Delaying tactics used to obstruct opposition from interrogating Vrede Dairy project

Issued by Dr Roy Jankielsohn MPL – DA Leader of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature
13 Feb 2020 in Press Statements

Note to Editors: Please find photos attached here, here and here.

Today, during an oversight visit by the Free State Legislature to the infamous Vrede Dairy project, by the Joint Committees of Public Accounts and Agriculture, the opposition parties were obstructed from exercising their constitutional mandate of conducting effective oversight and holding the executive accountable.

Opposition parties were led to believe that we would have an opportunity to interrogate aspects of the Vrede Dairy Project. After being prevented from asking questions during the site visit at the farm regarding issues related to beneficiaries, expenditure and future plans for the project, members of the Committee were informed that they could ask questions at the Vrede Town Hall.

After arriving at the Town Hall where the relevant Provincial Government Departments and members for the community were present, Members of the Committee were informed that the meeting could not commence because the relevant MECs were not present.

It is obvious that ANC Chairpersons of the Committee misled opposition members by inviting them to attend the meeting with the prior knowledge that the MECs would not be in attendance and that the meeting would not take place.

This has also led to fruitless and wasteful expenditure by the Departments and Legislature and the expectations of the beneficiaries have once again been dashed. It was on the insistence of the DA that this Joint Committee was established to interrogate the Vrede Dairy project and we will not allow ANC Members of the Committee to prevent us from carrying out our constitutional mandate.

Last week, a similar set of circumstances prevented the Legislature from conducting oversight at the vandalised Ramkraal building, whereby opposition parties were treated to nothing more than some lush bushveld and delightful graffiti on the walls of what was supposedly meant to be the new Legislature complex, instead of engaging on the crucial aspects of the matter.

These attempts by the ANC are an inherent disregard for constitutionalism by deploying frivolous means of preventing effective oversight and the people of the Free State deserve better.

The DA will not be deterred by the efforts of the ANC and shall continuously fight meritoriously to ensure justice for the would-be beneficiaries of the project.