Durban — Opposition parties in KwaZulu-Natal have lashed out at Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube for using the State of the Province Address (Sopa) to campaign for the ANC – with the EFF calling it a farewell speech by the premier.
The 57-page speech which Dube-Ncube took over two hours reading was mainly about the achievements of the provincial government under the ANC since taking over from the IFP in 2004.
Dube-Ncube’s praises of the ANC-led government started in 2002 with a special mention of Dr Zweli Mkhize who was at that time the Health MEC, praising him for providing ARVs to HIV-AIDS patients in the province.
There was ejection from the IFP benches reminding the premier that in 2002, it was the late Lionel Mtshali who was premier under the IFP that was governing, but she insisted that it was Mkhize who was the Health MEC when the ARVs were rolled out.
Reacting to the speech, EFF provincial chairperson Mongezi Twala called the address a farewell speech. He said it was nothing but electioneering with no mention of what the government plans to do going forward.
“What we saw today was a farewell speech. She was grandstanding and misled the public in her last year’s State of the Province Address when she said all the flood victims had been moved to permanent houses. Today we were vindicated because she acknowledged that eThekwini flood victims were still not relocated from the flats that they were placed in after the floods,” Twala said.
The DA expressed its disappointment, saying the premier was campaigning for her party rather than giving the people of the province what to expect from the government. DA premier candidate Chris Pappas said he came to the event expecting DubeNcube to talk about fighting the high rate of unemployment among youth and explain strategies to grow the economy but instead, she was electioneering.
Joining the fray, ActionSA provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango also accused the premier of campaigning for her party, saying there were issues the premier could have addressed including school transport problems where pupils were still walking long distances to get to school.
Mncwango also criticised the premier for boasting about the creation of temporary jobs instead of permanent jobs. The premier had announced that her government had created more than 600 000 job opportunities through Sthesha Waya-waya initiatives. The program was the provincial government’s version of Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s Nasi iSpani mass job creation initiative.
IFP’s Blessed Gwala also lashed out at the premier for talking about political violence as if it was one-sided. Gwala said the premier should have acknowledged the role of her party in the political violence. The premier had mentioned massacres like Trust Feed, Shobashobane, and Seven Day War which she said were sponsored by apartheid.
Apart from self-praising, the premier announced that the new palace would be built for King Misuzulu in Nongoma this year.
In a short statement, the king said he was pleased with the progress attained by the government, particularly in the primary health sector and youth empowerment.
His Majesty added that he would await more information about the proposed new palace.
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Daily News