The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) has bemoaned the state of service delivery in Gauteng, which the party said has become appalling in a province which also boasts of world-class infrastructure but limited to certain areas.
The ACDP’s Bishop Dulton Adams made the remarks at the IOL Elections Panel Discussion held at the Sandton Radisson Blu hotel in Johannesburg on Friday.
“Gauteng is a tale of two cities really. Coming from the area of West Rand where I live and our constituency is, you find that the people live in abject poverty, crime-ridden, roads that are not serviced, sewage that is running in the streets, and then you come across the highway and you get into this area (Sandton) which looks like you are in a European country,” he said.
“What needs to happen firstly in Gauteng is that when new take over Gauteng as the ACDP, (we will) assist government to make sure that we bridge the divide between the people of South Africa. The cohesion is missing. There is a disjuncture between provincial and municipal governments.”
He said the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) must be re-purposed to ensure that municipalities function better.
On the other hand, the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Refiloe Nt’sekhe said her party has a plan to rescue South Africa.
“The first thing that the DA wants to start with, is the crime. We want to start with devolution of the police. We want to bring police closer to the people. We know the crime stats, and as an example, as the political head of Thembisa, one of our police stations is ranked sixth in the country for gender-based violence. You will not have a proper strategy unless you understand the dynamics of Gauteng – not the national strategy,” she said.
“We want to build infrastructure that talks to fighting water shedding. We know how many people have been struggling with water outages. Some people, for more than 30 days, have not had water. We have a plan to fight water shedding.”
She said the blue party also has a plan to curb energy shortage affecting South Africa and the people of Gauteng.
IOL