INLSA

Premier Zweli Mkhize. Picture: Jacques Naude

Premier Zweli Mkhize announced an arsenal of measures and proposed “additional mechanisms” to fight rampant fraud and corruption, during his State of the Province address on Tuesday morning.

Mkhize said the government planned to take the fight against corruption and maladministration in KwaZulu-Natal to a “higher level” this year.

Some of the measures to achieve this include the possiblity of setting up a judicial commission to investigate fraud and corruption cases.

He said the judicial commission was necessary because of the high number of government employees implicated in cases of fraud and corruption.

However, he did not reveal further details on the mooted commission, saying that announcements would be made after a thorough analysis because of the complexity of the issue.

Mkhize said he had asked the provincial Treasury to investigate the possibility of creating legislation that would prohibit officials from doing business with the government.

The Treasury was also reviewing supply chain management practices, Mkhize said, adding that the department had already lowered the threshold for quotations from R1 million to R500 000.

The provincial Treasury was also reviewing all government contracts. Part of this review would include tracking the performance of service providers and to also determine whether government received value for money by entering into such contracts.

The premier also announced that the province would retain the services of retired Judge President, Vuka Shabalala, who had been presiding over internal disciplinary cases involving senior government officials.

He said the judge had helped the government to speedily dispose of some of the cases involving senior government officials and complicated transactions.

“During the 2011/2012 financial year, 1 662 misconduct cases were dealt with and 1 220 were finalised, while 410 employees are currently subjected to disciplinary hearings. We have dismissed 23 officials and 47 are on suspension as they face the disciplinary action,” Mkhize said.

Another major announcement in Mkhize’s address was the R15 billion allocated to infrastructure projects.

This had increased from R11bn last year. Mkhize said this would deal with the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality.

The major part of this infrastructure development drive would include the development of health, education, road and housing infrastructure.

The health infrastructure projects included the construction and extension of hospitals, including the completion of construction at King Edward VIII hospital. About 2 000 new classrooms were also expected to be built, while repairing road infrastructure would also feature prominently.

The government had also set itself a target of building 43 000 houses this year. Last year the provincial Department of Human Settlements had to return some funds to the national government as these were unused because the delivery of housing had stalled.

“The MEC has been directed to deal with blocked projects… limiting a number of contracts to four or less per contractor and to penalise contractors for poor workmanship, Mkhize said.

What the premier also said:

On Crime

“While we call on communities to do more to eradicate crime within their midst, we need to caution against vigilantism and other acts of lawlessness in the name of fighting crime. We need to end human trafficking, including the kidnapping of children to be exploited as sex slaves.”

On Drugs

“The area requiring strong attention is the challenge of substance abuse which has rapidly spread in urban and rural areas, as drugs such as woonga and kuber destroy our communities. Equally shocking has been the reports of young girls who have been lured to become drug mules, only to face arrest, conviction and execution in foreign lands. Something drastic has to be done”.

On Health

He said the vacancies of all nursing posts in hospitals and clinics must be filled and training of more nurses be fast-tracked. “Without this NHI will be doomed to fail. KwaZulu-Natal has identified two districts to be used in piloting the National Health Insurance… At long last, after so many years of campaigning for it, it fills me with joy to proclaim that the National Health Insurance is here!”

On Education

“We note the co-operation between the department and the unions in the creation of labour peace, but we are concerned about the erosion of professionalism.

“The cabinet legkotla resolved to host an imbizo of stakeholders in education to discuss declining pass rates, existence of unsavoury relations between teachers and learners, ill-discipline like drunkenness, slovenly attire, and how it creates bad role models for learners”

On Tourism

“We know our province and its tourism products are irresistible to tourists. We need more direct flights to Durban – the time for bypassing Kwazulu-Natal is long gone.

“We shall not be ignored!

“More than a year later we are still trying to decipher the rationale behind the termination of the SAA route from Durban to Cape Town, without the courtesy of prior information to the provincial government.

“Nobody has explained to us why it is profitable for other airlines but not for SAA. Tourism is the gold mine of KwaZulu-Natal”.

On Agriculture

“This sector which once was a major creator of jobs has consistently shown decline. Bold steps are needed to turn it around.”

On the Passenger Rail System

Mkhize said the province was finalising an agreement with the Passenger rail Agency of SA, with about R5 billion investment expected to come out of this.