Note to Editors: Please note Francois Rodgers, MPL sound bite in English
The DA calls on KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier, Thami Ntuli, to ensure a laser-like focus on the building of a capable, ethical and developmental state during his State of the Province Address (SOPA) later this week.
The DA has long advocated for this approach by government and as part of KZN’s Government of Provincial Unity (GPU), we remain committed to driving this agenda hard.
A capable state is the building block for a sustainable economy – one which has job creation at the forefront. It is also the only way that the GPU can begin to turn our province around and address the harsh realities of endemic poverty and inequality.
KZN’s GPU needs to work to make its citizens self-sustainable, whether in the agricultural, retail, manufacturing or other sectors.
Our service delivery government departments, which deal with economic development and job creation, must become lean, mean, job-creating machines and we look forward to the Premier’s focus on this on Friday. Equally, we sincerely hope that he will commit to ensuring the proper monitoring of job creation outcomes as a result of government’s so-called catalytic projects.
The development of a capable state will also allow KZN to pursue the public-private partnerships so crucial to our province’s future. However, in order to make KZN attractive to investors, our ports of Durban and Richards Bay – currently ranked as some of the worst in the world – must be turned around. Durban port must now be developed as Africa’s import/export gateway.
KZN’s previous administration failed dismally in implementing this and this port remains one of the poorest performing ports globally. While this may not be a provincial mandate, the Premier needs to give the GPU a mandate to work collectively with stakeholders to unlock this vast economic potential.
The Premier also needs to focus on the issue of logistics in his SOPA. While the N2 and N3 are in the process of being upgraded, KZN’s GPU must play a more critical role in the oversight of all logistics, whether road, port or by rail.
With KZN’s finances already extremely limited, the DA calls on Premier Ntuli to commit to a rigorous focus on expenditure within KZN’s frontline government departments including Health, Education and Social Development. Funding in these areas must reach the people for whom it is intended.
Prudent fiscal discipline and expenditure remains KZN’s daily bread and the Premier through his office needs to lead by example. The days of unmonitored and unnecessary expenditure that does not have its core focus on jobs and addressing poverty and inequality are long gone.
The building of a strong provincial economy forms the backbone of a brighter future for all our province’s people – one they have waited for, for a very long time. The DA remains committed to realizing this vision and will continue to provide solutions to KZN’s challenges.