Stingy Zille must resign
Western Cape premier Helen Zille has once again proven why she is not fit enough to stay on. The ANC says: She must immediately vacate her office!
ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman says: "DA leader Zille is out of touch with the realities in communities and schools and is reactionary in throwing money at a problem instead of consulting directly with affected people and communities to find sustainable solutions to the crime problem.
"Zille must immediately resign as she and her DA-led government lost the public trust. She is quick to give R100 million to advance her darling Mmusi Maimane in Gauteng, but only gave R6 million for school safety in her own province where innocent people die too often!
"Instead Zille wastes more money (R7 million) on the Zille Commission to look into Khayelitsha crime and more on other projects. The ANC is alarmed by the fact that Zille raids money from the education budget and pours it through the City of Cape Town into the rogue municipal police which has been politicised by the DA and their dubious fronts that doesn't offer lasting or real solutions.
"The City of Cape Town should rather use the R16 million to safeguard schools that it directly or indirectly pumped into NGO's. The City cannot even deal with the matter, but merely outsource the work it is primarily responsible for to DA aligned organisations.
"The education department now could only find R6 million for safety, but burns more than that on the arbitrary closure of poor schools and foolish court cases! There is at least R3 million more available if the department and Zille abandons the planned appeal against the High Court's decisions to set aside the closure of these schools!"
The ANC takes a dim view of the latest antics of the DA to divert R6 million from the education coffers, while the very Western Cape Education Department struggles to efficiently provide books, teachers and infrastructure to the schools it closed down! It is a travesty if this money is taken away from what is meant for important things like books and classrooms.
"The DA abuse taxpayer money to fight poor people and families in courts, but it cannot properly fund the fight against drug lords and gangsters. The DA government should reactivate the Bambanani Volunteers who did a sterling job in providing safety at grassroots level in communities, including schools plagued by violence. The DA should ensure poor schools get the same level of security than those in rich areas," Fransman says.
It is also very strange that money intended for education is redirected, while the provincial budget for community safety amounts to almost R390 million and R48 million thereof is earmarked for crime prevention! It can give more for school safety, if only it reduces its expenditure on things like consultants, traveling, communication and administration. Clearly Zille has no plan or solution for the problems. She must go, Fransman added.
Statement issued by Marius Fransman, ANC Western Cape leader and Deputy Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, August 19 2013
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