(The following debate was delivered in the form of a DA Motion Debate in the KZN Legislature today)
Today’s Democratic Alliance (DA) Motion serves to discuss how we can and must use government assets to serve the people of our country and of our province. We must therefore thank Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Dean McPherson, for the handing over of a key property to Nkandla Municipality – a strategy he is employing across South Africa.
KZN’s Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) has also not been deaf to this call. The DA – which I represent within the GPU and which Minister McPherson represents within the GNU – has long said exactly this: Government needs to use its assets, land and buildings to speak to the needs of the people.
KZN’s Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) mantra is: ‘If it belongs to the public, it should serve the public.’ The 10 067 properties managed by KZN’s DPWI belong to KZN’s people. The money the DPWI uses to pay the rates on these properties comes from the people and when these properties are not maintained, it costs the people.
Gone or the days of government owned buildings standing empty, while buildings are leased at high cost. Gone are the days of agricultural land belonging to government standing unused, as food security and unemployment grows. Gone are the days where, through unnecessary rates and unused properties, the public is serving the assets instead of the assets serving the public.
While the Minister must be applauded for the strong steps he has taken, the reality is that KZN is not a suburban province. With only one metro, and three secondary cities only, it is primarily rural. Umkhanyakude, Umzinyati, Zululand – these are but parts of our province which at times seem to be left behind as KZN moves forward.
A primary focus of KZN’s Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) is the development of our rural areas and ensuring that we use what belongs to the people to bring hope, opportunity, jobs, development and investment. When hope dies in our rural communities, the soul of KZN fades – and restoring that hope must be, and is, the first priority of this government.
Across many of KZN’s rural areas there is a growing and deeply troubling loss of hope among citizens. Years of poverty, unemployment, failing infrastructure and broken promises have left communities feeling abandoned and powerless. Young people see little future beyond social grants or migration to overcrowded cities, while older generations watch their villages decay as services collapse and opportunities vanish.
This erosion of hope is not merely a social concern – it is a crisis that threatens the very stability and dignity of rural life. When citizens lose faith in the future, they disengage from civic life, turn away from lawful means of progress, and the social fabric itself begins to fray. Restoring hope must therefore be a foremost priority of government – through visible service delivery, job creation, transparent governance and genuine community engagement that gives people reason to believe that there is a better tomorrow in KZN.
And to bring back hope, people don’t want words and promises, they want action. Government cannot build a large house in a rural area, install a fire pool, and say it brings development and hope to the rural areas. They want real change which the Minister is doing nationally and which KZN’s GPU is doing.
At the start of this administration, the first step for KZN’s DPWI was establishing what it owns. I can now say, with confidence that KZN’s DPWI knows what it owns, where it is and what state it is in. We have completed a full audit of our properties – we went there, took photos and captured it on our dashboard – and now know that KZN’s people own 10 067 properties across the province.
The next step, already started, is seeing how we can use these assets for the people, particularly in our rural areas. A few months ago, I announced that in collaboration with a major cellphone provider, eight DPWI properties in rural uMkhanyakude were to be used for cell phone towers – and now, Minister McPherson has released a further 11 properties in the same district. This will mean connectivity for these communities.
It means that they can phone their clinic when they need an ambulance, that young people can access online opportunities, that schools can connect and teach using online resources – and so much more. The principal of a school, where a tower is going up, told me that they have to drive elsewhere to retrieve emails and print them. This will bring real change to the educators and learners at this school. The DPWI plans to roll this initiative out to other areas. The truth is that the GPU is delivering to KZN’s people.
And we don’t stop at connectivity. This week we released 11 parcels of agricultural land to KZN’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) which will now identify beneficiaries within Umzinyathi and uThukela to use for actual farming, thereby creating jobs, opportunities and growing our rural economy. These farms are not going to the DA or its members, nor to the IFP, nor to the ANC or NFP. Instead, they will benefit real people on the ground.
The same applies to the former Bata shoe factory in Msinga, which the DPWI has handed over to KZN’s Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA). MEC, Reverend Musa Zondi has real plans to transform what is a shell of its former self into something meaningful thereby creating jobs and opportunities in yet another rural area. The GPU are building KZN better.
The DPWI has also handed over various parcels of land and properties to different KZN municipalities to be used for development and is currently in talks with Umzumbe, Ulundi and Umhlatuze for further hand overs. It has also released 81 properties to be put on the market for use. Let me be clear – they will not just be sold to the highest bidder. We are looking at what they will used for and will prioritise NGO’s, NPO’s and others who come with proposals that will benefit the surrounding community. This GPU is delivering to the people.
While some may believe that this Motion serves the purpose of congratulating the Minister, while well deserved it is in fact a debate about KZN’s future and vital in terms of policy direction being taken by the GPU. I am a GPU MEC and I am also a DA MEC. And I deliver on this mandate. This is the strength of the GPU, four parties bringing their values and policies together, taking what is best from them and implementing them together. Our strength lies in our diversity. If something belongs to KZN’s people it must serve them. KZN’s GPU has a mission – to restore hope and build KZN better.