This morning I was sworn in as Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. In this, I dedicated myself and the DA to serving and putting the people of the province first.
This is step forward in achieving my dream of bringing real change that Gauteng residents are in desperate need of. In 2016 the DA embarked on a mission to bring change to Gauteng by ending corruption and providing opportunities to our people. That mission will not be completed until we take full control of the provincial government to effect more positive change in the lives of people in Gauteng – 8 May will be that day!
Taking my seat in the legislature, we will hold Premier Makhura accountable for all the failed and empty promises he made over the last five years. In little less than a week the Premier will deliver his last State of the Province Address and give an overview of his performance over the last year, which is nothing more than another year of empty promises with little action from the Premier.
In 2015, during his State of the Province Address, Premier David Makhura made a promise to establish an aquaculture project for the breeding of prawns in the West Rand which would create 6512 jobs.
Today we visited the Bosasa-linked company Bio-Organics in Mogale City which failed to successfully establish a prawn farm on the West Rand. This ‘prawn farm’ which is now a white elephant, was the brainchild of the controversial Bosasa Group, which is currently under investigation for wide-scale corruption including the bribing of politicians and senior government officials for the procurement of government tenders. The prawn farm is alleged to have received the full support of the provincial government. The planned prawn farm envisaged by Makhura would have been a joint private-public private partnership between the Gauteng government and the private sector.
Considering the close link between the failing ANC and Bosasa in Gauteng through people like Nomvula Mokanyana, it is not a coincidence that Premier Makhura and Bosasa had envisaged creating prawn farms on the West Rand in which both failed to succeed. I will be tabling questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to ascertain whether there is a link between the Bosasa failed prawn farm and Premier Makhura’s failed prawn farm. We would also want to determine whether the Gauteng province had allocated any funds to this failed prawn farm.
At the centre of Makhura’s failure to deliver on his promises is his inability to deal with the corrupt patronage networks entrenched in the Gauteng administration. A network of corruption that has destroyed opportunities in the province.
Like so many of the other promises by Makhura in his SOPA speeches over the last five years, nothing can be shown of the promises to create jobs and revive the local economy. Another example of this is the failed re-industrialisation of Merafong, Kagiso and Chamdor where there is no promised stimulus of the local economy as promised by Makhrua.
Visiting the Chamdor Industrial park in Mogale City today it is clear how Premier Makhura’s promises to create jobs and grow the economy is mere lip service. Upon our inspection we established that a number of manufacturers closed down their businesses due to a lack of investment in the area and no plan by government to revive the local economy.
Under the ANC in Gauteng, we have had five years of missed opportunities.
Gauteng is in need of real change that opens fair access to real, long-term jobs and stops corruption. The power to bring this change lies in the hands of the people.
The people of Gauteng are tired of empty promises from the ANC-led administration.
A DA provincial government will tackle corruption head-on and expose those networks of patronage and ensure that those involved are sent to jail for at least 15 years.
