If the DA was to amass sufficient majority in KwaZulu-Natal, the party will prioritise turning the sleepy rural towns into thriving trade areas by investing mainly in agriculture and manufacturing.
Restoring towns to their former glory
This, according to the party, will change the face of once productive towns into their former glory. It will also stop the influx of people to big towns. This as the influx has complicated the budget allocations for the so-called affluent towns such as Durban and Johannesburg.
“The first thing to is to end corruption once and for all and focus on infrastructure roll out. Get the economy of small towns and cities working again, because they have collapsed,” said Chris Pappas. He is the DA KZN premier candidate, and said this in an interview with Sunday World.
DA’s jobs plan
The move forms part of the DA’s jobs plan, which the blue party has put top of its agenda.
Pappas is also the mayor of uMngeni local municipality covering mainly Howick, Mpophomeni and other areas near Pietermaritzburg. He explained that the decaying of local economies had created mayhem and led to destitution. This as people look for employment opportunities elsewhere.
“People are flooding to big cities and urban areas in search for employment opportunities. It’s no longer feasible for those cities to keep looking after people. Towns like Ladysmith, Vryheid, Dundee and many others were once places of employment. But now these are places where people go to suffer. Things must change,” he said.
Many towns deserted due to unrests
Isithebe industrial park, under the Mandeni local municipality, north coast of KZN, is one rural town with massive potential. Sporadic unrest has forced factories to leave the area in droves, leaving local jobless. In its hey days the area was home to over 300 factories.
It was a core employer for many locals and for people from far flung areas. But the area has been left to decay. It is the largest industrial park in the country employing over 25,000 people. Other industries operating from the park include steel fabrication and furniture manufacturing. Also manufacturing of plastic and paper products and packaging. Stationary, chemicals, engineering products and foundry work too.
Multiparty charter
The DA had lost its provincial opposition status to the IFP. It has pinned its hopes of governing KwaZulu-Natal on the multiparty charter. That’s a pact of opposition parties inclusive of ActionSA, IFP and other smaller parties. The stakes are high in the province. Former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party (MKP) is predicted to cause an upset.
In the last round of general elections in 2019, the ANC recorded 54.2% of the provincial vote. It was followed by the IFP at 16.3% DA 13.9% and the EFF could only manage 9.7% of provincial voter share.
According to the Independent Electoral commission (IEC), KwaZulu-Natal is the second province with the biggest registered voting population after Gauteng. It also has one of the highest number of registered voters who are younger than 35 years of age.
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