“Sopa should be a yardstick for government to account for commitments made over the past 12 months.”
COSATU has called on Northern Cape Premier Zamani Saul to outline “drastic action” to tackle corruption and deal with outstanding Section 106 reports at local municipalities, when he delivers his State of the Province Address (Sopa) tomorrow.
Cosatu provincial secretary Orapleng Moraladi urged provincial government to conduct life-style audits on all public servants, starting from the executive, head of departments (HODs) and all senior managers.
“We want to know how the provincial government is going to be actively involved in dealing with corruption, especially on reported cases involving HODs at the departments of Health, Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, Roads and Public Works and Transport, Safety and Liaison,” said Moraladi.
He added that rapid action was needed to ensure that electricity prices and rates, particularly at Sol Plaatje Municipality, were affordable.
“We expect the premier to outline a plan to repair damaged infrastructure like the appalling state of the drainage system, water supply, potholes and the state of roads in general.
“A comprehensive bulk infrastructure plan must be rolled out in the townships, villages and rural areas to ensure that people become economically active. To bolster food security, water canals can be installed in rural dwellings for backyard vegetable gardening and small- and large-scale community farming.”
Moraladi believed that the premier also needed to announce a plan of action with timelines to avail serviced land for workers to build their own houses.
“Sopa should be a yardstick for government to account for commitments made over the past 12 months.
“It should be a platform to outline work to be done for the next 12 months to ensure that the people of the Province receive the much deserved service delivery, opportunities and means to sustain their lives socio-economically.
“We further note the escalating levels of poverty, unemployment and the devastating proportion of inequality in society.”
He added that the premier had to address unemployment, set a deadline to fill critical, vacant posts and to ensure that all government services and procurement of goods were in-sourced as a matter of urgency,
“The premier has yet to set a deadline for the establishment of both the state-owned mining company and construction company.”
