Note to Editors: The following is a speech delivered by Harold McGluwa MPL, DA Provincial Leader, during the debates on the State of the Province Address at the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature today.
Hon Speaker, we will never deny or forget the injustices and human rights abuses of the past.
But nor will I forget this era and the premier’s SOPA. For me, it sounded like a bitter speech similar to the SONA response of the President.
Speaker, we are tired of deliberately misguided rhetoric about the past – thirty years after the formation of our democracy.
Hon Premier, the DA acknowledges freedom and democracy as a vital foundation for collective decision making, so we need to move on and free our minds. One can’t be so bitter.
2024 is a watershed moment for our democracy. It is the next crucial step in meeting the constitutional needs of the people of South Africa and of the Northern Cape.
Honourable Speaker, we have had Covid, aggravated by gender-based violence and indeed memory loss of the current government. Speaking of those who suffer memory loss – the Premier failed to inform us that this country lost over R500 Billion rand due to corruption. Convenient memory loss by the ANC.
During the tragedy of Covid, we lost family, friends and even members of the provincial government, but the pandemic exposed unprecedented levels of corruption and maladministration in which deployed cadres have been implicated.
Hon Speaker, under a DA Government we will not only reduce corruption, we will eradicate corruption in both the public service and among public representatives. We are geared to get rid of cadre deployment, jobs for pals and cadres who receive bribes like Slingers, who was found with R700 000 cash in his boot. State capture and corruption is the product of your comrades with an appetite for nice things they don’t work for.
Hon Speaker, it’s a disgrace that Minister Gwede Mantashe is talking about cadre development now. Here is the disgrace Speaker: Cadre development is how the ANC develops cadres to steal, and cadre deployment is when the ANC deploys those cadres to steal and empty government coffers.
Hon Premier, two years ago we agreed that irregular issues be investigated by the SIU. The DA presented its list. I need to see yours. Premier why are you reluctant to name and shame cadres responsible for irregular expenses?
Premier, you say recently some of those guilty of abusing state funds have been convicted, yet the premier cannot fire a convicted HOD and you continue to harbour a CFO involved in serious corruption allegations, at the helm of another government department’s finances. And we have witnessed similar trends in the Department of Health.
Hon Speaker, in 2019 the Premier promised to have an office at Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe hospital. I visited this hospital many a time – all I could find and speak to was Tinstswalo waiting for you, who failed to pitch.
Unfortunately, the same happened to the eighty-year-old Tinstwalo from Loeriesfontein who could not be found at the hospital. Due to inadequate security at the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe hospital, Tinstswalo went missing from the casualty section.
This government introduced a health care app. It’s not new. So many Tinstwalos previously used this app without success. As a result, no ambulance, and no response – indeed a government missing in action.
The Northern Cape government bought 146 new ambulances since 2019. We were informed that payments are done within 30 days. Shocking statistics show that, in ZFM district, only nine out of 22 ambulances are operational. At the same time, new ambulances could not be procured in the current financial year because of accruals at the health department.
During Parliament’s oversight last year, members expressed concern whether there is a complete understanding by MEC about the distinct difference between a doctor and a nurse.
You say businesses are paid within 30 days, but I beg to differ. Like you Premier, I wanted to invite business owners but I am scared they will be victimised. They are struggling with payments. And the irony is, that they are the very same Tintswalos you are talking about.
Comments on reducing wastage are contradicted by the fact that, as of March 2023, the Auditor-General’s reports show that the provincial fiscus carries the burden of more than R19.8 billion in unwanted spending.
Notwithstanding the opportunities that have been extended to young people under the new ministry, we are yet to receive a full report on the performance of this ministry, their targets, what programmes they are championing, and associated expenditure. We are being asked to give a blank cheque to a ministry that’s operating in secret.
Almost a billion rand has been invested in the Provincial Broadband Strategy with 98% cellular network coverage. The improved services remain to be seen. I am inviting you Premier to travel with me. Just outside of Kimberley in Griekwastad and Groblershoop, between Britstown, Carnarvon and Calvinia, there is absolutely no digital access for the Tinstwalos of the Northern Cape. I don’t even want to mention the most rural areas, such as Joe Morolong – villages like Dithakong, Heuningvlei and Eiffel, amongst others.
Each day, each month, each year, we endure days without electricity due to loadshedding. Maar dis nou nie die einde van aarde soos u voorganger sê, maar hoe gaan ons nou Kentucky kry as daar nie krag is nie!
Agbare Matika ek wil jou net vertel: maak jou reg, die Kentucky franchise gaan toemaak. Die regering gaan die krag afsit en diesel is duur!
Sol Plaatje’s water crisis was your baby, Hon. Premier. R500 million has been allocated with a further R2,5 billion investment in road and wastewater infrastructure, yet the capital city is drowning in sewage.
Hon Premier, once again, you promise to bridge the gap between the residents and their elected representatives. Premier, so we ask, did you visit these towns?
I want to say to the Tintswalo’s of the Northern Cape, brace yourselves for another seven years of water shortages!
MEC Vass, you must be ashamed that access to water is denied for Tinstwalos in the Northern Cape Municipalities … De Aar, Kakamas, Keimoes, Kenhardt, and Barkly-West are some of the towns experiencing great water challenges, and in Warrenton, people of Stasie Kamp have not had water for eight months.
We have done oversight and government has made promises, but the water shortages persist as an indictment against your governance.
Places like Pabalello in Upington, and Campbell still have undignified bucket toilets that pose a health and safety risk to Tintswalo’s communities.
Hon. Premier, you wanted us to provide you with a list of broken government infrastructure. We can now add on to that list a broken government, and a stillborn State-Owned Company.
How I hope that the ANC elitists don’t get their hands onto the R1 billion housing project!
Our term has come to an end and now we must look ourselves in the mirror, and say what we did for the people of the Northern Cape – was it good, or was it a waste of time and resources?
Hon. Premier, some municipalities may have attained clean audits, yes we can indeed attribute this to the ongoing pressure for accountability and consequence management and oversight by the DA.
You have tried your best, Hon Premier, but according to the polls: You have already lost this election.
This election is a choice between a legacy of broken promises or a future of prosperity. The DA is able and ready to rescue our province from a decaying past and future destruction.
For the sake of all who live in the Northern Cape, we are determined not to allow further distractions to keep us from achieving this.
If there is one government that can fulfil the promises of our democracy, it is a tried and tested DA government. We will redeem our beloved country and our heart-warming province.
Even political analyst, Professor Lesiba Teffo said on the 17th of February that, and I quote, “Where ever they govern, the DA governs well. They have acquitted them well – even the opposition knows this. Given the chance, they do better. If there’s one party that can take us some distance, its them. And many a people have come to begin to accept this”. Close quote.
Hon, Speaker, the DA is the one that can redeem this country. The facts remain the facts. I do not need to say anything more.
I thank you.