Yesterday, following the Premier’s maiden State of the Province Address (SOPA), DA KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Leader, Francois Rodgers made it very public that the DA welcomed his address adding that the Premier’s words “provide a solid framework from which to launch our province into a new period of growth.”
He also stated the following; “The Premier’s address struck the right chord, with many of the initiatives in line with the DA’s election pledges to KZN’s people which include;
• The prioritisation of building of a capable and ethical state;
• The creation of a strong provincial economy to support job creation;
• The reduction of poverty levels and efforts to tackle the high cost of living; and,
• The prioritisation of improved service delivery within our communities.
He also said; “The DA further commends the Premier’s commitment to effective oversight within all areas of government. This includes unannounced inspections at KZN’s Health and Education facilities and municipalities, many of which demand urgent turnaround.”
This framework is what the Premier and his executive are charged with and what this House will hold all of them to account for. For 10 years I have stood in this House to see the mechanisms of accountability work, and work well. The DA firmly believes that the trajectory we are on now will ensure this.
While the majority in the House have picked up spades to do the spade-work, others have chosen pitchforks, while finding every excuse not to do the work that citizens have sent us here for.
Holding the executive accountable does not require diatribe, verbal diarrhoea and invectives. These are not substitutes for debate or getting the job of the people done. Nor is abstaining from attending the engine rooms of this House, the committees! Yet some are prepared to arrive in this Chamber to put on a show – often ill-advised, insipid and naïve.
To hold the Premier and his executive accountable, the rules of this House and relevant legislation are the only tools.
To further the ends of the Premier’s direction, it is incumbent on us now – more than ever before – to ensure that his cabinet and this House consider introducing and passing legislation that will ease the delivery of services, ensure quality services and expedite services to all of our citizens.
As an example, DA KZN Education Spokesperson, Sakhile Mngadi MPL, will in due course introduce a private members bill that will strive towards delivering quality education with better outcomes. This bill will seek to establish a provincial entity that will be solely geared towards this deliverable and, to rescue our children and future generations from where they are currently heading.
The Premier hit the nail on the head when he outlined the need to deal with school drop-outs. Of the 2023 Grade 10-12 learner cohort, a staggering 82 457 learners dropped out – and we don’t know where they are. What we do know is that if we get learners back into schools and keep them there for longer, the entire economic outlook and prospects for our province will improve. The triad of quality education remains: Good leadership, quality infrastructure and intense parental involvement.
In 2018, I wrote to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) about KZN’s Emergency Medical Services (KZN). The people of our province still have to wait for hours in more outlying districts to receive service. They often die while waiting, give birth on their own while waiting and their conditions deteriorate significantly while waiting, requiring more interventions. Overall, this creates more complications within an already injured healthcare system in our province.
The DA is ware that the SAHRC had interactions with the MEC in the hope of remedying the situation. Unfortunately, oversight visits confirmed that emergency services remain in splints.
To improve EMS in our province, we must first ensure that what we already have meets the standard required and that it is efficient. In this regard, the DA intends introducing a private members bill to achieve this. We will also re-engage with the MEC’s office to check on their compliance with the findings of the SAHRC.
Waiting times, speciality dependant, are also worrying and even scandalous. In KZN, it can take six weeks to have fractures repaired, six months to see a cardiologist for heart problems and up to six years to see a urologist. Cancer patients have to wait between three weeks and several months before they are seen. Their cancers don’t wait.
The maxim that prevention is better than cure is first prize. Premier, we have to work towards – at the very least – using the holistic approach of training and retaining our skilled staff and then resourcing or equipping our services to ensure that waiting times are, in the short to medium-term, halved.
Universal access to healthcare, an inalienable right, can and must be achieved. It requires rigorous and fierce oversight, exemplary leadership and the right people and equipment in place to get the job done. Otherwise, all we will be doing is talking about plans about plans.
The big question about both Education and Health is: How will their goals be achieved without re-prioritisation of both department’s Annual Performance Plans (APPs) around their budgets? This is a fundamental question that must be answered in committees in the coming days.
I read somewhere that “Goals are dreams with deadlines.” In other words, we now have instructions from the Premier to get things done and there must be consequences if they are not. KZN’s newly formed government of provincial unity (GPU) cannot wait for voters to one day remind it – through the ballot box – that they are impatient with poor delivery. There must now be a will to do things differently and no room for malaise and non-performance. There must also be consequences for individuals that do not do what they are paid for. Nor can government violate laws such as the PFMA and not suffer the consequences sooner or later – in fact, sooner rather than later.
For a capable and ethical state to thrive, the public service must be further professionalised and devoid of cadre deployment. Like a train on a track, to avoid derailment, the tracks must never meet or, they must never divert away from their path. Similarly, politicians must stay on one side, and the administration on the other to reach the goal of a capable, ethical and caring state, sooner rather than never.
In his response to yesterday’s SOPA, DA KZN Leader Francois Rodgers also reminded KZN’s people; “While the Premier’s overarching plans provide a strong support structure, the devil will be in the implementation and ensuring fiscal discipline. In this regard, the DA’s role has not changed. We will monitor and ensure that government delivers. The fact that we are now part of the government of provincial unity (GPU) gives us the power to do so.
The time has come to do things differently. The DA is very aware of its responsibility to the many citizens who came out and voted for us. We reaffirm our commitment to them to deliver on our promises.”