When Mpumalanga Premier, Mandla Ndlovu, delivers his maiden State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Wednesday, at the very least, we want him to address the following:
1. Human Settlements/Housing backlog
Currently, Mpumalanga has a housing backlog of 275 103 (up from 225 023 in 2020/2021). In 2016/2017 under Violet Siwela, the former MEC of Human Settlements, the backlog stood at 147 000. The DA expects Premier Ndlovu to announce a detailed plan on how his administration will deal with this ever-increasing housing backlog.
2. Incomplete and abandoned infrastructure projects
We expect the Honourable Premier to give us exact timeframes of when his administration will complete and revive all infrastructure projects that have been outstanding for multiple years. Like the Middelburg Hospital, the Mkhondo Boarding school, and the High-Altitude Training Centre just to mention a few. Millions of rands have been spent on projects that are either incomplete or abandoned: one of the abandoned projects is the non-existent Mpumalanga Cultural Hub that has already cost the taxpayers over R151 million.
3. Disbanding of MEGA and MRTT
The DA expects Premier Ndlovu to announce that the Provincial Government is selling or closing down the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) as it fails year on year to grow the Mpumalanga economy. The DA would expect MEGA’s R440 million budget to be invested in tourism. We also expect the Premier to announce the disbandment of the Mpumalanga Regional Training Trust (MRTT) as it has been failing for years to meet its mandate of providing skills to the unemployed youth. MRTT is drowning in debt and can no longer equip and train the youth for free. It can only accommodate paying students. It has incurred debts of R9.4 million as of the financial year ending March 2023. Their current liabilities exceed their total assets of R8.6 million.
4. Agri-hubs and fresh produce market
We expect the Premier to announce the opening date of the Mpumalanga International Fresh Produce Market, as well as the completion of Provincial Agri-Hubs in both Mkhondo and Dr. JS Moroka Local Municipalities to assist commercial and emerging farmers in the province. These entities have been long overdue.
5. Coal Haulage and tourism routes
We hope the Premier will announce a detailed plan to fix pothole-riddled roads across the province, especially the coal haulage routes and roads leading to tourism destinations in the province. For a few years now, the roads leading to prominent tourist destinations in our Province like Pilgrims Rest, Gods Window, the Bourke’s Luck Potholes, and the Kruger National Park – are ridden with potholes and are in a severely dilapidated condition. This has now become a deterrent for tourists wanting to visit our province. Fixing the coal haulage and tourism routes will bring much needed job opportunities in the province. We also expect the Premier to announce a plan to involve SMME’s in the tourism industry. Small towns in the province are the mostly affected by dilapidated roads and are in a brink of death, so fixing roads in these towns will also help SMME’s and bring them back to life.
6. A new police station in crime-infested Pienaar Township
We expect the Premier to announce that his administration will work with the National Ministry of Police to build a second Police Station in the crime-infested Pienaar Township outside Mbombela. The latest crime statistics show there is a clear need for additional policing in the area, with Pienaar Police Station ranked in the top 30 stations in the country for various criminal activities, and the situation is just getting worse. It is therefore critical that a second police station in the Pienaar area, be built as a matter of urgency. According to the City of Mbombela’s Final Integrated Development Plan (IDP) Report for 2017 to 22, the Pienaar area is the highest crime spot in the Ehlanzeni region. The report states that this is attributed to the lack of adequate police stations and lack of capacity within the existing police force and inadequate access roads within the Pienaar area. With a population of over 129 000, the Pienaar area definitely needs a second Police Station.
7. School for the deaf and blind
The DA expects the honourable Premier to announce that the expected school of the deaf and blind will finally be built in the province. It has been 13-years now since the first announcement of the school for the deaf and blind was announced on 24 May 2011 in the 2011/2012 budget speech. But the location of this project has been moved numerous times due to the government stating that the identified locations are not suitable. Thirteen full years have elapsed now since the construction of the school was announced, but nothing to show for it. Currently, there are over 600 learners in the province that have already been identified to benefit from the school for the blind and deaf, yet they still have not because the provincial government has been acting like construction of the school is not a matter of urgency.
8. Municipalities debts to Eskom and Rand Water
We expect Premier Ndlovu to announce a plan that will assist Mpumalanga municipalities in managing and servicing their debts to Eskom and Rand Water. It is extremely worrisome that the Eskom debt in the province increased from a mere R990 million at the end of December 2016 to over R13 billion in 2024. Currently, Mpumalanga municipalities owe Rand Water over R1.2 billion. Even more concerning, is the fact that despite these escalating monthly increases in this municipal debts to Eskom and Rand Water, extraordinarily little is done to improve the financial performance of the municipalities in the province.
9. Lifestyle Audits for all government officials, including the Premier, MECs, and all members of the Mpumalanga Legislature
We expect Premier Mandla Ndlovu to announce that the provincial government will do Lifestyle Audits for all government officials, including the Premier himself, MECs and all Members of the Provincial Legislature. With the recent seizure of R52.6 million worth of various assets belonging to 22 suspects, include six senior management officials linked to an alleged PPE corruption with the Mpumalanga Department of Public Works; it is about time to call for Lifestyle Audits. In recent years, some, if not all members of the ANC Majority in the Provincial Legislature, including MECs and former Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, where either accused of corruption or linked to irregular tenders and questionable transactions. Hopefully, they will all agree to Lifestyle Audit if there is nothing to hide.
10. Zero tolerance stance on corruption and fraud within his administration
We expect the Premier to announce a Zero Tolerance Stance against Corruption and Fraud. He must require officials from government departments and municipalities pledge to uphold good governance and continue the fight against corruption. He must commit to protect the residents of Mpumalanga against criminal elements within municipalities and government officials whose actions undermine the delivery of services. The Premier must be ruthless in taking action against corruption by bringing it to the attention of law enforcement authorities. The DA also challenges the Premier to create a Policy of Anti-Fraud and Anti-Corruption Strategy and ask councils, government departments and officials to sign it.
11. Announce an intervention strategy to help those directly affected by the recent fires in the province
The DA expects the Premier to declare some areas of Mpumalanga a Provincial Disaster so that landowners, communities, and farmers affected by the recent fires that were burning across the province can access help urgently. More than 12 different fires were reported to have flared up in parts of Bushbuckridge, White River, Mbombela, Kaapsehoop, Barberton, Lydenburg, Sabie, Middelburg, and eManzana in what is deemed to be some of the worst blazes Mpumalanga has ever experienced. A number of farmers, communities and landowners around the province have lost property and grazing areas for livestock because of these fires and are in need of help.