KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomsa Dube-Ncube announced the second SOPA on Wednesday.
KZN Provincial Government/Provided
- You may have met President Cyril Ramaphosa's Tintswalo when he delivered his State of the Union address.
- KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomsa Dube-Ncube has now introduced Mr Enzo, saying the provincial leader has benefited from grants and ANC policies.
- Mr Dube-Ncube delivered his State of the State Address (SOPA) on Wednesday.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomsa Dube Ncube said it was the ANC government, not the work of the Holy Spirit, that had made great strides and positively impacted the lives of the poor.
Her State of the State Address (SOPA) largely parroted President Cyril Ramaphosa's message during the launch of the ANC manifesto at Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium last week.
The dignitaries include King Misulu Ka Zwelithini, Prime Minister Thulasizwe Buthelezi, former Prime Minister Willies Mchunu, former Prime Minister Zweli Mkhize and former Prime Minister Sbu Ndebele.
For Dube Ncube's second SOPA, the KwaZulu-Natal government laid out a red carpet for dignitaries, chairs and tables covered in white linen, gold and red handrails and a line at the entrance to the Oval. All sorts of extravagant ceremonies were held, including plants. Pietermaritzburg cricket stadium.
Minutes before politicians emerged from the grandstand, a man in blue-collar work clothes dominated the red carpet.
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While he was feverishly sweeping the carpet, police were directing journalists to stay away from the main entrance and completely away from the terrace next to the red carpet.
The roads surrounding the grounds were not very fancy, and all the roads around the stadium had crater-like holes and rough bumps.
I couldn't miss the heavy police presence. There was a brief standoff between television journalists and SAPS over media placement near the entrance.
Among Dube-Ncube's main topics were social grants, which are part of KwaZulu-Natal's sole mission to eradicate national load shedding and curb a burgeoning unemployment crisis. That's a bold promise.
She said KwaZulu-Natal issued the most child grants in the country, at just under three million.
“What this means is that despite all the challenges in our economy, the Democratic government has provided a safety net for poor and vulnerable individuals and households,” Dube Ncube said.
She added:
In other words, without the grants, more than four million people in KwaZulu-Natal would go to bed hungry, as one grant tends to help more than one person. But I would like to say that our view is that increasing access to employment and skills training opportunities will ultimately overcome poverty and unemployment.
While Mr Ramaphosa used the analogy of a young man named Tintswalo to highlight the ruling party's successes to date, Mr Dube-Ncube introduced his own spin-off, Enzo, whom he later called Tintswalo.
“Enzo starts receiving nutrition from the government from the time he's in his mother's womb,” she said, citing the example of a mother who plans to receive the subsidy soon after her child is born.
“When Tintswalo [Enzo] Upon coming out, he was given a certificate before being discharged from the hospital. That way Tintswalo can get the subsidy,” Dube Ncube said.
She said this would not have been possible without the breakthrough of 1994, and that all business development did not happen in the province because of the “Holy Spirit”, but because of the work of the ANC.
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He said it was important that grant recipients remain economically active by getting jobs, baking bread and participating in government projects that benefit them.
She also said she would need to get in touch with spaza shops to help pay the grant.
job creation
Mr Dube-Ncube said the state had been able to create 60,000 jobs through the S'thesha Waya Waya programme.
She also promised that 60 businesses would receive R90 million in funding and that young people who applied to the youth fund would be given a “Dunlop garage”.
“I want to assure young people that the fund will continue to benefit the people of KwaZulu-Natal,” she said.
Opposition parties said Dube Ncube's speech parroted Ramaphosa's manifesto and was “out of touch” with reality in KwaZulu-Natal.
DA state leader Francois Rogers said the speech amounted to campaigning.
ActionSA provincial leader Zwekel Mnkwango said the speech lacked content on how to address the province's many problems.