File Photo: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images
The Democratic Alliance has accused former president Jacob Zuma's Umkhonto weSizwe party of plotting to collapse service delivery in KwaZulu-Natal by preventing government funds from reaching the “poor”.
This comes after the MK party in the KZN legislature voted against approving all provincial departmental budgets at a recent portfolio committee meeting.
The MK party, which has the most provincial members in the KZN legislature, was unable to get the committee to reject the budget, even though 41 provincial unity government (GPU) members from the IFP, ANC, DA and NFP voted in favour of the budget.
If the MK Party had succeeded in blocking the approval of the budget by the ministry committees, the ministries would not have been able to access state funds to pay salaries and provide services to the state's citizens.
DA KwaZulu-Natal parliamentary group secretary Imran Kiika said the GPU had done everything to ensure that the MK party in the KwaZulu-Natal parliament and its ally the EFF did not succeed in their attempts to “block the flow” of provincial government funds.
“In effect, the GPU majority sought to thwart attempts by the official opposition and its EFF coalition partners to block the legitimate flow of funds to provincial government departments and ultimately to the people of the province. Had they succeeded, services in KwaZulu-Natal would have collapsed irretrievably,” he said.
Kika said MK's “obsession” with destroying the GPU was preventing the party from fulfilling its role as the official opposition in the KZN legislature.
“Through name-calling, ignorant chatter, lack of understanding of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and its requirements and a clear lack of understanding of legislative rules, the Opposition has made a mockery of itself and the proceedings,” Kika said.
“Without any valid contributions or alternatives to make things better and, in some cases, complete silence from the majority of members, they simply opposed the budget. To their credit, they expressed a lack of information and abstained from voting on the budget in the KZN Assembly.”
“They have a lot to learn and will need to gain a deeper understanding of the state's fiscal realities and the challenges facing residents in order to operate effectively as an opposition.”
“Until recently, the MK Party had not assigned any members to the committee, perhaps catching them off guard in the process,” Kika said.
The KZN Parliament is due to debate the provincial government department budget next week.
“The GPU will continue to be effective and decisive in putting our citizens first. The DA is determined to play its role in ensuring this. The DA is committed to remaining a builder, not a destroyer,” Keeka said.
