Cape Town - The ANC in the Western Cape has criticised the latest Annual Report of the Department of the Premier for revealing many plans and policies with little impact on the ground.
ANC leader of the province, Cameron Dugmore, said the report validated their belief that the province had the “weakest premier ever with no ability to provide firm leadership, strategic direction and implementation”.
The standing committee on the premier and constitutional matters met on Tuesday to deliberate the annual report for the year 2021/22.
“Despite the rising unemployment in the province, the ANC notes that the premier publicly admitted that his government had not focused any provincial resources on public employment initiatives.
”It heavily relied on the Presidential Employment Initiative and EPWP to create employment opportunities,” said Dugmore.
He also criticised the report for lacking any plans to improve infrastructure in historically disadvantaged areas of the province, and failure to provide any detail on the province’s energy plans.
“It is this lack of detail which characterises Premier Alan Winde’s broad statements with no practical implementation plans.
“The DA boasts about the Western Cape being their flagship yet the reality is that Winde’s many plans, incomplete policies and lack of implementation and political will, is not improving the lives of the majority of the people in the province,” he said.
But Winde’s office said they had delivered in critical areas.
“The Western Cape government has delivered in critical areas that we are very proud of; our response to the Covid-19 pandemic and our supplementation of the inadequate delivery from the national government of safety and security to the province through the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP), which has been a success.
“Our focus now is on building the economy back after the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly responding to the energy crisis which is a major failing of the national government,” they said.
ANC Western Cape deputy chief whip Khalid Sayed criticised the under-expenditure for programmes like public engagement and members’ support.
Sayed said the explanation that there was no money for these programmes was invalid.
“The ANC raised sharply its concerns regarding the programme expenditure, especially the fact that 41% of the WCPP’s budget goes to programmes like governance (leadership) and administration, while the budget for committees the heart of the legislature – is cut.
“This is clearly intended at creating cushy jobs for DA cadres working in programmes.
“The under expenditure for programmes like public engagement and members’ support was also criticised.
“The explanation that there is no money for the legislature thus programmes spend less funds is logically invalid.
“This was also pointed out by DA members who questioned the expenditure trends of the WCPP,” said Sayed.
Cape Times