KZN SOPA Debate: KZN’s people deserve more than a ‘watch this space’ ANC government

28 February 2019

The Democratic Alliance today extends a warm welcome to the Premier after yesterday’s unfortunate incident, siyakwaMukela Macingane. Kuyasithokozisa ukuba nawe futhi namuhla. Personally, I am happy you are back because it’s historic day for both of us. This is your last SOPA debate after serving our people for 25 years in this legislature, while it’s my very first SOPA debate. You are officially passing a baton to us younger generation today and we gladly accept the challenge.

Namuhla yusuku olubalulekile kubantu bakwaZulu Natal, and it is the role of the DA today to review the contents of this Address and to ensure that government is held to account in the interests of the people of KZN. We are the official opposition because in 2014, people in KwaZulu-Natal wanted to test us as the official opposition but now they want to promote us to Government on the 8th of May 2019. 

Honorable Speaker, Yesterday, we heard about the State of our Province – and again we heard about the ANC’s so-called successes while it steered clear of the many failed promises it has made to the people of KZN.

Yesterday’s message was little more than an ANC electioneering message while attempting to fool the people into believing that the ANC would finally deliver.

The Honorable Premier you opted to ignore many pressing issues facing our people here in KZN.

In short, it was another ‘watch this space’ story from an ANC that is merciless and uncaring.

One only has to look at the Elonwabeni Old Age Home in Kokstad to know that the ANC does not care. Here, the Department of Social development has continually failed its 67 elderly and frail residents, leaving the Home without the basic essentials and trying to close the Home and send residents more than 500km away. Another example of a merciless ANC government is the Morester Children’s Home in Ladysmith where 150 children were forcibly removed and dumped at different places around the province. The majority of these other facilities were severely inadequate for caring for the children.

Then there are the 530 cancer patients that died under the ANC Government in this province. Indeed the ANC is killing our people, maybe I should erect the billboard out Legislature.

Honorable Speaker, KZN is nothing like the province we once dreamt it would be, as failed service delivery, unemployment, corruption and crime continue to devastate the lives of ordinary citizens.

Jobs/Agric

Today, more than 25% of KZN’s people are unemployed with the province shedding 128 000 jobs during the fourth quarter of 2018.

And then there is the imminent prospect of 350 000 jobs being lost in the sugar industry.

The truth is that ANC policies are damaging our province – economically and socially.

Honorable Premier when I take over from you after elections the DA will be;

- Creating job centres throughout KwaZulu-Natal that provide information, advice and free internet to job-seekers.

- Growing small business opportunities through increased funding assistance and removing blockage and red-tape.

- Prosecuting and eliminating the practice of ‘sex for jobs’ and carpet interviews.

- Prosecuting and eliminating the practice of ‘cash for jobs’ and corruption in allocating jobs.

Hon Premier – yesterday you tried to blame the drought for high unemployment levels and did not say one word about food security. Yet the province’s single biggest failure lies within its own agriculture department.

Last year this critical department completely missed the crop planting season. This is unprecedented. To make matters worse, this is the department that consistently underspends its budget while R220 Million in drought relief funding has disappeared.

Honorable Premier, We were expecting you to tell us about action steps towards investigating R220 million. But you ignored this.

Land

The reality is that the ANC does not know how to fix KZN’s problems. And while it continues to talk in circles it is also confused when it comes to policy direction, in particular the issue of land.

Yesterday the Premier spoke about successful programmes with emerging farmers and commercial farmers. If these are working so well then why the need to Amend section 25 of the Constitution?

“This kind of tone also confuses your real youth league in exile, the EFF”

Hon Premier - when you say this-

Are you not out of sync with your national counterparts?

Do they know what you are saying?

Which faction is running KZN?

And why does former President Zuma attend KZN events and not show up at national events? Why did he decline a SONA invite from President Ramaphosa but attended KZN’s SOPA?

Is the presence of Msholozi about ensuring that Nkosazana-Dlamini-Zuma becomes the Premier in case DA don’t win? We know the ANC want a women Premier for the first time in KZN - in case you win - but there is no suitable candidate here.

The favourite is comprised ...Shame

Crime

Honorable Speaker,

Yesterday, the Premier spoke about the rise in murder cases, robberies & drug violence. Yet he failed to provide solutions such as the re-establishment of specialized units.

The DA has a plan to make our police service honest, professional and effective in fighting crime. We will focus on:

- Fighting corruption within the police.

- Retraining police officers to serve and protect with pride.

- Hiring people with a passion for policing.

- Ensuring that law and order is maintained in our communities, and that there are effective arrests, prosecutions and convictions of criminals.

The Premier mentioned something about the Moerane Report but nothing was said about implementing its recommendations.

As far as the DA is aware the only legal consequence of this Commission is that I was charged for taking a photo of the cover of the Moerane commission document and posting it on Facebook. I was charged by the Honorable Premier on instruction from the ANC PEC.

The Premier spoke about CFP’s being formed yet these groups receive no equipment or funding from provincial government, leaving many dysfunctional or mere talk shops.

Corruption

Honorable Speaker, We were hoping the Premier would tell us how his government is planning to deal with corruption.

Clearly corruption is acceptable within the ANC. But it is not acceptable to the people of this province. You are stealing from them.

- Tell us about Mike Mabuyakhulu, who is currently out on bail for alleged fraud regarding the Jazz Festival. Then there is still a big question mark around the Amigos

- What about the rotting water pipes, lying in fields in Umkhanyakude – bought through a dodgy tender awarded to MEC Cogta husband?

- What about KZN municipalities and cadre deployment?

- What about the long-outstanding forensic investigations within various departments – for example KZN’s agriculture department – where there are no apparent consequences

- What about the KZN school nutrition programme – tender fraud

- KZN Music house – the Board resigned in  hurry rather than face consequences of fraud

We can see corruption within the collapsing Ethekwini metro and you can smell the corruption as you pass Camperdown

Msunduzi has already collapsed while the COGTA MEC is not willing to publically announce this or to put them under administration. Instead she is spending time on IFP-run municipalities and creating instability for political gains at the expense of the people. The ANC tried to bribe DA Councilors in Abaqulusi Municipality and we got the regional leadership arrested. Now the ANC PEC has instructed Cabinet to approve backdoor power by putting them under Administration.

Honourable Premier – it is clear that this MEC is more interested in politicking than with good governance. She puts her political opponents - IFP municipalities - under administration and turns a blind eye to the real failures – the ANC run municipalities such as Msunduzi, Richmond, Ugu and Mzimkhulu.

Borders

The Premier spoke about the need for communities to get involved in stopping cross border crime and the lack of volunteers for this.\

The DA has a plan to secure our borders and stop illegal immigration.
 We believe that it is important to:

- Assist, support and care for legitimate refugees and asylum seekers.

- Attract foreign nationals with scarce skills to South Africa to help us grow our economy and create jobs.


- And the DA will secure our borders and stop illegal immigration by:

- Arresting, detaining and deporting those who repeatedly enter our country illegally

- Ensure undocumented immigrants are regularised or assisted in leaving the country if they do not meet the criteria for remaining in the country.

- Strengthening our border posts. Through proper control and order, we can create corruption-free and effective border security and control.

- Eradicating the corruption and inefficiency endemic to Home Affairs.

Service delivery

Yesterday, we heard about accountability yet there was no mention of the fact that only 12% of KZN municipalities received clean audits

Violent service delivery protests are all over the province due to the fact that people are frustrated.

In KZN hardly a day goes by without a service delivery protest. Mostly these protests are violent. Protests have become clear signs that people are sick and tired of lack of basic services and corruption.

Lack of access to running water has been identified as the major trigger for the protests. How our people are going to survive without water Hon. Premier?

KZN recorded more than 530 public protests in financial year 2017/18. And in the first four months alone of 2018, more than 270 illegal protests were reported in the province.

The Premier told us about the R87m spent on disaster management centres in last five years yet failed to tell us that COGTA has not allocated any funding for disaster management in the last financial year.

Education

Yesterday, the Premier spoke about an improved matric pass mark. This was done by dropping the pass mark, a low learner retention rate and high drop-out rate.

We also heard that a substantial portion of the Education budget goes towards school maintenance and upgrades. The truth is that less than 1% of the budget is spent on this critical area.

There was also nothing about the massive rise in school violence or how posts for security guards have been frozen. We also heard nothing about how corruption within the NSNP almost left millions of learners without food at school.

We heard how 47 000 learners have benefited from learner transport.  This figure has not changed in three years while the need for this service is almost 100 000.

Health

Yesterday, we heard nothing about the province’s oncology crisis – even after the deaths of hundreds of people and while no one knows where thousands of cancer patients are.

There was no mention of KZN’s maternal and infant mortality rates being amongst the highest in the country.

We heard about 1million circumcisions but we did not hear anything about how this falls short of the 2019 2.3 million target.

We heard nothing about the dismal failure of the five NHI pilot sites performed. And we heard nothing about the fact that while 200 ambulances were purchased, they are not replace an ageing fleet and are not new vehicles or the fact that we have nowhere near the 1 057 needed to service the province.

Then there is the ANC’s Cuban Medical programme which is a waste of time and money while it refuses to allow for training through private universities in South Africa – a move which would over time yield enormous results for our economy.

Transport

While conflict within the public transport sector – in particular the minibus taxi industry – continues, the provincial government has not addressed the key areas of concern which include;

- Conflicted interest groups including ownership of taxis. It is well known that some law enforcement officers have a direct stake in the taxi industry
- Political interests with some taxi associations providing logistic support to certain political parties especially during elections and then expecting their violations to be ignored and to be granted favoured status
- Mismanagement of the process of issuing taxi permits and route permits with stiff competition for control of lucrative routes result in killings.

Social Development

It is disappointing to note that Social Development hardly featured yesterday as its core mandate is to serve the most vulnerable in our province.

The Department suffers from a chronic number of unemployed social workers that are desperately needed in the province for capacity and monitoring in the NGO sector. 

There has been numerous cases of maladministration and corruption in the NGO sector due to the lack of oversight 

Other critical issues in KZN that were glossed over yesterday include;

- The remuneration of iZinduna. This unfunded mandate remains the single biggest crisis facing the provincial economy

- Green energy projects in KZN. This while load-shedding remains a constant threat and the economy remains stagnant and;

- The current land invasions which are threatening the stability of our province.

Conclusion

All the issues I have raised are the direct result of an ANC-led provincial government which has failed to show strong political will and take the difficult decisions required.

The DA has a vision for a better future for our province. Our track record in government confirms that we are able to bring about positive change.

So, when I say the DA know how to unlock the potential in our economy and attract investment in order to create jobs, that’s not just talk.

And when I say we don’t tolerate corruption and mismanagement of public funds, our track record confirms this.

Our track record also says the 16 million people who live under DA governments are better off than those who live under ANC governments.

Today that better life is within the reach of the people of KZN through the DA’s plan for KZN. On Sunday, 3 March, the DA will unpack this offer at the launch of our KZN Election Manifesto. The people of KZN have the opportunity to get our province back on track. That begins with voting for One South Africa for All under a DA-led government.

Issued by Zwakele Mncwango, Leader of the DA in the KZN Legislature/DA KZN Premier Candidate, 28 February 2019