Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng Premier candidate Solly Msimanga says has promised to do everything possible to get rid of e-tolls if he becomes Premier after the May elections.
Delivering his alternative State of the Province Address in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, Msimanga also outlined plans to tackle crime and corruption, job creation and service delivery.
Premier David Makhura is set to deliver the State of the Province Address on Monday.
Msimanga says although Makhura has expressed his opposition to e-tolls, he has failed to convince national government to scrap the system.
“There’s a promise I want to make to the people of Gauteng. When we do take over after May, one of the first things is to launch an inter-governmental dispute with national government. And if we fail to get it right, we will be taking the national government to court – because this is an unwanted system.”
Msimanga also says it appears the provincial government hasn’t learnt anything from the Life Esidimeni disaster.
About 144 mentally-ill patients died after they were moved to unlicensed and over-crowded NGOs.
Msimanga alleges that a Vosloorus hospital, east of Johannesburg, currently caters for over 160 patients, but only has 20 beds.
He says he stumbled upon this potential disaster when he visited Vosloorus on Wednesday.
“This hospital, that was only built about four years ago, trying to take care of the people of Vosloorus, is now overburdened, now has a psychiatric ward that has 20 beds, but the demand there is 165 psychiatric patients that need to be treated in that particular space. That is a recipe for disaster. It doesn’t look like the provincial government has learnt anything from Life Esidimeni, because now the same people are still subjected to inhumane conditions.”
Under Premier @SollyMsimanga the @Our_DA will bring change to Gauteng that will:
a. End corruption
b. Create Jobs
c. Fix the Police Service
d. Combat Drug Abuse
e. Speed up the Delivery of Basic Services#GPSOPA19 #MsimangaForPremier pic.twitter.com/MTDVztt491— Democratic Alliance Gauteng Legislature (@DA_GPL) February 14, 2019
When we govern Gauteng, we will fight corruption within the police; retrain police officers to serve & protect with pride; hire people with a passion for policing and institute an effective drug-busting force within SAPS.#GPSOPA19 #MsimangaForPremier
— Solly Msimanga (@SollyMsimanga) February 14, 2019
Only the DA can save Gauteng from corruption and lack of service delivery. #MsimangaforPremier #GPSOPA19 #OneSAForAll @SollyMsimanga pic.twitter.com/vqEmBIrde5
— Democratic Alliance Gauteng Legislature (@DA_GPL) February 14, 2019
