Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma / Photo by Luke Daniel, TheSouthAfrican.com
DA: “We certainly cannot afford a “missing Minister” at CoGTA.”
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma / Photo by Luke Daniel, TheSouthAfrican.com
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is concerned that the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has missed a majority of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on CoGTA meetings; and reportedly, Dlamini-Zuma has failed to give responses to many of the opposition’s Parliamentary questions posed to her.
“To think Minister Dlamini- Zuma had ambitions of becoming the state President of this country. In what world was she going to be able to rescue South Africa from these turbulent and raging seas – if she is failing to ensure that the one department she is the head of, is in order. The country would not have fared well with a “Missing President” and we certainly cannot afford a “Missing Minister” at CoGTA.”
Democratic Alliance
The party states that during the sixth Parliament proceedings, they posed more than 69 written questions to the Minister, and Dlamini-Zuma’s department simply responds saying:
“[the] information requested by the Honourable Member is not readily available in the Department. The information will be submitted to the Honourable Member as soon as it is available”.
COGTA
DA’s concern regarding Dlamini-Zuma’s absence stems from Parliament’s inability to effectively oversee the work of her department, and the collapsing municipalities that continue to fail due to deteriorating financial governance.
“Quite frankly, it is unacceptable for Minister Dlamini-Zuma not to attend portfolio committees or answer Parliamentary questions, in what seems to be an attempt to evade accountability. Her evasion of Parliamentary oversight is particularly concerning at a time when solutions are needed, to fix the dire state of local governments which are facing major operational and financial challenges, underpinned by rampant corruption and gross governance challenges.”
Democratic Alliance
The party elaborates that Parliament has a pivotal role to play in restoring the local government, financial and operational efficiency; and that a crisis is inevitable unless the Minister can take corrective steps to fix embattled municipalities; the DA suggests Dlamini – Zuma needs to fix: