In view of the elections, White River Post is giving political parties the opportunity to provide comment on why readers should vote for them. Anthony Benadie, provincial leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) is the first to inform readers of its stance on issues close to the heart of the community.
What steps will the DA take to address the scourge of crime in the Lowveld and particularly in Hazyview?
A DA government will address crime through
• The establishment of a rural safety unit with specialised paramilitary training to respond and deal with rural crime effectively
• The reintroduction of specialised units dedicated to fighting drug and substance abuse, trade and smuggling
• Increased policing along the borders of Swaziland, Mozambique and the Kruger National Park
• Establishing partnerships with local law firms to assist and train police officials in arrest and evidence-collection procedures and crime-scene investigation techniques, all of which will improve conviction rates
• The recruitment of additional reservist officers
• Establishing sound relations between the SAPS, CPFs, public- and community-watch organisations.
What aspects of education, especially in rural areas, will you improve and how?
The DA will
• Introduce a scarce-skills allowance for teachers with special aptitudes working in Mpumalanga’s rural areas
• Develop an improved outcomes strategy targeted at grade 12 learners in underperforming schools
• Build additional classrooms at high- performing schools to accommodate more learners
• Do regular testing of teachers to determine subject knowledge and competence
• Establish specialised secondary schools, funded by government, which focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics
• Launch an intensive school-infrastructure programme to ensure schools have access to electricity and water.
How will the DA address the failure of the health department to provide adequate health care?
The department’s failure lies in its insistence to control every aspect of hospital and clinic management centrally, slowing down health-care facilities’ ability to respond to the needs of the people. The DA will
• Decentralise budgets, procurement, maintenance and staffing functions to hospital CEOs and clinic managers and hold them accountable
• Reduce the department’s role to that of monitoring and oversight. The department will lead the development of provincial and national health-care programmes, while accounting officers at the health-care facilities will implement them
• Launch recruitment and retention strategies ensuring the best doctors and nurses are attracted to Mpumalanga.
How will your party address the high rate of unemployment in Mpumalanga?
The DA will
• Establish a dedicated red-tape-reduction unit in the department of economic development to eradicate all unnecessary laws and regulations hindering the establishment of businesses in the province
• Implement the youth wage subsidy, encouraging business to hire young people
• Commercialise MTPA to ensure that all parks are run as profitable businesses
• Cut corruption and channel such funds to active job-creating initiatives. We will work with national government to create one million internship programmes to ensure skills transfer and development
• Make BEE work by rewarding companies which invest in the skills development of their workers and invest at least 10 per cent of GDP in road, railway and communication infrastructure development
What will you do to address the shabby state of Mpumalanga’s roads?
The DA will
• Ensure that the Moloto Road is given a safety upgrade and in consultation with national government, implement the Moloto rail corridor
• Reduce truck volumes on the road by ensuring that railway networks are recommissioned
• Increase the road-repair budget and conduct routine maintenance on all roads. We will partner with the private sector to grade, upgrade and repair roads with high traffic volumes
• Speed up the appointment of contractors and monitor and manage road-repair teams across the province. We will also introduce a pothole-reporting mechanism to detect and repair potholes.
