Note to editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Dr Roy Jankielsohn MPL.
The reply by Free State Premier Mxolisi Dukwana to the State of the Province Address debate was a regurgitation of former Premier Ace Magshule’s rhetoric. Instead of dealing with pertinent issues relating to water, sanitation, roads, unemployment and other issues raised by opposition party members in the debate, he opted for a 50-minute antagonistic race-based history lesson that has positioned him at the outset of his term of office as a mixture of an Ace Mini-Me and Ramaphosa disappointment.
His reply contained no concrete plans to deal with the issues raised in the debate which proves that the ANC in the Free State is out of fresh ideas or plans of action to turn the province that is plagued by failed service delivery, life-threatening poor roads and poverty. He did exactly what he warned in his speech in which he indicated that “if we waste an opportunity to turn things around we will regret it”.
He has proved what the DA warned that we may have a new face, but it remains the same party in power that has nothing more to offer the people of the Free State. The DA will use the departmental budget debates to continue to highlight the issues facing our province and offer the people of the Free State a viable political alternative.
The people of the Free State will get an opportunity to vote for change in 2024 and if they do not have this opportunity they will regret it.