SOPA 2022: Why should the people of KZN believe you now, Premier?

22 February 2022

With the annual State of the Province Address (SOPA) due to be held later this week, Premier Sihle Zikalala faces an impossible task in getting the people of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) to believe a word he says.

This as our province continues to reel from the after-effects of the July 2021 riots, an even more depressed provincial economy, shocking unemployment figures and numerous other challenges.

As the countdown to SOPA begins, the questions are: What is the Premier going to tell the people of KZN that they haven’t heard before? And why should they believe him when he’s unlikely to be in the top job for much longer?

Despite this glaring reality – along with the fact that SOPA has become little more than a public relations exercise – the DA expects the Premier to deal with the following issues on Thursday:

The safety of KZN’s people
The Premier must outline what is being done to ensure that KZN’s people are never again abandoned in their hour of need, as they were during the week of insurrection and anarchy in July 2021. According to a report into the carnage, ANC factional issues played a key role. The same report indicates that it is not a matter of “if” this kind of unrest will happen again, but “when”. On Friday the Premier must tell us what plans he and his cabinet have in place to protect KZN’s people from this. He must also tell us when those who were behind the unrest will be arrested and charged.

SAPS
Given that SAPS is tasked with protecting KZN’s citizens, the Premier must tell us how he is going to capacitate them to do so. Recent oversights conducted by KZN MPLs showed appalling working conditions, insufficient resources and a lack of proper training leaving them ill-equipped to save anyone, let alone themselves.

KZN’s economy
The Premier needs to tell KZN’s people what he is going to do to develop the provincial economy, particularly after the July unrest. His plan needs to be outcomes based. We are tired of the input model with no tangible results. Business and investment is pulling out of our province daily, or collapsing due to the stagnant and declining economy.

Unemployment
The state of the provincial economy translates directly into jobs. The question is: What is the Premier going to do about the fact that KZN’s expanded unemployment figure is sitting at 48.6 % - almost half the working population? Perhaps the Premier should take a leaf out of the book of the President and publically admit that industry and business create jobs, not government. What he and his cabinet need to do is create a conducive environment, with less bureaucratic red tape, to allow business to flourish and create jobs.

Provision of Housing
The Premier needs to advise what is being done about the thousands of people who are still living in horrific conditions in informal settlements and transit camps after being promised their own homes for years by the ANC. After 13 long years, the people of Mathe transit camp in Lamontville are certainly waiting to hear. As are the people of Jika Joe who have now come to the end of their patience.

Local government
The Premier needs to tell us what he and his provincial government are going to do to ensure that all municipalities comply with the Constitution, so that effective service delivery becomes the sole focus of local government. Placing dysfunctional municipalities under administration is a failure. Msunduzi speaks for itself on that count, which he admitted last week. KZN’s residents are sick and tired of paying for services that are non-existent while the bloated bureaucracy grows unabated. The DA wants to see action plans with time frames. We want accountability and consequence – something the Premier so often prides himself and his cabinet with implementing.

It will take nothing less than a miracle for the people of KZN to believe what the Premier tells them on Thursday.

Certainly, he will not be speaking from a position of strength. His job is on the line and after years of false promises by the ANC, the people of KZN have had enough. The 2021 Local Government Elections made this very clear.

The Premier and his ANC talk about a capable and ethical state – but they cannot implement it. They talk about transparency and accountability, but they cannot implement it. This is because the ANC has shown repeatedly that it cannot self-correct and that it is unable to transcend from a liberation movement to a party of good governance.

Issued by Francois Rodgers, Leader of the DA in the KZN Legislature, 22 February 2022