Premier Oscar Mabuyane needs to show that he is committed to help solve the problems we, the people of the Eastern Cape, are facing. We do not need more empty promises. We need action, hope and inspiration.
The Premier needs to spell out how he will deal with the financial crisis in Health and Education and address collapsing local government, along with the gangsterism that is impacting our municipalities.
Our children are sitting in rotting classrooms in schools that are falling apart. They have no textbooks, no toilets and no teachers. While our children suffer, ANC cadres enrich themselves through fraudulent PPE tenders, and his administration blows hundreds of millions on tablets that cannot be used.
Our sick are in hospitals with no medicine, no clean linen or food. Businesses are collapsing because they supply hospitals that can’t pay them.
We need more frontline nurses, doctors and specialists and fewer cadre-deployed millionaire administrative officials that add no value.
Premier Mabuyane needs to open his eyes to the state of our local government. Sewage flows into pothole-riddled streets. There is no water, no electricity, no service delivery. Towns are dying, businesses are closing, and those that can, are leaving.
This is the reality of what the ANC government has delivered. The Premier needs to take action.
He should cast his eyes to the Western Cape, the fastest growing economy in South Africa, where the DA-led government has created more than 500 000 jobs in the last decade.
The DA has ensured that over 80% of schools in the Western Cape have access to free internet, and 40% are no-fee schools.
In the Western Cape, over 475 000 learners get two free meals a day, meals that don’t put them in hospital.
The DA-led Western Cape has built two new district hospitals and has the highest life expectancy in the country.
The Democratic Alliance has a track record of getting things done. We know that the first step to solving a problem is admitting there is a problem to be solved. If the Premier cannot take the tough decisions, the DA is ready and willing to do so in 2024.
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