Durban - As KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala prepares to deliver the State of the Province Address (Sopa) in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday, leaders of opposition parties in the province have called for him to prioritise the combating of violent crime that has gripped the province.
Tomorrow Zikalala is expected to give his speech in front of 1 000 invited guests, including members of the judiciary, the executive, members of the legislature, members of the Zulu royal family, civic organisations and the media, at Pietermaritzburg’s Royal Showgrounds.
On Tuesday the speaker of the provincial legislature, Nontembeko Boyce, said that the limitation on the number of guests at the event was in line with Covid-19 restrictions for indoor gatherings.
Speaking on what they expected Zikalala’s address to focus on, EFF provincial chairperson and member of the KZN legislature Vusi Khoza said at the top of the list was crime, followed by education, unemployment and lack of access to land.
“He would have failed the people of KwaZulu-Natal if he does not address the issue of crime. In terms of the recent crime stats KwaZulu-Natal has overtaken the Western Cape as the murder capital of South Africa with increasing cases of GBV, and there’s also increasing cases of cross-border crime.
“We want him to speak on the issue of education. The education system is failing us as you would’ve noticed that in terms of the matric results we decreased so there’s a crisis in our education. There is also unemployment generally and youth unemployment specifically,” Khoza said.
He said another key issue in the province was homelessness and landlessness. He criticised the government for failing to ensure that the people of the province had access to land for housing, industrial and agricultural purposes.
Francois Rodgers, DA provincial leader, echoed Khoza’s sentiments, saying the key issue was the safety and security of the people of KZN, particularly following the July 2021 unrest.
“After the report that was released to the president (Cyril Ramaphosa) on the July anarchy it’s quite clear that nothing has changed and as the report says, it’s a case of when it's going to happen again and not if.
“The legislature recently did an oversight of SAPS police stations and the police stations were generally found to be absolutely dysfunctional, poorly staffed, with poor capacity and little or no assistance in the form of equipment to be able to fulfil their role,” Rodgers said.
Another key issue that needed Zikalala’s attention was local government and service delivery as local government was at its worst state ever in KZN, he said
“The premier needs to come up with how he’s going to fix that. He’s already accepted responsibility for uMsunduzi and that’s not good enough; to accept responsibility is not solving the problem. We need to know how he’s going to solve the problem of local government,” Rodgers said.
IFP provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli said that it was difficult to anticipate what would be said in the State of the Province Address. Issues from previous years tended to be repeated as there was no clear progress that brought change to people’s lives, he said.
“There are many challenges facing the province, particularly the municipalities which are not sufficiently backed and supported financially. There is also the issue of the killing of amakhosi and we say that they should have security protection, but until now there is no effort to take care of them and recognise traditional leadership properly.
“We are also saddened that King Misuzulu will not deliver his address (opening of provincial legislature) as expected, and we expect the premier to clarify what the future holds for traditional leadership in KwaZulu-Natal.
“We want all those things to be fixed, but we also know that there will be many promises that will not be fulfilled when the programme of the day is over,” Ntuli said.
Political Bureau