The premier keep promising the people of the Western Cape job creation, service delivery, more houses, clear open Government etc. 8 months have passed now with DA in government what have we to show for it? Nothing much! Are we getting what she promised? No!

Instead we are getting more promises and same excuses and no implementation progress of last promises. No housing delivery because national is not providing funds and there's no appropriate land? Same old excuse that smacks of lack of will to really find the solution. When canvassing the DA rode on the ticket that it'll solve these things. Where are the solutions?

The DA came with a vroom of Hercules cleaning the stables of corruption. Eight months down the line we still have not heard of any real uncovered corruption and heads rolling. It gives us no option but to conclude that the fanfare was raised only to discredit the previous administration.

The constant, persistent, complaint by the Premier about too many people moving to the WC is a condescending to say the least, and smells of prejudicial provincialism. The Premier, and the DA at large, needs to understand that this is a free country where people have freedom to go where and when they wish?

It is becoming clear that the main economy of this province under the DA governance has no intentions of taking serious the economic development of the poor. All we get are promises for a conducive atmosphere for doing business. This is not a bad thing on its own, but we've been hearing this for quite sometime now. And for those who see the DA as the front of white business the tone is worrying when there's nothing said about proper township and rural development. And, while on the subject, why was there no mention of Black Economic Empowerment in the Premier's address; or need we ask?

It was not surprising to hear the Premier talk about commercial farming, which for now is still predominately another form of white business.  The fact that she could mention these without any mention of proper rural and township programmes of development give colour to the accusation that her party is little more than a vanguard for white (business) interests.

COPE needs to know when is the province planning to fully integrate into the main stream provincial economy rural and informal development? The question of rural infrastructure is more pressing and has never been adequately addressed anywhere in this province.

There was hardly any mention of health plan by the Premier, except welcomed plans to increase ARV rollouts. But our public health system, which is still in total disarray particularly in the rural areas, needs more than that. Many rural and township clinics are still without medicines, properly trained health-professionals and care givers. Our public health system needs to be radically overhauled on the excellent level the Premier is planning with education.

We would have liked to know where does the provincial government stand on the National Health Insurance scheme? Is the DA government hoping or working for its collapse, or does it support it? Health is the major problematic areas in this province. Building two hospitals, planned by the previous administration, and approved by the current one, will hardly solve the problems of our health system.

The Premier has been talking about green energy for a while now, but the truth of the matter is that companies who were looking to invest on this, both nationally and provincially, are going away because of lack of direction from the government. This is also an indictment to the government of the WC.

Simple said, for an average person in the Western Cape Province streets, is that it is all going nowhere. The big DA promise to the people of the Western Cape is becoming a dud. The Western Cape people gambled hopes on the DA just to end up with something very similar to the ANC, albeit on the other extreme pole.

It is a wonder to a person in Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha when the Premier listens to far removed commentators (Peter Bruce of Business Day) about DA ran cities prospering and improving in service delivery. There's evidence of that in the black townships where people still live in filth. For them it is all going anywhere. The only thing they see is the consolidation of white business and the keep of the status quo where racial inequalities are announced in economic terms.

The open society, by the Premier's own admission, does not work for those who've no resource to participate on the free market. It is then strange that the Western Cape Provincial government hardly does anything to assist them.

The transparency of the open system is not visible to us we look at what is happening in the city of Cape Town, for instance, where the procurement processes of contracts worth million have been found to not have followed proper procedure, and yet the DA government seem to be sweeping that under carpet instead of demanding accountability?

What then are the efficiency savings the Premier is talking about? She talks about auditing the NPOs (Non Profit Organisation) with the view of reducing their number. Yet the complaint you get from the NPOs is lack of capacity and very little government support. You don't establish efficiency in government by being stingy but by being thrifty. And why is business outsourcing tantamount to efficiency when the opposite has been proven time and again? Corruption is corruption, whether in a public or a business person.

The truth of the matter is that both the liberal and nationalist approach have ran out of ideas, hence are impotent against our challenges.

Meanwhile the pot is boiling, especially in the black townships. People are angry. Angry for unfulfilled promises and the anguish is caused by the gap between our potential and reality. Talk about a dream deferred!

There were positive things in the Premier's address:

• The province seem to have a convincing plan on the war against substance abuse
• Its education plan is plausible
• The prohibition of much abused and maligned blue lights by politicians except in real emergency (though it is going to be tough to identify what's the real emergency)
• The prohibition of government employees from doing business with the government
• Better legislation to monitor and support local government
• Draft bill to give the province to conduct real school inspection; actually the DA's education plan is plausible
• Checking power abuse, though hardly any plans were mentioned, is good too

We don't know what is entailed on the planned changes on the Land Use Planning Ordinance, so it is difficult to pronounce on that. But the provincial spatial planning laws definitely need some revamping.

COPE reiterates its commitment to work with all provincial governments, including the DA and all other parties to improve the lives of our people in the Western Cape. We undertake to go even deeper in charting more ways of realigning the politics of this country.

Statement Issued by COPE Western Cape Provincial Parliament, 19 February 2010

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