The ANC’s increasingly secretive ways of governing KwaZulu Natal are undermining Parliament’s capacity for oversight. As growing numbers of pertinent questions are left unanswered by the Premier and the MECs in Parliament, the IFP wishes to take the following issues directly to the people of KwaZulu Natal: 

There has been an unjustifiable delay of the tabling of the forensic report on overspending and mismanagement in the Department of Agriculture under its former Head of Department, Dr Jabulani Mjwara.

We in the Official Opposition not only urge the ruling party to state publicly when the report will be tabled and to come clean on the reasons for its delay, but we also exhort the Premier, as head of the provincial executive, to take full political responsibility for the contents of the forensic report. 

Similarly, the ANC’s flagship initiative of Taking Parliament to the People has been a blatant waste of the taxpayers’ money not only in principle but also in practice. Parliament, as its organiser, has not been able to account adequately for many crucial administrative and financial aspects of this initiative either before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) or in its correspondence with the Official Opposition. 

The IFP therefore urges the ruling party to suspend the initiative until Parliament can credibly explain how it administers and finances Taking Parliament to the People and until it can soundly qualify and quantify its benefits for the people of KwaZulu Natal. 

The Official Opposition is just as concerned about the stand-off between the MEC for Health Peggy Nkonyeni and former Head of Department Dr Busi Nyembezi.

We find it unacceptable that tussles between departmental leadership and management should receive more executive attention than service delivery in health care in the province as hard hit by HIV/Aids and opportunistic infections as KwaZulu Natal.

Dr Lionel Mtshali MPP
Leader of the Official Opposition

Contact: Dr Lionel Mtshali, 083 256 4902