Western Cape Premier has no clothes on
1st December 2011
We have reached the half way mark of the Premier, and everyone can see that the emperor has no clothes on.
We have reached the halfway mark of the Premier's term and all she has managed to do is look younger than when she started her term. This is probably not unusual because what you see is not what you get, with this Premier. There has been a lot of promises and a lot of hot air but nothing has actually happened besides getting the City to collude in a manner where the Premier could dictate the focus. If one considers the following;
1. The Province is more divided, than even under Apartheid. The black people are neglected and the conservative whites are emboldened by her fit for purpose slogan, which is an excuse to reinstate the old white guard.
2. The big tenders in City are Province is going to white companies in the main.
3. The Public transport from the Cape Flats is in a deeper crisis than it was before the Premier took over, but she has put in place a fancy bus system to the old white area of Table View, where people have cars and don't have urgent problems
4. There have been fewer houses built than in any other year and less services provided to poor communities, and she and her Mayor has comforted the Constantia crowd that they would never have to tolerate the poor crowd in their back yards.
5. Funds have not been spent and attempts were made to roll over funding to the next year, or fiscal dumping a variety of projects like land purchases.
6. There is no sense of stimulating the economy for jobs for all , instead the sectors that DA members are involved I, is given Millions of Rands , like the tourism sector , at the cost of a Manufacturing sector , where black people are the production workers..
7. The schools are even more divided along racial lines, with great facilities for the wealthy and poor facilities for working families - no pledge made to give poorer learners the same opportunities.
8. They have closed down the institution that is tasked with building Social cohesion and integrated public policy in their attempts to side line labour and Civil Society who they see as the ANC. They have set up new institutions where they only have business on board, thus displaying their disdain for Labour.
9. In safety and security they have been unable to confront the scourge of Gangs and drugs and so look for a deal with gangsters where they must sell drugs quietly, without fighting for the drug turfs.
There has been no vision or inspirational leadership emerging from the First person of the province, communities are losing hope and all the Premier does is wear a better outfit every day, and shining like a lamp pole . The Premier spends millions of Rands on promoting herself, whilst she is caught out collecting 2 salaries. Half of the term and there is nothing to show for poor working families, while the elites get ever more benefits from city and Province.
This is an example where the emperor professes to wear finer clothes every day and now people can see that the emperor actually has no clothes on.
Statement issued by COSATU W Cape Provincial Secretary, Tony Ehrenreich, December 1 2011
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