areas, and create jobs.
The DAs plan also includes dealing with what the ANC has neglected since coming to power. An estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic pollution washes into our oceans each year. The stories of the suffering and cruel deaths that dolphins, turtles and ordinary sea life endure due to plastic entanglement are legion. The internet is filled with videos of turtles with plastic straws in their noses and sea birds entangled in plastic wrapping. They suffocate or starve to death.
These are the harsh realities our sea life face. And again I ask, who will speak for them? Why is it that simple trash booms, so successfully used in other countries are noticeably absent from our river mouths. The capturing of potentially recyclable plastic and removal of single use plastics is a potentially extremely lucrative industry. The province must set the standard in this environmental catastrophe given that the ANC municipalities can’t even pay Eskom, never mind know about or understand the horrors of plastic pollution.
The state of our rivers is another issue that must be resolved. The bad news is that nothing will ever change until this ANC fires its incompetent cadres in municipalities, and starts fixing the infrastructure that allows millions of litres of sewerage and waste to flow into the rivers each day.
Ultimately, this Budget and the ones before it are much of the same. A copy and paste APP, high on promises of change and opportunities. This provincial government has essentially become nothing but a financial middleman – passing on money to its entities with minimal political oversight leading to a poor result again and again, and again. The fundamental problem is that when you fail in your responsibility, you fail those who cannot speak for themselves. The rivers, the animals and the environment. And one day – there simply won’t be anything left. And then you would have failed your children, and their children’s children.
It is said that the ANC lives, and the ANC leads. It would seem the ANC government is too intent on resurrecting that Zuma and Gumede ghost of Radical Economic Transformation. Let this province and its wildlife pray that the ANC does not lead us down the garden path that ends in the destruction of this beautiful place we live in.
Issued by Lauren Silen, Media Liaison to the DA in the KZN Legislature, 30 July 2019
