Honourable Chairperson,

I must preface the debate on Vote 1: Officer of the Premier by saying that this
Department has the onerous responsibility of administering and overseeing the
affairs of a province that is diverse in its population, challenging in its
terrain, encouraging in its potential and optimistic in its outlook BUT
unfortunately it is lacking in leadership from a government that has no vision
and that constantly finds itself stumbling from one bad decision to the next.

I make such a statement not without good reason. When a decision was taken to
disband the Department of the Royal Household, we raised our concerns about the
sustainability of the Royal Household Trust. We were given the assurance that we
will be updated before Department would cease to be but this never happened.
Suddenly we got to hear that the Department was disbanded. It is obvious that
this Department does not play open cards and operates in a very clandestine
manner with hidden agendas. As I speak here today I am not convinced that the
Royal Household Trust will be able to manage its affairs and sustain itself. I
cannot understand what sort of respect is being shown to His Majesty when the
affairs of the Royal House is divided up between the Office of the Premier that
manages the affairs of the King while the affairs of Queens, the palaces, etc
are managed by the Royal Household Trust.

The IFP is disappointed but not surprised to learn that the Premier has
appointed Royal Household Trust Board with individuals who are not familiar with
Ubukhosi Institution. We believe that the board will be serving the Premier
rather than serving the King. The exclusion of Amakhosi who are pillars of the
Royal Household speaks volume.

The attitude confirms the fact that the ANC led Government treats the King and
Amakhosi with disdain. The process is another step aimed to frustrate the King,
as the finances will continue to be in shambles which will lead to a complete
obliteration of the Kingship.

The report by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee states

"The Committee wants an update of how the new Chief Directorate will function
bearing in mind that the Royal Household has a first charge of R2.5million which
is not available for spending."

In addition there are still concerns regarding the transfer of staff from the
Department to the Trust. Since negotiations with organised labour have not been
finalised, this situation can end up costing tax payers huge amounts of money.

These and other issues should have been ironed out before the disbanding of the
Department but this Premier took the decision to go ahead.

Honourable Chairperson, the War Rooms concept was launched amid much fan-fare
and it is of concern to the IFP that an amount of R14million appropriated for
the equipping of War Rooms was not spent in 2014/15. This shows that there is a
lack of planning and effective management from a Department that should be
leading by example.

One of the key mandates of this Department is to boost investor confidence in
our province. In the face of the disruptive power outages that we are
experiencing, the Premier must inform this House how his Department plans to
boost foreign direct investment whilst retaining present investments. Investors
require assurances that their investments will produce positive returns and this
government appears unable to provide any assurances.

To make matters worse this government was too slow and too ineffective in
responding to the recent spate of xenophobic attacks. When the attacks took
place it was the President of the IFP, His Excellency Prince Mangosuthu
Buthelezi who personally went out to meet the victims and bring some relief to
them while this Premier and his cabinet limped along without any plan of action.
This again showed weak leadership that will damage investor confidence.

Honourable Chairperson, in its Review of the 2014/15 financial year on page 4
concerning Protection of human rights it is stated

"A campaign was undertaken to protect and generate respect for human rights"

In the face of the recent xenophobic attacks, it is evident that this is another
campaign undertaken by this Department that has failed. The world witnessed
major cities like Durban and Pietermaritzburg representing war zones, business
houses and small traders had to close shop while looters ran riot.

This Department spends huge amounts of money on war rooms and youth ambassadors
but we are not seeing any positive returns for the money spent. The war rooms in
many areas have collapsed and the youth ambassadors do not seem to be achieving
the purpose that they are supposed - unless they are out there campaigning for
the ANC while posing as youth ambassadors. Social cohesion seems to be evading
us because huge amounts of money are poured into projects that are not
well-thought out and not well-intentioned.

The Department also states: "These programmes are aimed at achieving one of
government's main goals, namely social cohesion".

If one of government's main goals can fail so miserably, what does it say about
the Office of the Premier? It is evident that this Premier is failing in
providing effective leadership. If social cohesion was taken seriously, we would
not have witnessed the ugly and disgraceful scenes that took place in our
province. If social cohesion was taken seriously, then communities would have
ensured that those xenophobic attacks did not take place.

Honourable Chairperson, in the 2011/12 financial year an amount of R5.5million
allocated for the commemoration of the 150-years of the arrival of Indian
labourers in KZN was rolled over. This amount is not reflected in the budget for
the outer years and rightfully so. We are now in 2015 but this project has not
seen the light of day. The Premier must come clean and tell this House what has
become of this project. Was that yet another empty promise by this government to
try and get votes?

Another project that has stalled on the tracks is the much-vaulted "Business
Train" between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. This service was supposed to be in
service long ago but again we see evidence of failure. Huge amounts of money was
allocated towards this project but it has not materialised. The last we heard of
this project was in the media where the service was tested. This government was
embarrassed because the train took much longer between Pietermaritzburg and
Durban than it would have taken a Comrades marathon runner.  Apart from the
extra-long time frame, it was found that the platforms at the station did not
meet the specifications for this service to operate. This is embarrassing for
this government and for the province of KwaZulu-Natal. We would like to see this
government take on projects that it can complete efficiently.

In the face of such monumental failures how can anyone take this government
seriously? How can we build investor confidence and hope to market KZN as an
investment hub and a tourist destination?

In the 2014 State of the Province address, the Premier said that government
intends to increase the number of jobs through the establishment of SMMEs and
Co-ops by at least 300 000. The Premier must tell this House how many SMMEs and
how many Co-ops have been established and how many permanent, sustainable jobs
have been created. The Premier also stated that at least 1 000 new farmers will
enter the agricultural sector and that government will bring 1million hectares
of unproductive land back into commercial production. This House need to know of
this ever happened and how successful is this project or if this was just
another pie in the sky project that never took off. The IFP is reminded that
over the past 20 years the ruling party has made 164 promises that it has failed
to honour. This is a sad indictment on a government that has promised a better
life for all.

Honourable Chairperson, the King Shaka International Airport and the Dube Trade
Port were showcased as having huge potential for growth. I know that this is
something that falls under Economic Development & Tourism, but the Office of the
Premier has a major role to play in terms of creating the climate for provincial
economic growth. If the Premier fails, as he has been doing, then all other
Departments and eventually the province fails.

I thank you