District Development Model is the last attempt by Premier Makhura’s administration to centralise power and empty municipalities’ coffers

Madame Speaker,

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is concerned about the vigorous way in which the Premier spoke in terms of the implementation of the District Development Model in Gauteng. This model focuses on the implementation of a “One Plan” with a “One Budget”, which is a clear indication that the Premier wants to leave a legacy of centralized power, which completely undermines the principles of our constitution. 

This “One Plan” will bind all municipalities in the province and their Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) into certain projects and commitments for the next 25-30 years. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that centralized power should be avoided at all costs. We saw what happened with the National Command Council, where we became prisoners within our own houses, being held hostage by our government. 

Neither the Constitution nor the IGR Framework Act, the Municipal Systems Act nor the MFMA makes provision for the District Development Model. The purpose of the IGR is for cooperation and support and not to undermine, control or prescribe to municipalities. Premier, do not be deceived, the IGR and the District Development Model are not the same. We must protect the autonomy of the municipalities. Let each municipality plan for its future. 

This SOPA also includes a lot of champions to champion this dream of centralized power. The DA cannot help but wonder if the ethics champions will become judges, jury, and perpetrators in our many cases of corruption within our provincial government. Will the District Development Champions be appointed to manage, or even worse, replace our mayors within our various municipalities? Will the ward-based war room champions be replacing the duly elected councillors within our various wards across the province? 

This model has no financial benefit for municipalities, and in fact, it will in all likeliness only cost our municipalities more money, stealing from the people who are already suffering at the hands of the provincial government. This will generate even more underfunded mandates from the provincial government such as emergency services, motor vehicle licensing, clinics, libraries and even housing. 

The writing is on the wall, and the real question one should ask is whether this District Development Model is not a final coup d’etat from the ANC?

Is the District Development Model not a final attempt by the ANC to hang on to power, projects, and money ahead of the 2024 elections after they lost control of so many municipalities in 2021? 

Madame Speaker, the Premier also proudly announced the establishment of a Debt Management Committee (DMC) to facilitate the settlement of government debt. It is, however, important that this House hears the truth about this DMC. 

This committee met once a quarter over the last year and yielded very little to no success from its meetings. But, approximately two weeks ago, the decision was taken for this committee to meet every two weeks and to finally do what it was intended to do. This came at a time when the City of Tshwane and City of Johannesburg respectively decided to take power into their own hands and started an intensified disconnection campaign, which lead to various Provincial Governmental Departments and facilities being left without power. 

Mr Premier, the truth is that you should thank the DA-led coalition governments for their no-nonsense approach to billing and debt recovery. 

In Johannesburg, there is still a total of R422 755 347, in Tshwane there is R326 159 946 outstanding, and in Ekurhuleni, there is a total of R80 million still overdue. 

This is close to a billion rand that the Provincial Government owes the local municipalities. I know these figures are enormous for some of us to fully comprehend, so let me break this down into simpler terms, R1 billion is equivalent to 14 000 new RDP houses or equivalent to 1000 kilometres of tarred roads. This lack of payment is robbing our municipalities, but more so robbing our residents of the services they deserve. 

If the provincial government cannot even pay its debt to municipalities, how can we be sure that they will be able to manage the District Development Model with one plan and one budget for the entire province?

Section 154(1) of the Constitution states that the National Government and Provincial Government by legislative and other measures must support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their affairs, to exercise and to perform their functions. Not to attempt to control them.

The DA rejects the District Development Model and demands that this House stands firm against this model and the lies that the Premier is trying to sell us. We need to stand for the rule of law to protect our constitution. We should stand firm against state capture, centralisation of power, and interference from other spheres of government. We must keep governance as close as possible to the people, with easy access to the services they deserve.

Gauteng residents continue to suffer due to the Department of Social Development’s constant under spending

The Gauteng Department of Social Development has been constantly underspending on its allocated budget whilst the vulnerable residents of Gauteng continue to suffer. To be honest – this department has been caught with its pants down when Covid-19 arrived on our shores.  Underspending by R438 million for such a crucial department is a criminal offence. Social Development used to be a department that I thought many did not pay attention to but with the Covid-19 pandemic, I understood truly how crucial its role is. 

Premier, I listened with full concentration as you delivered the State of the Province Address on Monday. In the beginning, you said you would be honest and mention the successes but also acknowledge the shortcomings of your government and I listened attentively. None of the shortcomings were mentioned.

During the Covid-19 period, the department was forced to act on impulse and accommodate homeless people. Then they promised that they would develop a much-needed homelessness strategy and even allocate R84 million to this plan. 

A promise was made and presented to the portfolio committee, it is now February 2022 almost 2 years since Covid-19 came and there is no strategy presented to the committee. The Minister of Public Works donated six buildings to this province to be used as shelters – again nothing has come of these buildings. 

The young and vulnerable people of this province were denied much-needed dignity packs as well as school uniforms. On paper without thorough analysis, one would be made to believe that the department is meeting its targets but what is happening is that the department keeps on rolling over funds from the previous year. 

Let me remind this House that living with albinism or having a monthly period is not a choice. At this moment, I would like to pay respect to the late Kuli Roberts – a fighter for people with albinism.

When will cooperatives be transitioned into businesses that are incubated so that they can bid fairly for the work that they do? For almost four years, the department has told the committee that they are busy appointing a company that will sub-contract cooperatives. This is not happening because this is the area in which the department is failing dismally. 

In 2014, I found the same cooperatives on the database – no growth but solely dependent on government, now that government due to treasury regulations cannot finance cooperatives, they are struggling to stay afloat, and some are closing their doors. 

Whilst the department is getting clean audits, many NGOs that work for this government continue to get late payments. 

Yes, finally the monitoring and evaluation was started in the department, but they don’t seem to understand how to capacitate NGOs to ensure that they are compliant, or the department doesn’t know how to maintain compliance with regards to NGOs.

Either way, the beneficiaries and staff employed by these NGOs are the ones that suffer.

The ECD stimulus package would have gone a long way to cushioning the ECD sector, but the department was not ready to spend that money. 

Honourable premier, you made a promise on Monday to the people of Gauteng that you will release the SIU reports. From the Social Development perspective, I am waiting to see the outcome of the conduit payments investigations where to this day nothing has happened – a person went missing!

In conclusion, the Gauteng Department of Social Development needs a more effective and proactive monitoring and evaluation unit that develops compliant solutions to assist the welfare sector. This will ensure on-time payments for NGOs so that the vulnerable are protected and there is continuous empowerment of NGOs to ensure that treasury requirements are complied with. The department poverty alleviation programmes also need to contribute to job creation or entrepreneurship in this province. This is urgent and we demand an emergency response. 

I thank you!

Gauteng can only be great again if Premier has the political will to hold his government and officials to account

Madam Speaker,   

Honourable Premier David Makhura,  

Honourable Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature  

I am reminded of the poem written by Wally Serote For Don M. where he says the following:  

“it is a dry white season  

dark leaves don’t last, their brief lives dry out  

and with a broken heart they dive down gently headed for the earth,  

not even bleeding.  

it is a dry white season brother,  

only the trees know the pain as they still stand erect  

dry like steel, their branches dry like wire,  

indeed, it is a dry white season  

but seasons come to pass.”  

Gauteng is currently going through its own ‘dry white season’. How is this possible? Well, let’s take a look the current economic situation in our province.   

UNEMPLOYMENT AND REVILISATION OF THE TOWNSHIP ECONOMY  

The unemployment rate in our province is extremely high.   

Currently this figure stands at 37 percent and has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic which has seen numerous businesses close their doors during the hard lockdown period when the pandemic was at its height.   

To further add to the province’s woes in July last year, this province erupted with violence which saw many residents, particularly those living in the townships, take to the streets in protest and begin looting businesses located in various areas. 

While some may say that this had all the hallmarks of a coup and was not because of poverty, I beg to differ. Our residents are angry and hungry.   

They are fed up with this ‘dry white season’ they are going through.   

They are fed up with government and political promises that are only meant to get political parties votes on election day.   

They no longer just want promise after promise year in and year out.   

For the past eight years we have been hearing the same rhetoric from you Mr Premier about job creation in our province and stimulating our township economy.   

Our residents are tired of empty promises.   

In 2014 provincial government vowed to boost employment and economic inclusion by procuring 75 percent of all goods and services from South African producers, especially SMMEs, townships enterprises and black-owned, women and youth enterprises. This was not achieved.  

Again, a similar promise was made in 2019 that 30 percent of Gauteng’s budget will be spent on procuring goods and services from business in townships. This was also not achieved.   

Madam Speaker, Honourable Premier this is worrying given that if we go into townships like Soweto, you will find businesses owned by residents from the area who are more than capable of providing goods and services that may be needed by government.   

But the major complaint I had from some of these businesses is that they struggle to procure tenders from provincial government and in order for them to get a tiny piece of the pie they have to rely on bigger companies who will then subcontract to them.   

This is the sad reality for our township enterprises and in order for this ‘dry white season’ to come to pass, change is needed – not in two years as I’m afraid by then the damage will be too far gone – but change which you Mr Premier can enact now by doing rather than selling us pipe dreams of a flourishing township economy, job creation programmes for our youth and using a failing infrastructure department as a key driver of jobs in our province.   

We do not need a new bill like the Township Economic Development Bill. This is just creating another entity   

We need action.   

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT  

Infrastructure Development is a key driver of job creation in any economy.   

It is one of the essential arteries of our economy as the maintenance of our critical infrastructure like roads, hospitals, schools, libraries and substations are vital if we want an economy that is able to grow and for a conducive environment to be created for the private sector not just within the borders of our country but also internationally to attract investment to our province.   

But the sad reality is, and Honourable Premier you admitted this at the start of your State of the Province Address (SOPA), that the Department of Infrastructure Development Department has failed in this regard.   

They have failed the residents of Gauteng; they have failed our economy.   

Yet, Premier Makhura you do not want to get rid of this department.   

To this end we have opted to table a motion for the dissolution of the Department of Infrastructure Development and the removal of MEC Tasneem Motora.  Here are but a few examples of critical projects undertaken by the department that have not been completed on time and where it was eventually completed over budget and still have a number of issues that need to be resolved:  

  • The AngloGold Ashanti Hospital, donated to the Gauteng Provincial Government, under the custodianship of the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development in response to the COVID-19 pandemic saw costs balloon from a budgeted R50 million to R500 million while only 6 patients received treatment at this facility  

      
  • Mayibuye Primary School which was handed over to the appointed contractor in 2015 is to date still not complete. Construction took place illegally as building plans had not been approved, the budget of the project has ballooned to over R100 million while the school has been allegedly built on a sewerage line  

      
  • The Nokuthula LSEN School could not receive an occupancy certificate. This school was built on a wetland and the boarding school hostel could not be occupied until remedial work was done. In addition, water damage to the school was extensive.  

     

    This department should be dissolved and the services that this department is supposed to provide should be aligned to the departments, so that the current departments which are the customers/users of the services of infrastructure development should be able to roll out and complete their own projects directly.   

      

    CORRUPTION  

     

    Madam Speaker, Premier Makhura, we all know that corruption within the government departments exist, but the Covid-19 pandemic exposed just how deeply the rot of corruption runs in this province.   

     

    In 2015 a commitment was made by the Premier that the Integrity Management and Anti-Corruption Unit will be fully operational by the end of that year. Again, this did not happen. It is definitely a ‘dry white season’ for this province   

     

    Holding our government officials and public representatives to account is the only way in which we can ensure that the rot of corruption that runs so deep within our provincial government is removed.   

      

    It is the public money that is being looted by thieves masquerading as honourable politicians and officials who unashamedly steal our hard-earned taxes. This needs to end, and it needs to end now. Corruption cannot and should not be the norm in our government structures.    

      

    Under your watch, corruption has festered and has now turned into a cancerous blight on the province that is seemingly very difficult to get rid of because the political will does not exist to do so.    

      

    Furthermore, during last year’s SOPA a promise was made that following the finalisation of 73 forensic investigations and the 66 cases that were referred to law enforcement agencies for criminal investigation and civil recovery that we would see action, yet we do not know the current status of these investigations, and nothing has yet been made public on this.   

     

    Again, we heard the same during this year’s SOPA.   

     

    Madam Speaker, Honourable Premier, it is a ‘dry white season’, but seasons come to pass- in order for this season to pass we need firm political will.  

     

    We need a Premier who is prepared to do what is necessary to ensure that our residents are given proper basic service delivery. We do not need pipe dreams; we do not need any more committees or commissions to be established.   

     

    What we need is for you Premier to make sure that all your MECs do what is required of them and that is to see that our residents live in a province that works like a well-oiled machine, so that this season that we are in can come to pass.   

     

    If this does not happen, we will see more of the protest action that we saw in July as our residents particularly those who are unemployed become more and more disillusioned with your administration.  

      

    Be bold and hold those MECs whose departments are failing when it comes to service delivery to account. Remove them if need be.   
  • ​Over the last eight years Premier, you have either partially met or not met any of the 104 promises you have made during your SOPA speeches. 



    This ship will not continue to float if the rot continues to fester, and this ‘dry white season’ will not come to pass.   

     

    Show us and the residents of Gauteng that you have the political will to deliver basic services to our residents, to grow our economy so that our province can once again be known as the City of Gold that glimmers with hope.   

     

    Where a better life can be built for all who live in this province.   

     

    Let us work towards truly making Gauteng great again.   

      

    I thank you.   

Premier Makhura’s dream of making Gauteng a vibrant province is ‘gone too soon’

Madam Speaker,

Honourable Members,

Good Morning.

Let me start by congratulating all the learners who sat for the 2020 end of year examinations, and especially to the Matric learners. To all teachers who rejected the call to postpone the future of our children, we salute you, well done! 

We are joining you in celebrating the outstanding performance of our learners, schools, districts, and the province during this difficult period of the national lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Honourable Premier, when Covid-19 first hit the country, it created so many uncertainties, however, South Africans gave all their trust to politicians who are the leaders in government to guide them and manage the pandemic. 

When the national lockdown was implemented in March last year, people had hoped that government was doing its absolute best to contain the virus and putting the nation’s interest first.  Little did they know that politicians were taking advantage of this pandemic to enrich themselves.

Honourable Premier, when you said there is no corruption in Gauteng, we almost believed you. Remember the first corruption allegations when Mr. Hamilton Mtshali bought luxurious vehicles which went viral on social media? 

There were also claims that you were blessed with one of the best Jeep cars from Hamilton as a reward for offering him a big Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) tender. You then corrected it and that was when the PPE tender scandals started to be exposed throughout the country. 

Some politicians could not resist the temptation but continued to break the trust. It was difficult for the opposition politicians to conduct robust oversight and to hold the executive to account because of the lockdown regulations. 

Many of these regulations did not even make sense or based on science, but South Africans were informed that it was part of government’s commitment to save lives. 

Many people failed to bid farewell to their beloved ones. Interprovincial travel was prohibited. 

Many have lost income as their companies could not conduct business as a result of the lockdown regulations. Many jobs were lost while some tenderpreneurs were busy at work. They were focused on looting the public coffers.

Real entrepreneurs lost out because they do not have the so-called good network with government. Unfortunately, the tenderprenuers are not creating employment opportunities but they are winning huge tenders. 

It is appalling to learn that the learning and teaching technology deployed in our schools in this province does not match the 4th industrial revolution needs. The Gauteng Broadband Network (GBN) is not ready to connect anyone in this province. 

Schools were closed as there were many organizations and parents advocating against the opening of schools during the pandemic. We are proud that the decision to continue with learning and teaching under difficult circumstances was taken. 

We have managed to navigate, and even though while some of us supported this decision, others saw an opportunity to loot from the Gauteng Department of Education and other departments.

The Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi told the members of the Education Portfolio Committee in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) and the residents of this province that he will give each school R15 000 to disinfect all schools and that they had also received free disinfect services from Bidvest to ensure that all schools are safe and sanitized.

Little did we know that R431 million was up for grabs and many schools did not benefit from this money. 

During my recent oversight inspections to different schools across the province, these schools were shocked to learn about R431 million that has been spent on sanitizing schools while they only received R15 000, and some were rendered the free services by Bidvest.

Corruption denies our poor people opportunities. As a province we will never win a fight against corruption until there are consequences. 

Enough with more investigations and hiding of the reports like many forensic audits which are kept inside the locked office shelves. 

Who is taking responsibility and who is being held accountable for all these corruption cases?

Certain officials will tell us that the term of office is five years and there will be a change of leadership. Are we witnessing officials revolting against the current administration knowing that it is your last term? 

We have seen ongoing irregular expenditures worth billions of rand. Every year, the Auditor-General will make findings, but still remains the government’s challenge to date. 

On the other hand, our provincial department consistently underspends on its allocated budget yet there are no consequences while communities are denied quality services they deserve. 

As we speak now, there are so many learners who are sitting at home who have not been allocated schools. 

The department has failed to effectively use the online admission system to plan for more intake in high demanding areas. 

The ANC-led Gauteng administration claims that they prioritize poor people and the working class while the children of those parents are sitting at home unplaced as they cannot afford independent schools. 

This is clearly widening the inequality and poverty gap in this province. There is no definite answer as of when these unplaced learners will be allocated schools. 

I have sent so many emails to MEC Lesufi yet there is no solution as to why these children are being subjected to such traumatic situations. 

These learners are losing contact lessons and are now forced to join those who have dropped out of the system.

While provincial government has returned billions of rand to the Treasury due to under expenditure, many schools across the province are in dire need of adequate infrastructure including eradicating asbestos schools.

For example, Diepsloot Secondary Schools does not have a fence, the school has been vandalized and valuable equipment stolen during the school holidays. This school has again achieved 100% pass rate and you promised to build a brick and mortar school but to date there are still using mobile classrooms.

Many schools have been burgled and vandalized several times, yet there are no measures being put in place to secure and safeguard the schools. There is no effective school safety strategy.

Government has failed to build new schools in areas where there are new developments as well as to eradicate asbestos schools, yet they continue to underspend on infrastructure budget with billions of rand. 

While we congratulate the Class of 2020, learner drop out still remains the biggest challenge facing the province. Gauteng enrolled 157 253 Grade 1 learners in 2009. In 2020, 92 285 wrote the Grade 12 matric examination. 

The percentage of learners who started grade 1 in 2009 and wrote the final exams in 2020 and passed is 58.68%.  This is worrying and there is a need for an urgent intervention to address learner dropouts in the province.

The introduction of schools of specialization is a great initiative, however the pace in which these schools are being built or transformed is slow.

The same day when the State of the Province Address (SOPA) was delivered, Stats SA also released unemployment statistics. Education must respond to the unemployment challenge; however, the main focus is on tenderpreneurs instead of entrepreneurs. 

Commitment to publish evaluation reports of all grades was made last year. When will this start? We are tired of empty promises. Honourable Premier, your SOPA failed to deal with unplaced learners. 

The department is failing to help parents to place learners for the inwards grades, yet these children are of school going age. It is the responsibility of the department to ensure that these children attend school. It also the right of these children to access basic education.

In all these years, you have exposed yourself as a Premier who never took accountability for the provincial government as a whole only your office, but your party always talk about collective leadership. 

The constitutional role of the provincial government has not been upheld, corruption has taken the centre stage because you have never actively set the example for your cabinet and senior officials to follow, which makes it even more obvious that you are not fit to continue governing this province.

Premier Makhura’s State of Planning a talk shop devoid of substance

Note to Editors: This speech was delivered in the Gauteng Legislature today by Gauteng Caucus Leader, Solly Msimanga MPL, during the debate on the 2019 State of the Province Address

Madam Speaker,

Today I stand here a proud man as the Leader of the Official Opposition in Gauteng.

Sometimes, our colleagues on the other side of this House understand the word opposition in its denotative form and misinterpret our stance on several issues and challenges that face the people of this province, on a daily basis.

Our existence is a critical one.

Ours is to hold the powers that be to account and to contribute robustly and critically to our democratic discourse.

Ours is not to simply oppose, ours is to be the light that guides the way through these dark socio-economic days bequeathed to us by successive failing governments.

In digesting what was said on Monday, one can only describe it as the Premier’s State of Planning address, a phrase that most aptly jumps to mind is that of surrealist painter Pablo Picasso, and I quote:

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone”.

The question I have to ask the Honourable Premier is, if you were to die today, would you be happy with the things you have left undone?

In your address on Monday, the 6th administration intends to pick up directly where the 5th one left off, with much talk and very little action.

In 2014, I sat in this House and listened attentively to what you had to say, hoping that under your watch, the province would begin to turn the tide on skulduggery that was your predecessor, and state capture damsel Nomvula Mokonyane’s reign of terror.

Sadly, by 2015, with the cancellation of the Life Esidimeni contract which led to the most horrendous deaths of some of the province’s most vulnerable citizens, the “Giant-slayer” hype had all but died and it was business as usual.

In your inaugural State of the Province address Honourable Premier, you envisaged so much for this province, yet very few of these promises were fulfilled. Just to remind you, here are but a few:

  • Gauteng securing its own source of energy to mitigate the impact of load shedding;
  • The retrofitting of solar panels to GPG buildings to reduce government’s carbon footprint and to save funds which could be better directed elsewhere;
  • Convictions of crooks fleecing the state of public funds;
  • Down-scaling the extravagance of MEC lifestyles and closing the taps of unbridled opulence within departments;
  • The mass roll-out of broadband and Wi-Fi throughout the province; and
  • Fixing an ailing health department that bleeds public funds due to negligence while at the same time kills businesses by not paying them on time.

These Honourable Premier are just a few items that slipped off your radar, there are many more.

But while I am on the topic of things left undone, I must address the elephant in the room, e-Tolls. In 2014, you instituted a review panel to deal with this unjust system whose gantries cast an ominous spectra over our freeways.

This review was nothing but a ruse. Your so-called “people’s march” to the union building was nothing but a ruse. I am most certain that once again, your utterances on Monday were but another ruse.

You have the power to dismantle this system. Nothing should hold you back. If this system was the anathema you claim it to be, you would have rid us of it long time ago.

You say the Gauteng Provincial Government will even pay towards the debt to free us of e-Tolls, but my question Honourable Premier is where will you get this money?

The province is already barely scarping through to make ends meet, now you want to throw good money after bad National government decision, which lacked proper public and inter-government consultations.

We as the DA don’t buy what you’re selling and come end of August, if we don’t have a definite date of the removal of those gantries, we will bring a motion to this House to lodge an inter-governmental dispute on the matter so that the people of Gauteng no longer have to endure the anxiety of being persecuted for using the roads.

Similarly, it is quite sad that through your pronouncement to pawn the Gauteng Provincial Health services off to National Government, you have officially tried to shirk the responsibility of providing caring and dignified health services to the people of this province.

It is a widely known fact that the Health Department is in an absolute shambles.

It is widely known that if you need to make use of a GPG healthcare facility that it is likely you may come out worse than when you went in.

This is evident through the high number of medico-legal claims against the department year in and year out.

This department must care for the highest number of patients in South Africa, yet as the country’s largest economy, this province should be up to the task of managing this demand.

If it were not for the nefarious deeds of some of your comrades and cadres, who have seemingly escaped justice, this department would not be in the state that it is.

Hospitals and clinics should be allowed to control their own budgets and manage their own affairs, as it is the staff at these institutions who know best what is required and how to react to the demands of our people.

If we continue down the path we have been on, it is likely that more shameful incidents like the cancelling of operations at the Thelle Moegerane Hospital due to a shortage of clean linen will occur and continue to put lives of our people at risk.

Another risk this government has taken is by playing games with our young people’s futures.

It is all good and well to implement tablets and smartboards, but if the critical juncture between teacher application and learner comprehension is not met, then all the technology in the world will not save our children.

What is needed Honourable Premier is for you to tackle SADTU head-on to resolve the issues that are plaguing the education system in Gauteng.

It cannot be the case that learners are abandoned in class while teachers head off for union meetings and do not make this time up.

This does our youth a disservice and, likely, contributes to the high dropout rate of children who do not make it all the way to Matric.

Likewise, it is critical that there is an introduction of the Common Annual Provincial Assessments. The primary purpose of these assessments is to inform teaching and improve learning.

These assessments contribute to constructive learning processes and provide useful feedback to learners, parents and teachers. Without standardised and frequent monitoring, it is impossible to gauge the level of competence of learners and what steps can be taken to rectify difficulties that may be taking place.

It is also of critical importance that learners are provided adequate and safe school environments. It is imperative that an audit is done of our schools to assess their safety and establish enforceable maintenance plans.

Quality educational outcomes are not possible in dilapidated, overcrowded and unsafe schools. Without quality education, we as a nation are doomed. Perhaps in this term we should also visit the case of schools buildings that are not being utilized, which in some cases turn into havens for criminal elements.

On the Economy

Look no further than the perilous state of our economy and the thousands of young people within the ranks of the unemployed.

Sadly, under this administration, our unemployed youth have little to look forward to.

If we look to our regional competitors, the likes of Rwanda, Ghana and Ethiopia the approach we have been taking has indeed been unrewarding.

The fundamental difference between them and us is that an environment conducive to investment and growth has been fostered, unlike here where outdated and debunked Marxist theory still manages to find a space on the economic stage.

Our systems of governance are bureaucratic, cumbersome and lethargic. It is difficult for any business to be born, grow and prosper.

Yet despite this, the market is still finding ways to make inroads where it can.

During your speech on Monday Honourable Premier, you peeled off a string of success stories that you tried to claim as your own. The truth is, these success stories have nothing to do with your administration.

Rather, they are the fruits of the labour of those that seek to prosper in the face of adversity.

This shows that it is the market that is best poised to make in-roads. Imagine if government created a conducive environment for growth by making doing business easier, providing policy certainty and then standing back allowing enterprising individuals to prosper. I hear you talking about this now as I’ve heard you a number of times before.

The question is, will we now see action, or will we at the end of this term face the same situation?

If we were to act, Imagine the economic benefits this would have?

Imagine the dent this would make to the unemployment figure and the trickle- down effect it would have on the families of those for whom gaining meaningful employment has been just a dream?

If your government can start to understand these principles, this province’s economy would prosper. More foreign direct investment would start pouring into the economy, creating a positive stimulus and ultimately, more jobs.

If you are serious about fostering this environment Honourable Premier, we will be more than happy to assist. We will show you how to do as we have done in the Western Cape where unemployment is decreasing while job creation is booming through the bold initiatives we have put in place.

You see Honourable Premier, the 21st century is poised to be the African century.

Markets across the continent are booming, many have faced up to the fact that the 4th industrial revolution is an inevitable epoch and as such have started to mould their way of operating in order to reap its many rewards. With the African free-trade agreement in place, South Africa and particularly Gauteng could be a major role player in this common marketplace.

Many successful South African companies have already branched out into Africa and are succeeding. As you said on Monday, this agreement could foster growth domestically and abroad, yet if this government continues to operate at the snail’s pace that it currently does, our people will be left in the successful wake of others.

To do this Honourable Premier, you need a strong dose of introspection. This province is riddled with corrupt individuals who rob our people of their dignity and opportunities.

A few years ago, you held a Corruption Summit and established an advisory panel, yet very few individuals have been held to account.

Corruption eats away at the fabric of our society.

Where are the lifestyle audits you so proudly claimed would be introduced to ensure public servants are held to account and kept inline?

You say you are waiting for the go-ahead from national government, yet like the e-Tolls, you have the power to act, yet you vacillate in the hopes that like many of your other so-called bold initiatives, this plan gets confined to the dustbin of history.

In this regard, you held a crime summit with the intention of coming down hard on criminals and odious characters who have our people in a vice-like grip of fear.

Some of the most atrocious crimes take place in Gauteng, and they happen Honourable Premier, because like much else that falls within the mandate of the ANC there are no consequences for wrong doers Criminals know that the SAPS is under-resourced, fatigued and in some instances are criminals themselves.

They know that people living outside of metro areas are highly vulnerable because policing in these areas is minimal.

People living in informal settlements suffer terribly at the hands of criminals because they are often overlooked and there are insufficient resources in place to service these highly populous areas.

Premier Makhura, we are cognisant of and welcome your stance on fighting crime, yet it is high time we start to see results.

The people of Gauteng can no longer endure living in a gangster’s paradise. They deserve security and peace of mind in their homes and public spaces.

Your Zama-Zama initiative is commendable, but it comes with a number of issues that if not carefully dealt with could further entrench the dangers that come with this activity. Who will regulate their activity and how will they do it? How do we ensure their safety? How do we keep the communities in which they operate safe?

I am sure you have not answered these questions because like so many of your other promises, it has probably been kicked into touch, only to be thought of again in 100 days’ time.

Honourable Premier, I must reiterate that many of the things you announced on Monday are old ideas wrapped in new, shiny rhetoric.

The development of agricultural activities is not a new idea. In 2014, when announcing your activities for the various corridors, the West Rand was to be a place of agricultural prosperity.

I agree Honourable Premier that this is an activity that we as a province must take full advantage of. Not only to grow this economy and create jobs, but also to add to the food security of Gauteng.

This activity will help many of the people living in the region as most of the towns there are dying a slow and agonizing death due to the downscaling of mining activities and dreadful governance .

It is these places that have had to bear the brunt of weak governance. These are the towns that suffer because financial mismanagement has seen their revenue depleted and are now having to operate without funds.

Where, Honourable Premier, is the report into the illegal investments with VBS Bank?

This report was promised to us in February by former Finance MEC Barbara Creecy, yet it has not seen the light of day.

This is yet more lip-service and once again, cadres who have pilfered public funds will not face the consequences of their actions.

How can you claim to be hard on wanton officials when there are a litany of claims of mismangement in various GPG departments?

When, Honourable Premier, will the accounting officers be held accountable for poor financial governance?

I am glad that you intend to sign performance agreements with members of your cabinet, but should action against one of them be required, do you have the conviction to act? Your previous handling of such issues – look no further than how you dealt with the Angel of Death, Qendani Mahlangu, suggest you will be impotent and ineffectual.

I applaud you for wanting to make these performance agreements public, but the must be another political stunt. The people of Gauteng should be able to exercise greater oversight and hold your executive to account. Therefore, these performance agreements and their reviews must be publicized every quarter. Failure to do so will make those performance agreements worth less than the paper they are written on.

Throughout your State of Planning address, you touched on Housing – an issue that is sensitive to many of our people who are yearning for security of tenure and dignified housing.

In the hundred days it will take the MEC for Human Settlements to draw up a semblance of a plan of action – millions of Gauteng’s poor and destitute will have to endure a bitter winter, unprotected from the extremes of freezing evenings and mornings.

Human settlements in this province is a disgrace and your government must hang its head in shame for perpetuating the cycle of poverty and homelessness. It is not only through carelessness and ignorance has this hardship been inflicted on our people, sometimes it is through the greed of cadres that people are subjected to inhumane conditions.

Just yesterday, the Daily Maverick exposed how the roll-out of sanitation in the ANC Metro of Ekurhuleni is being exploited through inflated rates and dubious tenders to benefit the pockets of a few predatory elite.

Another sensational scandal that you were deafly mute on throughout your State of Planning Address were the incomplete Evaton and Alex Renewal projects.

During the campaign season this issue became a political hot-potato with enormous amounts of blame shifting and little accountability from those who were meant to implement these projects.

You undertook to investigate what had happened to the funds and what tangible assets were delivered to our people. However, like Roman Emperor Nero, you seemingly fiddle while these places burn.

When will the people of Evaton and Alex be given answers, when will those who are implicated in wrongdoing be brought to book?

When will there be an audit of these programmes to ascertain what was delivered and what was not?

I must ask you Honourable Premier, how do you sleep at night knowing that the suffering of our people lands squarely at the feet of your fellow cadres?

Your pronouncements on Mega-Human Settlements to address the housing backlog is nothing new. You announced this in 2014. It is critical then, Honourable Premier, to ascertain in the past 5 years – how many of these have come to fruition?

Similarly, the old Apartheid relics known as hostels, which are hellholes, were to be converted into family units. To my mind this has not happened. If so, please tell us which have been converted and where they are so that we can see for ourselves that this is not just another fantasy concocted to appease the electorate.

It would seem Honourable Premier, that many of the successes you boast of are not your own and many old ideas and promises have been recycled into “new” initiatives.

The Aerotropolis, a plan that never took off. The River City, a plan that never took off. The four corridors and their envisaged economies – plans that never took off.

The manufacturing of rolling stock for PRASA, an initiative not of your own doing. Automotive investment, an initiative not of your own doing.

Honourable Premier, the electorate gave you the tiniest majority possible on May 8. Their message was clear, shape up or we’ll ship you out.

The people of Gauteng are tired of empty promises, regurgitated rhetoric and the hopelessness they have come to experience over the past 25 years of your party’s rule.

The winds of change are blowing strong throughout Gauteng. If you do not adjust your sails, they will blow you away.

This 6th administration must be one of more action and less talk.

The Democratic Alliance will be the support you need when you put the people of our province first and center, but will also be a thorn in your flesh when you, the executive and officials step out of line.

14 million people are dependant on you and your performance.

The time has come for implementation.

The fate of our elderly, our youth, the maligned and forgotten – ultimately our collective future, hangs in the balance. Again I say, the DA will work to assist in making Gauteng great, but will also continue to hold you and yours to account for those who are so quickly forgotten once elections have come and gone.

A Diverse Economy is the only solution to unemployment

Ndza khensa mufambisi wa ntirho

Honourable members

Fellow South Africans

Gauteng is faced with a real problem. We! are faced with a real problem. More and more of our people are looking for work, people want to earn a living so that they are able feed themselves and their children, buy clothes, and strive to create a better living environment for their families. We have an important responsibility to ensure that the Gauteng economy works for the people of Gauteng. I must state that any proposal that will get the people of Gauteng jobs and skills will be supported by the DA.

We can’t continue doing things the same way, there has to be a change both in approach and in attitude from this provincial government. The patience of our people is running low and we can’t blame them, it has been 25 years of waiting.

On Monday I sat there in the Imbizo Hall listening to you Mr Premier. You had a lot of energy and conviction. You spoke as a man that was ready to bring much-needed change and bring jobs to the people of Gauteng. If it was your first State of the Province address, I would have believed you to be someone who really means business, but it was your 7th State of the Province Address and we can’t judge you on the energy you showed, but on what you have done in the last 5 years as a Premier.  

You do talk tough, I give to you that, but you are soft in acting. We have seen and heard the tough talk before, it is enough. What Gauteng needs for you is to act tough, especially when it comes to creating jobs for our people. When you act tough you will have our support. Our interest is to see the people of Gauteng working and providing for their families.

The way you were throwing in 100 day plans was like someone who was not there, someone who just came into office. You have been in your position for more than 5 years, what’s with the wait? 

The change of attitude starts with us changing how we look at ourselves. There are a number of proposals I want to make that will get the people of Gauteng working.

1. Let’s change how we look at agriculture and tourism. It is not true that we can’t focus on primary agriculture. With technology and innovation we can increase production on the available land. Other nations with less land are producing more food than we are. We need to work with all our farmers, black and white in Gauteng to achieve this and stop racializing agriculture. Let’s work to turn unutilized open spaces in our neighborhoods into farming projects. Gauteng must be green in winter with fresh vegetable gardens everywhere we look. Agriculture can play a massive role in skills development and technological innovations. Yes we must focus on agro-processing and agri-business, but let us not ignore primary agriculture.

2. Let’s start selling Gauteng as a leisure tourist destination .The view that Gauteng cannot be a place for leisure tourism needs to be dismissed from our minds. We might not have the mountains, sea or national parks. What we have is a history of development. We have Constitution Hill, the Apartheid Museum, Soweto, the Vaal River and Dam, and Johannesburg innercity with its history of development from a small mining town. We are not just a place for business tourists, we can be a leisure tourist destination too thereby creating the much needed work and income opportunities for the people of Gauteng.

3. Gauteng must be a hub of entrepreneurship and innovation. We need to invest in real small business owners who are creating jobs and training the next generation of entrepreneurs. We must stop giving contracts to tenderpreneurs but to real entrepreneurs that are found everywhere in Gauteng. What we need in Gauteng is real skills transfer.

4. This provincial government must visibly and actively support Mayor Herman Mashaba in his endeavors to revive the Johannesburg Inner City to make it a safe place in which to live, shop, dine and do business. Johannesburg is where we are, we need to work together with the municipal government to make it vibrant again. 

5. Extend broadband connectivity to all parts of Gauteng, especially the rural parts of our province. 

Mr Premier, the time of talking is over it is time to act and act decisively. Our measure of any proposal is whether it creates jobs for the people of Gauteng; will there be skills transfer? Will the people be able to provide for themselves and their families? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you will not struggle to get support from us. Anything else we will not support. Our interest is for the people of Gauteng to get to work and get paid for it.

In 2014 Our Provincial Leader John Moodey, in response to the SOPA believed that you had good intentions. Good intentions on their own are not enough, you have to act, and you did not act enough in the last 5 years. The voters have given you one last opportunity to act on your good intentions, use it or get out of the kitchen. The people of Gauteng want jobs, deliver on that and stop with the empty talk. Act.

Ndza khensa

Crime in Gauteng can only be combated by a Provincial Police Force

Madam Speaker,

Crime in Gauteng still remains one of our biggest challenges as a Province. Not only does it place our residents under siege, it also has a negative impact upon domestic as well as foreign direct investment, which is needed to boost our economy so as to address the ever-increasing unemployment rate. An improved economy would also address the issue of the wide-spread poverty we face as a nation.  

Our Premier once again did what he does best; made empty promises that had no implementable detail. I must remind this house that this is not unusual for the ANC, and it is certainly not the first nor the last time that Gauteng residents will be presented with hollow promises. We have listened to the same old being promised since 2014, and still nothing has changed.

The Premier in his SOPA address on Monday, promised that he would place ten patrollers in each ward within the whole of Gauteng. I am sorry to disappoint you Premier, but that plan is doomed to fail. Let me quickly take you through the numbers.

An average ward in Gauteng roughly has 50 000 residents, and an average size of 13 square kilometres. These 10 patrollers won’t even scratch the surface of the issue when it comes to the scourge of crime in Gauteng, instead your government would be setting them up for failure, because how do you expect patrollers on foot to cover 13 square kilometres and assist 50 000 residents?

Premier I would like to remind you that you not need look far to see that this idea of 10 patrollers will not work. The City of Joburg has already attempted to have 10 Metro Police in each ward, but the attempt failed due to the enormity of our crime problem. What became very clear and evident was that a more Integrated Approach was needed, one that includes SAPS, the Metro Police, CPF and the neighbourhood watch.

Instead of taking these 10 patrollers and throwing them in the deep end, I suggest that you assist and bolster the efforts of the CPF structures and neighbourhood watch groups by providing the necessary training and support. Also assist them by bringing in the private security companies that operate within the community and different wards.

Madam Speaker

Crime affects us all and therefore cannot be fought by police alone. It is best addressed by working with the community. The Premier neglected to recognise the fact that there is breakdown of trust between the community and the Police Service over-all, reason being the criminal elements within the SAPS. These few officers tarnish the image and reputation of the police services. THE GOOD COPS MUST ARREST THEIR CORRUPT COLLEAGUES! It is a fact that the community will not help the police if they do not trust them. Cash in Transit heists have been the order of the day in Gauteng, and in some instances police officers have been found to be involved.

Premier the scourge of crime is not only limited to the city centres it has unfortunately also become endemic in the rural areas of Gauteng. These rural farming communities are vulnerable due to disbursed settlements, where neighbours, police and medical services are often situated far from the residents. These marginalised farming communities are desperate for a safety programme that will increase safety within farming communities.

Madam Speaker

Here are some solutions I would like to put forward to the Premier. The only realistic solution to our crisis of crime in Gauteng, is for the Premier to join the Western Cape Province in the petitioning for SAPS responsibilities to be devolved to our Province. This may be a DA idea, but expropriating DA ideas is not foreign to this administration; “devolving of PRASA” and “protecting our borders” are some of the ideas taken by the Gauteng ANC.

The benefits of a provincially centralised SAPS are clear and realistic. Firstly, this will give Gauteng more authority and strategic control of policing within its own provincial jurisdiction. Gauteng is a very unique province with its own unique issues. The blanket approach of solving crime in South Africa has not worked, and will not work if this ANC-led government continues as it has.

The second important aspect is that this will also allow provinces to hire according to the number of police officers needed, and also formulate specialised units that will combat the rising level of unique criminal activities within Gauteng. The current system of being reliant upon national government when it comes to an essential service such as policing has been riddled with inefficiencies.

The third benefit to provincial policing, and the most important one is the aspect of being able to hold the provincial leadership of SAPS accountable for the safety of Gauteng’s residents. This move would enable local residents to actively participate in localised safety initiatives. We realise that the decentralisation of SAPS will come with its own challenges, difficulties and teething problems. However, within a short period of time these problems will be overcome, and Gauteng will be a safer and more prosperous Province, regaining its status as a world class province and one of the top five economic power houses in the world.

I thank you, Madam Speaker.

25 years later and we’re still dreaming about creating a province that works

Madam Speaker, I have listened to 26 State of the Province addresses by 6 different premiers in this House.

I am now the only member who was elected to this Legislature in 1994. It was a daunting yet exciting time. With President Nelson Mandela as our President, those were days when everything seemed possible. 

I remember when Premier Tokyo Sexwale spoke out angrily against a racial attack on whites and coloureds. He said that he had a white wife and coloured children, so he personally took it as an attack on his family.

The ANC had no less than 25 members of ethnic minorities in its first five year term in this Legislature. Trevor Fowler, Ignacius Jacobs, Firoz Cachalia, Mary Metcalfe, Andrew Feinstein, Sheila Weinberg, Joan Fubbs, Trish Hanekom, Joggie Boers – these are a few of the names you may recognize.

And now, the ANC in this Legislature is almost entirely uni-racial. The most racially  mixed party is the DA. Something fundamental seems to have changed in the ruling party that was always proud of its non-racial history.

In 1994 it was liberating to dream, to have a vision of where we could be, freed from the shackles of the apartheid past.

But why are we still dreaming 25 years later? Why are we not celebrating solid achievements based on implemented plans?

The problems today, I could say the nightmares of today, are because of undeniable failures by the ruling party, including the last five years presided over by the same Premier who now needs 100 days for new plans.

Ten years ago Premier Nomvula Mokonyane promised drastic changes.

Five years ago Premier Makhura used the word “radical” 29 times in his inaugural speech. Now he doesn’t say the word at all.

He promised an “urgent turnaround” for the Gauteng Health Department five years ago. Note – he said “urgent”.

Every year since then we heard about more turnarounds and committees and plans that would fix it.

Now he admits that the department is “on its knees”, and some hospitals are mortuaries instead of sanctuaries for saving lives.

Now he identifies the five worst hospitals where improvements have to be made within 12 months.

In the printed version of his speech there are only four hospitals – Mamelodi, Sebokeng, Bheki Mlangeni and Jubilee – but he also mentioned Tambo Memorial and Tembisa.

Mr Premier, please clarify which are these five hospitals and why other extremely bad hospitals are left off the list? I would add Thelle Mogoerane Hospital, which the Honorable Premier declared was the “future of Gauteng health” when it was opened five years ago.

It’s a huge disappointment. A new hospital building, like Bheki Mlangeni, but terrible management.

Six babies died at this hospital last year from klebsiella. The Human Rights Commission visited and called it a “crime scene”. Unbelievably, the hospital was assessed at only 70% for the National Core Standards, below the target of 75% and less than Tambo Hospital which got 86%.

I would also add George Mukhari Hospital which treats the poorest of the rural poor but is dreadfully neglected.

I want to read from an email sent to me last week by Lisa Tolkin who visited her beloved old former helper at this hospital.

She writes:

“I thought that a hospital was a place for the sick … All I saw were cages of neglect, cruelty, fear and hopelessness … The wards were separated by dirty fabric screens like shower curtains … I found Phina, her eyes were tortured and she was struggling to breathe … There was no oxygen, or a drip … I took Phina’s emaciated  hand, I put her shaking head under my chin and asked her to breathe with me. I told her that she was going to a peaceful quiet place, where there was no suffering … I continued to talk to her gently and lovingly until she stopped struggling and went quiet … I ran around looking for a nurse or doctor to confirm that she was dead … All the patients watched Phina’s undignified death … (and there were) flies on her body.”

It’s a long letter which I am going to send to the new Health MEC. 

Honorable Premier, this is one of the four academic hospitals which you want national government to take over.

This is extremely irresponsible as it will fragment our health system and jeopardize the training of doctors.

Why are you admitting defeat that you cannot properly run our flagship hospitals that provide specialist care? 

I suggest that you humbly visit the Western Cape where the DA runs a health department that gets a clean audit and runs three academic hospitals that provide good treatment.

You can also learn how to run a decent ambulance service and how to ensure virtually 100% of medicine distribution.

The Gauteng Health Budget of R50 billion is enormous, more than the budget to run the city of Tshwane. It’s very poorly spent because of the three C’s of ANC rule – cronyism, corruption and cadre deployment.

I can tell you that there is at least one corruption racket in all the 37 hospitals in this province. It’s jobs and tenders for pals everywhere.

I hope that you are more successful in the next five years in cleaning up the mess caused by your own party than you were in the last five years.

Old tricks will not solve Gauteng’s crime problem

Democratic Alliance statement by
Kate Lorimer MPL
DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety

Madam Speaker,

11 murders a day in Gauteng, 26 reported sexual assaults a day in Gauteng, 195 robberies either common or aggravated every day in Gauteng. Rural crime is increasing.

These make up some of the crimes 306 888 Gauteng households experienced in 2016/17. There is no way the residents of Gauteng can feel safe under these circumstances. More people than before believe crime has increased and more than 50% of the population feel very unsafe after dark.

I won’t hold Premier Makhura responsible for the promises made by his predecessor, the Queen of empty promises, Nomvula Mokonyane, as that would be unfair. I note that she moved on to being the Queen of Empty Ballot Boxes in 2016 and then the Queen of Empty Taps and Dams and is now moving on to Queen of perhaps a Lack of Communication, but I digress.

Every year, since 2014 Premier Makhura has acknowledged the seriousness of crime in the province.

He has always said we must do something about it.  He has voiced concerns about internal spats in the SAPS, he has said we have made progress against crime, he has said civilian oversight over the police will increase, he has said we will use smart technology, he has said access to policing will improve, he has said community/police relations will improve, he has said community policing will be enhanced through sector policing, he has said he wants a return of specialised units, he has said we will improve traffic safety.

The Premier, as you can see, says a lot, but this is a trend we see in the ruling party and even in our new President Ramaphoria’s SONA.  A lot of talk and talk shops and not a lot of action.

We have not made a major breakthrough in terms of reducing crime in our province over the last 5 years.  Some crime such as murder and house robbery have increased, assault levels are unacceptable, yet, in the main, we have not changed the way in which we do things.

The percentage of people who do not report, specifically sexual assault, because they do not think it is important enough to report (nearly 50%) is a terrible indictment of the way we treat sexual offences in this country. Every year when stats are released, the government tells us sexual crimes are down and every year we tell them it is because the reporting levels are low and they deny this. Anecdotal evidence in many areas supports much higher levels of sexual assault than are reported.

It would be nice to see real-time crime statistics to assist us to plan properly, but the promised quarterly release of crime statistics has not materialised and we, as a province do not seem to be lobbying for it.

Civilian oversight, a key mandate of the Department of Community Safety is the programme that year in, year out, displays an under-expenditure of budget.

Community Policing Forums, the bodies that should be used to effectively oversee SAPS performance at station level, are in many areas, defunct or inactive and the majority do not understand that they are not responsible for conducting policing activities themselves but rather for ensuring the SAPS do the job properly.

We spend a fortune on training CPF’s but have not done a cost benefit analysis to establish whether this expenditure is actually leading to a reduction in crime.  Perhaps we should be changing our modus operandi in this regard.

Using technology in the fight against crime would be a great idea but we are yet to see it other than from Minister of Vokkal Mbalula.

We still have a system of manual domestic violence registers in police stations.  If we are truly serious about violence against women and children we will put in place a project to use technology that will enable us to track repeat offenders and victims across policing precincts.

As a nation of cellphone users we could, like other countries such as Ghana and Singapore, use social media platforms to increase the levels of engagement with the public and encourage them to report crimes and criminal actions and use these platforms for crowd sourcing.

Community police relations will only truly improve when policing improves.

Too often there are complaints from drug-ridden communities that the SAPS are involved and are seen taking money from the drug lords. The SAPS say “bring us proof” but people are too scared they will be killed.  If drug complaints come in, only police from other areas should be brought in to run anti-drug operations.  Continual reports of disrespectful treatment in CSC’s, point to members who do not understand that they serve the people.  Detectives who never update the victims and complainants of progress and whose investigations leaves a lot to be desired.  None of these issues are taken seriously and until they are, the police will not be trusted and relationships with the community will not improve.

I am amazed to hear we now have specialised units. What a nice surprise!

I would love to see a report in our committee on them and their successes in terms of arrests and convictions, where they are based, who is staffing them. I would also like to know the deadline for the 40 identified police stations to reduce their crime by 50% It is all very well to have a target but reaching it is another matter and what are the consequences for not reaching the targets?

Road traffic fatalities are increasing rather than decreasing. Taxis run amok and hold us to ransom, moving violations other than speeding are rarely punished. Surely there is international best practice that can be used to address this, yet nothing seems to change in terms of how we do things.

If we want things to change we have to change the way we operate – recycling “shoot to kill” Cele as the Minister of Police is not change.  Doing the same old thing year in and year out is self-defeating.

Mr Premier, you say it is a New Dawn, well I beg to differ. The sun is setting on the ANC. 24 years to make it work and what have we really got to show for it? A new day is coming, 2019 is almost upon us. You want to see change?  The DA will bring you change.

Premier Makhura: Where does the buck stop?

Democratic Alliance speech by
Jack Bloom MPL
DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health

Madam Speaker, the Honourable Premier has said that he takes full responsibility and accountability for the deaths of 144 Life Esidimeni mental health patients.

He is right to say that the buck stops with him as Premier of this province.

But surely full responsibility and accountability means that he should have resigned.

If he is really accepting the blame, then he has no right to continue holding office, otherwise he diminishes the suffering and deaths of 144 people.

He needs to be accountable for appointing the former MEC for Health Qedani Mahlangu, a flawed character to say the least. And he appointed the former Health Department Head Dr Barney Selebano who had fatal weaknesses too.

The Honourable Premier’s defense is that he didn’t know or that he was lied to about the sending of patients to NGOs.

This is despite a torrent of media reports, warnings, demonstrations, two court cases and official replies in this House that indicated the potential for disaster.

To claim ignorance in the face of all this information is surely to acknowledge gross negligence.

Honourable Premier, if you acknowledge that you are fully accountable and responsible for the gross negligence that led to 144 deaths then an apology is not enough and you should resign.

In other democracies, politicians resign over lesser misdemeanors, but it seems that lives are cheap in this province where the standard for accountability is so low that you think you can get off the hook by merely saying sorry.

The scandal continues as we cannot even say that we know the full extent of the Esidimeni tragedy as 49 patients are still missing and may even be dead.

I hope that the results of the Esidimeni arbitration will go some way to achieving a measure of recompense and closure for the relatives of those who died.

But true justice will only happen when all the culprits are charged and appear in court.

The police and investigating agencies are notoriously slow in getting charges laid in court.

We have seen this in the endless delays in investigating massive corruption in the Gauteng Health Department under former MEC Brian Hlongwa.

The Honourable Premier says he has met with the Special Investigating Unit to ensure that all outstanding cases are speedily concluded.

I would like him to report back on the progress of Presidential Proclamation R21 of 14 May 2010 concerning corruption in the Gauteng Health Department.

This is the root cause of everything that has since gone wrong in that department.

I hope he can tell us that prosecutions will come soon, which should include Honorable Member Brian Hlongwa.

The Honourable Premier says he will institute life style audits. He should start with Honourable Member Hlongwa who told the Sowetan newspaper in April 2009 that he made 10 times more money from his businesses than his salary as a provincial minister, which is how he could afford a R7.2 million house in Bryanston. The headline was “I’m too rich for my job”.

The asset forfeiture unit has applied to seize this same house as a proceed of crime, but the Honourable Hlongwa has followed Jacob Zuma in using lawyers with endless delaying tactics.

The Honourable Premier will recall that I have long called for lifestyle audits, but he rejected this more than two years ago in this House.

The Honourable Premier is four years into his five year term and now suddenly he wants a “new dawn”.

Why didn’t we have a “new dawn” when he first became Premier.

Every year he has announced a “turn-around plan” for the Gauteng Health Department, but the payment arrears keep growing and so do the medical negligence claims.

This Department owes more than R5 billion to 1500 companies, some of which are going bankrupt and others are stopping supplies and services.

This could lead to more Esidimeni-type deaths as vulnerable patients die who could otherwise have been saved.

The quality of health care is so bad that medical negligence claims are now more than R18 billion and growing.

Why did the Honorable Premier not pick up earlier what he calls “the deep institutional and financial problems” in this department.

I have pointed this out for years, but perhaps he wasn’t listening just as he wasn’t listening when I warned about the looming Esidimeni disaster.

Honorable Premier, where does the buck stop for this?