The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Free State Leader and Premier candidate Dr Roy Jankielsohn says his party is not just selling a long wish list to voters, but a proven track record as evidence where they govern.
Political parties have been on their final push campaign trail to win voters over. While some voters remain sceptical and undecided, some have made their decision on who they will vote for. As a last minute push, parties held their final campaign rallies over the weekend to steal the hearts of those still undecided.
Speaking to The Business Weekly, Jankielsohn said some of the immediate issues the DA will attend to should it win the Free State are unemployment, housing and fixing the public healthcare sector.
“We are very fortunate in the DA because we are not just selling a manifesto; we are selling a proven track record. For an example, one of the core issues, wherever I go in the Free State, especially amongst our young people is unemployment. Last year, we created 70 000 new unemployed people in the Free State alone.
The province where we govern in the Western Cape 305 000 new jobs were created, in the last five years, 80% of all new jobs were created only where the DA governs. Not in all the other places where the ANC governs across South Africa,” said Roy Jankielsohn.
The DA Leader says his party will implement what the DA has learnt somewhere else in the Free State; he says going into elections this week, the people of the Free State should vote for change.
Jankielsohn pointed out to a school east of the province in Bethlehem, Vogelfontein, alleging that three years later, there is no wall standing and R18 million has been spent. In contrast to that, he says the DA built a school in 73 days where they govern so that children can go to school.
Jumping on the public healthcare sector the in the Free State, he says hospitals are a death trap in the province, people are dying; however, the Western Cape, there is no difference between a private and public hospital.
“That is why we say with the NHI too, let us rather fix our state hospitals and clinics instead of trying to bring others down to that level, lets lift everyone up to the same level; let’s ensure that there is universal healthcare, that everyone has access to that and everyone has quality care;” said Roy Jankielsohn.
According to Dr Roy Jankielsohn, the current state of hospitals and clinics in the Free State do not inspire hope, they are under resourced, the infrastructure is declining and that needs to be fixed.
One of the issues the DA will deal with is the condition of the roads the Free State. Jankielsohn says they are a death trap plagued with potholes; he says people risk their lives by driving on these roads and it doesn’t have to be like that. In stark contrast, he says in the Western Cape they have a 48 hour pothole policy to ensure that the roads are in good condition at all times and they will bring that strategy to the Free State with a unique touch for the province.
“The Free State has mineral resources, we are a central province, we have one of the biggest road networks, we only have 2.9 million people, here where we are standing (Qwa-qwa) there is huge tourism potential, all the Free State needs is a government that will harness those resources to improve services and create jobs for our people,” he said.
Jankielsohn described the housing crisis in the province as criminal; he says this is caused by two factors, corruption and maladministration. The DA leader says according to the Zondo Commission, the crisis started as far back as 2010 with the R1.3 billion housing project, the R255 million asbestos project and various others.
He pointed out that just last year R600 million was forfeited to national government because it was unspent money by the provincial government while many people are without proper housing.
“There are two very easy things you have to do, you have to root out corruption and you have to ensure that your administration is able to actually spend that money. Because across the Free State the housing projects are incomplete and it is sad to see people leaving in shacks, people don’t have basic infrastructure.
Government is saying go and stay on that land, but there is no electricity, there is no water, there is no roads and it is also in places that are far from work, far from clinics, far from schools; it shouldn’t be like that,” lamented the DA Premier candidate.
To improve the economy of the Free State, Dr Roy Jankielson says the province is an agricultural province and is the second biggest agricultural producing products in the country. He says the Free State is the food basket of South Africa; it produces the largest sunflower, the most potatoes, soya and the most maize in the country.
“We will be using that to benefit the people of the Free State. A lot of our agricultural products go to other provinces, they get packaged in places like Gauteng and then we have to buy them back after they have been packaged more expensive on our shelves.
We must create agro-processing in the Free State so that we do the packaging and other provinces buy it from us more expensive, in that way we can use our agriculture to benefit our people in the Free State. We already see that there are a lot of businesses in our small towns that are dependent on agriculture, but if we start with agro-processing, using those products here and exporting them, not only in South Africa, but abroad as well,” said Jankielsohn.
Roy Jankielsohn believes that when locally produced agricultural products are exported, that will attract more investment into the province and create the much needed jobs because government cannot create all the jobs, working hand in clove with the private sector will help in creating jobs. However, government must create an enabling environment for business and investment.
Jankielsohn says government must ensure that the roads are in good condition and ensure that there a basic services so that investors would want to come to the province with their money and create jobs.