During last week's budget debate, Premier JS Ndebele shared with Parliament some interesting insights. 

One was an observation that the IFP-led provincial government had done nothing for the people of KwaZulu Natal between 1994 and 2004. Let me remind the Premier that that this very government was at first a Government of National Unity and later a coalition government - always in partnership with the ANC. With this in mind, one must be astonished at the Premier's frankness in admitting in public that, as Minister of Transport in that government, he himself had done nothing for our people between 1994 and 2004.     

Another highlight was the Premier's admission that he prefers to govern without a coalition partner. No wonder. With the IFP in cabinet, the current levels of mismanagement, fraud, corruption and secrecy would not be feasible. We would be watching over the Premier's shoulder and demanding accountability. 

Without a brake on the Premier's verve, the Heads of Department are leaving his government in unprecedented numbers, often amid shady circumstances. Forensic audit reports into officials' misdeeds are being studiously withheld from public scrutiny. The Scorpions have become a household name in the provincial government, investigating not only senior officials but, most recently, a member of the cabinet.  

This has been our daily bread in KwaZulu Natal since 2004 and even more so since the IFP was turned out from the provincial cabinet in 2006. Who would have thought that a coalition partner could inhibit the government's profligacy more effectively than the political opposition?  

Virtually none of today's drama occurred between 1994 and 2004 when the IFP was the senior partner in the provincial government. Instead, we reached out to the ANC after a dark period of internecine violence, we delivered basic services to the communities that had never previously received any, and we pioneered mass distribution of antiretrovirals, much against the ANC's policy.

Dr Lionel Mtshali

Leader of the Official Opposition 

Contact: Dr Lionel Mtshali, 083 256 4902