A decade after the Indian community in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) was first promised a monument to mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival of indentured labourers in South Africa in 2010 the commitment may finally be honoured.

This after KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala, during this State of the Province Address (SOPA) last week, alluded to the completion of the project by November this year.

While the DA would like nothing more than for this project to finally come to fruition, we have heard this all before and we sincerely hope that this is not another empty promise by the Premier. The monument, which will this year commemorate the 160th anniversary of the arrival of indentured Indian labourers in KZN, has certainly been a long time coming.

During the 2014/15 financial year, the Office of the Premier received an allocation of R10million from the KZN Treasury. During the same year the funds were transferred to Ethekwini Municipality. After then the trail went cold.
It later emerged that the Municipality had blown half of the budget elsewhere in a move which smacks of blatant misuse and mismanagement of taxpayers’ money. In November last year, the remaining balance was transferred back to the Premier’s Office, where it has sat since then.

Realistically, it should never take 10 years to build a simple monument. This raises the question - how important is the Indian community and its heritage to this ANC-led provincial government?

With this new commitment, there are several other issues which the DA has concerns around. The first of these is the monitoring of funding by the steering committee. This must be a priority.

Then there is the proposed location of the monument - the recently relaunched uShaka Beach Promenade. Despite millions having been spent, there are already surface cracks appearing on this walkway. This speaks volumes about the quality of workmanship and who tenders are awarded to.

The Indian community in KZN have been listening to empty promises for far too long. The Premier needs to show his commitment to this important sector of KZN’s society and finally honour and remember their forefathers.

Issued by DA