- Opposition parties have criticised Premier Sihle Zikalala's Sopa speech because he did not call out Covid-19 tender-related corruption.
- They said that Zikalala also failed to outline specific plans, but rather relied on rhetoric.
- They also called him out for not speaking more about the vaccine rollout.
The official opposition in KwaZulu-Natal, the IFP, together with the DA, have lambasted Premier Sihle Zikalala's State of the Province Address (SOPA), saying he should have denounced Covid-19 tender corruption.
"On fraud and corruption, we were expecting the premier would be bold, especially around Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) corruption. He was supposed to be very clear on what are the decisive actions taken against all people who are implicated in corruption, especially PPEs (is)," IFP leader Velenkosi Hlabisa said on Friday.
He was speaking in Pietermartizburg shortly after Zikalala delivered his address.
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Hlabisa said Zikalala's failure to touch on PPE corruption during Covid-19 signalled risk to vaccine rollout plans.
"This therefore sends a message that even the money for the vaccine will be exposed to the vultures [as was done] to the PPEs and there will be no consequence management.
"This was an opportunity to send a clear message that anyone who would dare interfere wrongly with the money for vaccines (would face consequences)."
WATCH: @IFPinParliament party leader Velenkosi Hlabisa criticises Premier @sziks for not calling out PPE corruption during Friday's State of the province address. @News24 @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/LNCPAYUoSx
— Kaveel Singh (@kaveels) February 26, 2021
He said Zikalala's speech had no substance.
"The premier was creating hopes without giving substantiation with how these goals will be achieved and attained."
DA provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango called the address, "... an insult to the people of our province as he presented a picture of a province bursting with opportunity – when the opposite is the case.
"It is clear that the Premier is out of touch with what is happening in KZN and that he has not recently set foot in many parts of the province. If he had, he would have been forced to deliver a completely different address."
He said Zikalala did not adequately focus on the issue of vaccines.
"Critically, the Premier dedicated just five lines to what is the most urgent issue in the province today – the roll-out of KZN’s Covid-19 vaccine programme.
Worse
"To make matters worse, he did not release the names of the hospitals that will roll out vaccines across the province while also claiming that KZN’s public hospitals have not been swamped during the pandemic."
Mncwango challenged this, charging that the reality on the ground at hospitals was different.
Mncwango added that Zikalala was "rehashing the same old plans and projects which never come to fruition".
"The time for cheap rhetoric on economic development is long gone when the current unemployment rate shows that almost half of all KZN’s people are unemployed."
He also called Zikalala out for not speaking on corruption.
"He was weak when it came to telling the people of KZN what he intends doing about corruption with little on how he and his ANC-led cabinet will be ensuring accountability and harsh consequences on behalf of KZN’s citizens."