He is “working tirelessly to position the province as a favourable investment to enhance economic growth and development”.
So said Dr Zamani Saul, Northern Cape premier, in his penultimate budget speech in the legislature earlier in June during which he repeated his vision to build a modern, growing, and successful province.
The DA, however, has voted against the budget saying “the province is meant to be moving towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), but we are moving back to the Dark Ages. Deterioration is rife. Potholes are getting bigger, crime is out of control, towns are getting filthier, and the scavenging in garbage bags for scraps overwhelming.”
Saul said the executive council and the office of the premier must play a coordinating and overseeing role, and provide strategic leadership to advance provincial growth and development.
“The Namakwa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Aggeneys had received investments of more than R29 billion for phase one. Pravin Gordhan, minister of Public Enterprises, and Transnet will announce the implementation of the Boegoebaai Harbour with an investment of more than R13 billion.
The Northern Cape Deep Port and Rail Infrastructure Project will enhance the country’s maritime capabilities and contribute significantly to economic growth, international trade, and infrastructure development.
Saul said they intend to send ten young people to Vietnam to take up Maritime studies. The development of a feasibility study by Sasol on the development of green hydrogen production in Boegoebaai, a multi-billion rand project, is near completion.
The office of the premier is constituted to manage administration, institutional development, policy, and governance.
“Through Operation Clean Audit, led by the director-general, we remain committed to improve the provincial departments and municipal audit outcomes. To root out corruption and strengthen financial accountability, we recently concluded a service level agreement with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to conduct lifestyle audits in the provincial administration, starting in July.
“We allocated R210 million to enhance 2 480 young people’s skills and agreements with different Section Education and Training Authorities (SETA’s) have been concluded. It entails training learners in electrical and welding; technical schools receiving equipment; 700 young people being trained in renewable energy; 950 young people trained in solar installation; 5 300 beneficiaries trained to become qualified artisans; 10 people funded for clinical engineering studies, and so on.”
Grantham Steenkamp , DA-MPL, at first complimented the premier in the budget debate. “The premier absorbed the Premier’s Bursary Trust Fund into his office, merged the Department of Environment with Agriculture, established the state-owned construction company and a new ministry, put together the Boegoebaai Port and the SEZ projects, and supports the Hungry Lions Football Club.
“But, the premier must spend less time on the football stands and more at desks at the Department of Education, the casualty area at Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital, and at the Sol Plaatje Municipality.
“Despite Operation Clean Audit, we saw an alarming regression in municipal audit outcomes for the 2021-’22 financial year. Some provincial departments continue to slide.
“Last year in his budget speech, the premier promised vacant HOD posts will be filled, but then an acting HOD of Health, who is facing criminal charges relating to his tenure, was appointed.
“Where is the promised transparency, accountability, and ethics now? Corruption and maladministration cannot rob the people of much-deserved services.
“When the premier explained the vision of a modern, growing, and successful province, he described it as caring for the vulnerable and giving households access to the grid, water, and adequate sanitation. All that is growing are the sewage lakes encircling Kimberley. The province also received damning findings in the Blue and Green Drop Watch interim reports for 2023, which warrant an urgent provincial response.”
He says the Sol Plaatje Municipality is yet to implement its water shutdown to do critical repairs, violating the grant conditions.
“The R2 billion Water Services Infrastructure Grant now hangs in the balance.
“Municipalities owe Eskom a whopping R3,9 billion. While we are meant to be moving towards the 4IR, we are instead moving back to the Dark Ages.
“Alarm bells are ringing about the substantial discretionary budgetary increases across several departments. Does this relate the elections and the ANC’s not-so-good financial state?”
The DA is also concerned about the premier’s move from a state-owned property to a privately owned property.
“This is a blatant contradiction of the premier’s own promises of cost-cutting measures. Residents already had to pay the price for one Trifecta (where government paid inflated rental prices for office space to the Trifecta company). We call on the premier to be honest about the reasons for the move and justify the costs.”
