KwaZulu-Natal’s Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) is a brave new era for our province and for the four political parties – the DA, the IFP, the ANC and the NFP – that stood together to protect the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
With its proud history, the DA is honoured to be a part of the renewal of our province. In the dark days of apartheid, the PFP\DP was a voice in parliament for those who opposed the evil policies of the National Party (NP) government. The DP played a vital role in the writing of the Constitution and has been a defender of the Constitution ever since. While in opposition, the DA strived every day to promote and live its values of Freedom, Fairness, Opportunity and Diversity, and in government, nationally and as part of the GPU, we continue to do so.
Those who may shout about whether KZN is a coalition government or a GPU, fail to understand how 50+1 works as basic concept. The fact is that the majority of people in KZN voted for pro-constitutional parties.
Imagine if KZN had a government that did not believe in constitutional democracy. If KZN had a government that wanted to throw out the Bill of Rights that protects us all. A government whose leader stands accused of hundreds of charges of corruption and whose Secretary-General stands accused of looting VBS bank. A government that is accused of stealing from society’s most vulnerable and leaders who think they are above the law. It is little wonder they want to make the law subservient to them.
Thanks to democracy, KZN has a government that respects the rule of law. While the four parties that form the GPU have ideological and policy differences, they – like the people of our province – realise there is more that binds us together than keeps us apart.
I have spent many years on the opposition benches, both at local government and provincial level, raising these differences. But through-out this, I have always respected the fact that the ANC government, at its core, valued our Constitution.
Our country’s motto promotes diversity as our greatest strength – or it could be, if we stop fearing and distrusting each other and start getting to know each other better. There is a new spirit in KZN. People have new hope because now they look to their government, and can see this diversity in action. And action is what the people of our province want.
And action we are taking. KZN’s GPU is not a talking government, it is a doing government. Within the two departments that the DA leads, there have already been significant successes.
In June, KZN’s Finance MEC, Francois Rodgers, arrived in his new office, only to find the province’s bank vault empty. Today, under the MEC’s leadership, what was once a fast-sinking ship has been stabilised. The MEC did not hesitate to make fast, difficult decisions to stop the collapse of KZN’s finances and start laying the foundation to rebuild our province’s fiscal state. And KZN’s GPU cabinet has stood behind him, adopting far reaching cost-cutting measures. The medication is bitter and in the short term it might make our province sicker, but this GPU is firm in its mission to make KZN financially stable.
The GPU wants KZN to be a province that delivers to its people, where every cent spent is spent on the province’s people but for that to happen, the finances need to be fixed. The GPU did not talk about cost cutting, it took action and implemented it.
The same action can be seen within KZN’s Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) which I am proud to lead as MEC. This department doesn’t just talk about women in construction. Instead, it works, is now meeting its targets and is setting up a Women in Construction council to ensure assistance for women in the industry.
In what is Disability Month, the DPWI does not just talk about inclusion. Instead, it has met with the sector on their request and has started training departmental management on disability inclusion. The department is also in the process of rolling out an app for those with disabilities that will give them access to opportunities within the DPWI.
KZN’s DPWI doesn’t just talk about the scourge of construction mafia – it acts. Since we started standing up to these petty criminals the entire country has followed, with talk about taking action against them. Communities are uniting with the DPWI in this fight, the private sector is following their lead, and SAPS and the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) are taking action.
Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson must also be commended for his actions which include hosting the conference on crime in the construction industry in Durban earlier this week. The DPWI is turning the tide, just as the GPU and the GNU have shown the political will to do. If we find that politicians are behind construction mafias – as the rumours go – I will make sure that they face the full might of the law.
Since the GPU took charge of the DPWI in June, debt has been reduced, payments from client departments have been improved and most long-stalled infrastructure projects have been unlocked.
The DPWI has also implemented the findings of long outstanding forensic reports, taken action against officials suspected of corruption, made the department open to engagements with broader society and ensured far greater transparency by making certain that all tender and vacancy interviews are audio-visually recorded. We don’t talk transparency, we do it.
The DPWI has also established a trail-blazing Rapid Response Team that reports to the accounting officer every week on matters relating to wasteful and irregular expenditure, fraud and stalled construction projects. We don’t talk about cleaning up, we clean up. We have also started taking action against contractors that take DPWI money yet don’t deliver to our people and are now implementing black-listing of errant contractors. We don’t talk about service delivery, we deliver.
The DPWI is also far down the track in auditing state-owned properties and identifying unused and under-utilised properties. This is evidenced by Monday’s launch of the fantastic new Esplanade Government Building – the flag ship of making better use of government-owned properties – in order to better serve the people of KZN. We don’t talk, we do.
In KZN’s GPU we have a stable government, not one where members change daily. In the GPU we have a caring government. In the GPU we have a government that defends the Constitution. In the GPU, we have a ‘doing’ government – all thanks to the people of KZN, for gave the constitutional parties, including the DA, 50+1.