KZN Budget: DA calls out MKP over failure to provide meaningful input, ill-discipline and lack of real commitment to KZN’s people

Issued by Dr Imran Keeka, MPL – Chief Whip to the DA in the KZN Legislature
23 Jul 2026 in Press Statements
  • MKP remains the most feckless opposition ever to sit on the benches of the KZN Legislature
  • Party should be presenting solutions, not grandstanding
  • Had KZN’s budget not been passed, service delivery would have ground to a complete halt

Note to Editors: Please note Dr Keeka, MPL sound bite in English

Yesterday’s passing of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) budget has ensured that the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) can continue the hard work in rebuilding our province.

The DA welcomes the decision – by Finance MEC, Francois Rodgers and his Treasury team – to prioritise KZN’s front-line departments with significant allocations to Education, Health, Human Settlements and Infrastructure.

While these are critical interventions, the reality is that KZN’s GPU inherited a province in significant fiscal distress two years ago. Equally, the province only receives a certain amount of money from National Treasury in terms of the equitable share.

Despite the serious business of making KZN work again, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) in the province continues to fail to act in the best interests of KZN’s people.  This was evidenced by a dearth of meaningful contribution during the budget process at both portfolio committee and Legislature debate level. This did not help the process. It also demonstrates their lack of interest in truly serving KZN’s people.

As KZN’s opposition party, the MKP should be actively participating at committee level and in the House. It should be presenting solutions in the form of an alternate budget – as done by the DA during our days as the official opposition – not grandstand and use the House as its own personal platform. The MKP of Zuma continues to demonstrate that they remain the most feckless opposition ever to sit on the benches of the KZN Legislature.

While our province’s financial woes have improved, they are not gone. This situation was certainly not helped by the MKP stating it would not support the budget as there is no money. As KZN Legislature Speaker, Nontembeko Boyce remarked – if someone has no money, they don’t simply stop buying groceries – they find a way to put food on the table.

Had KZN’s budget not been passed, service delivery would have ground to a complete halt. The impact would have been catastrophic and every citizen of our province would have felt it.

The DA, as a GPU partner, remains dedicated to putting the needs of our province first and ensuring that this budget works for them. We stand by our commitment of principle before politics and will not allow the MKP to destroy the hard work being done.