Unqualified cadres and officials who have been parachuted into senior positions in government departments must be ready to ship out or hounded from their top posts.
This is the stern warning issued by the DA ahead of the May 29 elections. The party seeks to wrestle power from the governing ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.
Ready-to-govern summit
The Blue Party, as the DA is called, held a ready-to-govern summit in Durban on Monday. It unveiled its grand plan, which it will introduce in KZN. This should it get the majority vote from the electorate.
“People must be qualified for the jobs they are doing. They should possess the skills and capacity. We have done it in Umngeni. Where we have successfully conducted the qualifications and skills audit on our officials.
“The only way to build a strong and efficient public service is to have zero tolerance towards mediocrity,” charged Chris Pappas. The party has endorsed him for KZN Premier.
He was speaking to Sunday World on the sidelines of the one-day summit.
Umngeni local municipality is the only council that the party governs in KZN. It snatched the municipality from the ANC after the 2021 municipal elections.
Public sector in a state of collapse
He explained that the public sector was in a state of collapse. And this is because public servants who failed to perform their duties were let off the hook. This was to the detriment of ordinary citizens.
“If you cannot perform the duties of the job you’re hired for, you have to go out. [You have to] give the opportunity to other people who are prepared to service the public,” he said.
So serious are the political ambitions of the DA that it has made drastic moves. It has invited its counterparts from the Western Cape to share governance experiences.
The party believes the Western Cape is the model of good governance. It plans to adopt the same policies it has implemented in the province where it governs. This applies in the event that it is elected to the top echelons of power in KwaZulu-Natal.
Agenda based on basic services, jobs
Top of the party’s agenda is driving private and public partnerships to unlock jobs. To also release municipal land for affordable social housing and improving water infrastructure. Also keeping communities safe through the devolution of SAPS and other crime fighting structures.
The plan for electoral victory for the party in KZN would, however, not be a walk in the park. With the recent emergence of the ANC splinter grouping uMkhonto weSizwe Party. The new party is centred around the cult figure of former President Jacob Zuma.
The party is predicted to make inroads in the province, especially in regions of the ANC plagued by internal divisions. These are eThekwini, Harry Gwala, General Gizenga previously greater KwaDukuza and Musa Dladla region. The regions covering northern KZN all the way to Zuma’s ancestral village of Nkandla.
But DA’s parliamentary chief whip Siviwe Gwarube believes the MK Party will not affect opposition parties. Instead, it will eat on ANC voter share, she said.
Not threatened by MK Party
“Well, it’s true that the emergence of MK will have an impact on voting patterns, especially in KZN. But we think it will hurt the ANC the most,” she told Sunday World.
On Tuesday, the so-called multi-party charter comprising DA, IFP, FF Plus, ActionSA and ACDP, and other smaller parties, announced that on Wednesday the parties will unveil a plan to build a professional public service.
“South Africa urgently needs a new government with a clear plan to depoliticise and professionalise the public service. Enhancing skills, accountability, efficiency, and value for money to build a public service that delivers to all,” the parties said in a statement.
