The ANC has shown that it is stuck in an ideological straitjacket and will not embrace new ideas to take the province forward, even if those ideas will make a positive change in the lives of the people of the Eastern Cape.
Last Thursday several motions of the DA were debated in the EC Legislature that would make a positive change to the lives of the residents of the province. The DA plays a constructive role by putting forward alternatives that will create fresh hope for the people of this province.
A motion tabled by Jane Cowley, MPL would see residents have better access to ambulances by decentralising the Emergency Medical Services and outsourcing ambulance repairs.
[Download motion]
A motion tabled by Vicky Knoetze, MPL, would see the government providing rural communities with piped water for the first time, using an innovative pumping system that requires no electricity to work.
[Download motion]
A motion tabled by Yusuf Cassim, MPL, called for improved safety at schools to protect school infrastructure from vandalism.
[Download motion]
A second motion from Jane Cowley, MPL, called for government intervention to address the rampant illegal sand mining that is decimating the Wild Coast environment.
[Download motion]
A motion from Edmund van Vuuren, MPL, sought for government to make services available to people who are suffering from Substance Use Disorder.
[Download motion]
A second motion from Yusuf Cassim, MPL, called for the Education Department to review the Supplementary Exam system that they put in place, wherein schools were forced to roll out the exams at the last minute, despite not having the resources to do so.
[Download motion]
All of these motions were aimed at addressing the challenges faced by the people of this province on a daily basis, and every single motion was sadly rejected by the ANC. If passed the Departments would have to implement these ideas.
The full debates can be watched here and here.
The people of this province deserve better. They deserve ambulances that arrive in a time of crisis. They deserve running water, regardless of where they live. They deserve schools that are safe spaces for their children. They deserve to have their natural heritage protected for future generations. They deserve a government that cares for them when battling addiction. They deserve an Education Department that wants its children to succeed.
They do not deserve to suffer at the hands of an uncaring ANC government, that refuses to embrace new ideas when it is clear the current approach is failing.
The people of the Eastern Cape deserve better. They deserve a government that will put them first. The DA will continue to fight for new ideas that will take the province forward.
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