Summary extract of speech by DA MPL Jack Bloom in State of the Province debate in the Gauteng Legislature on February 24 2011:
Premier Nomvula Mokonyane is the "Queen of Empty Promises". She can't wriggle out of the disastrous decision to toll roads that will badly hit the hard-pressed motorist.
How are we going to create jobs when toll fees will raise the cost of doing business and chase many businesses out of the province? And how are we going to create jobs when the government's failure to pay hundreds of companies is forcing many of them out of business? There are 9484 accounts not paid of suppliers to hospitals, amounting to more than R1 billion.
Last year she apologized "most profoundly" for late payments, but this year we don't even get an apology - just another empty promise. It's a major reason why our hospitals are breaking down through lack of maintenance and equipment failure.
The Gauteng Health Department continues to be bedeviled by corruption and mismanagement. Emergency response times have sunk to their lowest yet - a mere 33% responded to within 15 minutes, instead of the 80% international standard. I am afraid the excuses are running out.
I am reminded of what Winston Churchill said in 1936: "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences." We too are entering a period of consequences. We are seeing now the consequences of past bad decisions.
Madam premier, you have failed to sort out the Gauteng Shared Services Centre. Last month hundreds of newly appointed doctors were not paid at the end of the month. Madam premier, you have failed to reopen the Kempton Park hospital despite your promise two years ago.
And Madam premier, what happened to your plan for a private-public partnership to speed up forensic laboratory investigations? Like much else, you make a promise and then expect everybody to forget about it when nothing happens.
You have failed on the issue of corruption because you let the big fish get away. The predatory elite is still feasting on over-priced and irregular contracts.
We all know that you are a lame duck premier, stuck within limits set by this predatory elite. It's why we blundered into the Gautrain, the call centre mess, the motorsport fiasco, the gross over-payment on security contracts, and now the toll road disaster that threatens the economic growth of this province.
As Kgalema Motlanthe warned when he was secretary-general of the ANC: "Almost every project is conceived because it offers opportunities for certain people to make money."
Madam premier, you should follow the example of Western Cape and have a high-powered Forensic Investigation Unit with professional staff unaligned to any political party. Don't stop at nailing corrupt officials - go for their political masters too.
Madam premier, you were known as the Queen of Empty Promises when you were MEC for Housing. So far, you are repeating that role as premier. A serious course correction is needed if that is not to be your political epitaph.
Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA member Gauteng legislature, February 24 2011
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