Unemployment, informal settlements, poor infrastructure and inaccessibility to water and sanitation were the key issues citizens of KwaZulu-Natal lamented on Monday night during a live political imbizo assembled by the SABC at Hambanathi Hall, in oThongathi.
The theme of the political debate questioned the sole interest of political parties to govern the province.
The panel consisted of provincial representatives from the ANC, EFF, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the DA and uMkhonto WeSizwe Party (MKP).
ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo spoke on accountability of leaders as his opening statement. The IFP provincial premier candidate and mayor of King Cetshwayo District Municipality, Thami Ntuli, emphasised the governing party’s failure, labelling it a “mess”.
Meanwhile, provincial chairperson of the EFF Mongezi Twala said the party will usher South Africans to a new dawn of hope, and "restore dignity to those whose land was stolen by settlers”.
Moreover, Mtolo maintained the ANC was not threatened by the three of the largest opposition parties, including rookie controversial MKP.
However, Kwazi Mbanjwa from MKP contested that they are a threat as an opposition party, especially to the ANC.
“Since the birth of the MK Party, we are a threat,” he said.
Audience members highlighted infestation of informal settlements, due to the housing backlog especially those affected by the flooding disaster in 2022.
uMngeni executive mayor and DA provincial premier candidate, Christopher Pappas, said his cabinet proposed to distribute land owned by the Department of Public Works to the people of KZN, renovate dilapidated buildings for access to housing and decrease the housing backlog.
“We will give title deeds to the people for ownership, offer public land to our people and allocate a budget for land reforms. Government is spending huge amounts of money on private security for officials,” said Pappas.
Another concern raised by the audience was limited access to water and sanitation. This included the absence of flush toilets and a deficient drainage system, resulting in townships, especially squatter camps, drenched in sewage.
To address the issue, the IFP pointed out that cadre deployment has enabled unethical and incompetent leadership, hence, there’s no access to basic human services. “Cadre deployment has enabled people not to deliver services. I have fixed issues of access to clean water at King Cetshwayo District Municipality as mayor, those people today have access to clean and safe water,” said Ntuli.
Ntuli further added that the IFP is working with the local government to ensure clean water and sanitation are accessible.
The issue of poor infrastructure, especially in the education system, was another concern by residents.
The IFP argued the governing party has failed to fix the education system in the province thus, KZN only ranked in second position for the 2023 matric pass rate, after its predecessors staggered in bottom five positions since the beginning of time.
“We have built infrastructure for education specifically, Mangosuthu University. People see our work, that is why we are growing,” said Ntuli. The IFP has contributed to developing education infrastructure, such as the formation of the University of Zululand and Ogwini Comprehensive Technical High School, including technical vocational colleges.“
The EFF and MK Party stressed on land redistribution, specifically land expropriation without compensation, especially in rural areas. “We want to develop the industry in the rural areas, by involving ‘amakhosi’ (the royal houses) who allocate land for citizens without compensation. With land, people are able to farm, be self-sufficient and contribute to the economy,” said Mbanjwa.
The second quarter of Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) boasted KZN as the second most unemployed province, recording 46.7% after North West. The province has the second largest population, after Gauteng.
Early this year, the ANC vowed that 2.5 million jobs will be formulated within five years. To counter the ANC, the EFF mentioned the plight of unemployment, especially unemployed graduates keeps increasing.
Both the EFF and MKP concurred on job creation for economic sustainability.
“The threshold of 35-year-old employment age must be abolished, and dissolving cadre deployment,” added Twala.
The Star