By The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Free State is concerned about the feasibility of the plans that the Premier Ms MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae tabled during her State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Thursday, 8 August 2024.
The DA Leader in the province and Member of Legislature Dr Roy Jankielsohn says, though Letsoha-Mathae sounded the right sound and hit the right note by touching on several critical civil issues facing the province, the concern on whether there will be resources or a budget allocated to address those issues remains.
“We note the Premier’s acknowledgement of the need for a transformative overhaul of the civil service. A more efficient and effective civil service is vital for the province’s progress. However, achieving this transformation will require a significant policy shift, particularly abandoning the ANC’s cadre deployment policy. This policy has been a root cause of corruption and maladministration in the Free State. Overcoming this entrenched system will be a formidable challenge, and her predecessors have struggled to achieve meaningful reform,” said Jankielsohn.
The DA Leader pointed to the failures of Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae during her time as MEC for Community Safety, Roads and Transport, where she allegedly failed to fix the state of the roads in the province and the dysfunctional licensing and testing stations which often had a lack of basic resources like printing paper and toner.
Though doubtful, Roy Jankielsohn says the DA hopes that the Premier will be more effective than she was in her previous position as MEC in addressing the challenges she tabled in her plans during SOPA.
“Looking forward, it is imperative that the Premier’s plans address the pressing issue of youth unemployment, which affects 60% of young people in the Free State. The future economic health of the province depends on creating an inclusive economy that integrates and supports this significant demographic.
While the Premier’s vision for the Free State includes some promising objectives, the DA remains cautious. We will be closely monitoring the implementation of these plans to ensure that they are not merely rhetoric but are accompanied by concrete actions and the necessary resources to bring about real, positive change for the people of our province,” concluded Jankielsohn.
