The Inkatha Freedom Party is appalled after the ruling ANC in KwaZulu-Natal called off a sitting of the Legislature this past Friday in order to attend a National Prayer Day that was scheduled to take place in Durban.
“It is unacceptable that a sitting of the Legislature is cancelled for an event that was not on the Legislature calendar of events. To make matters worse the so-called Prayer Day never took place for some mysterious reason after a lot of money was spent on posters and other media advertising the event. We were only told about the cancellation of the sitting when we were in the Legislature on Thursday afternoon. This is atrocious because many Members of the Legislature travel hundreds of kilometres to attend sittings and they are paid for travelling and accommodation is booked for them,” said IFP Leader in the KZN Legislature, Mr Blessed Gwala MPL.
“This government talks of cost-cutting measures but it squanders tax payer’s money by paying for such wasteful expenditure. We are aware that service providers were on site installing the stage and the infrastructure only to be told in the early hours of Friday morning that the event was called off. Surely those service providers were paid for their efforts,” continued Mr Gwala.
“We can speculate as to why an event that was so widely publicised was suddenly called off. It could be that the ANC faced embarrassment because its supporters refused to attend or it could be that leaders in the ANC have realised that praying for a president who is so deeply embroiled in controversy is not going to help. It would appear the ANC has finally realised that it is faced with a judiciary that is fair and just. The High Court has ruled that President Zuma must face the over 700 charges that he was hoping will go away. Our judicial system is incorruptible and will not do the bidding of the ruling party. This is what the ANC was not prepared for and it imagined that it could turn the so-called Prayer Day into a celebration for its president. This was not to be and therefore the event and the Legislature sitting were both call off. This is the beginning of the end of ANC dominance in our beloved country,” concluded Mr Gwala.
Issued by:
Mr Blessed Gwala
IFP Leader in the KZN Legislature
078 290 5842