The Democratic Alliance has accused former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party of plotting to collapse service delivery in KwaZulu-Natal by ensuring that government funds do not reach “the poor”.
This after the MK party in the KZN Legislature had voted against the approval of all provincial department budgets in recent portfolio committee meetings.
The MK party — which has the highest number of MPLs in the KZN Legislature — failed to have the committees reject the budgets, after the 41 government of provincial unity (GPU) MPLs from the IFP, ANC, DA and NFP had voted in favour of the budgets.
Had the MK party succeeded in blocking the approval of the budgets by the portfolio committees, the departments would not have been able to access treasury funds to pay salaries and deliver services to the province’s residents.
DA KZN Legislature caucus chief whip Imran Keeka said the GPU did everything to ensure that the MK party and its ally in the KZN Legislature, the EFF, did not succeed in their attempts to “block the flow” of provincial government funds.
“Effectively, the GPU majority worked to block attempts by the official opposition and its EFF coalition partner to prevent the lawful flow of money to provincial departments and, ultimately, to the people of our province. Had they succeeded, services in KZN would have collapsed beyond recovery,” he said.
The MK party’s “obsession” with collapsing the GPU, Keeka said, had rendered the party ineffective in its role as KZN Legislature’s official opposition.
“Invective and naive chattering, a lack of understanding of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and its requirements, and a definite dearth of comprehension of the legislature rules saw the opposition make a mockery of themselves and the proceedings,” said Keeka.
“With no valid contributions or alternatives to make things work better — and in some instances absolute silence from the majority of their members — they simply opposed budgets. To their credit, they expressed their lack of information and abstained in the vote on the KZN Legislature budget.
“They have a lot to learn and will need to get up to speed with the realities of the province’s finances and the challenges facing residents to be able to effectively work as an opposition.
“Until recently, the MK Party had not even allocated members to committees, possibly caught napping in the process,” said Keeka.
The KZN Legislature will next week hold a debate on the provincial government department’s budgets.
“The GPU will remain effective and resolute to ensure that citizens are placed first and the DA is determined to play our role in ensuring this. The DA remains committed to being a builder and not a breaker,” Keeka said.
