THULI DLADLA SHOULD BE MINISTER

Sir,
 
Please convey our plight, as people of the Lubombo Region who use the main road from Lukhula to Big Bend.
Two years ago, many of us complained about the poor condition of this road.

The minister concerned visited the place and saw for herself what bad condition the road was in and promised swift action.
Three years later, with the road having totally collapsed, nothing has been done to correct the situation.

While we have at least three members of Parliament from this region serving the fourth year of their term; we who use this road daily have never heard the MPs say anything in Parliament.
To each one of these members, I say: gone is the time when you could stage soccer tournaments  for our stranded and unemployed youth or buy us bread in order to vote for you.

This time around, we are going to ask each one of you why you think we must vote you back into Parliament.  Watch this space! I now understand that one of the reputable construction companies has tendered for rehabilitation of the road, quoting the lowest price.

As if this was not enough for the taxpayer, the said construction company is said to have promised the ministry that it was ready to begin working on this road without payment at any of the stages while fixing this road but to invoice government after doing the work.

You would think that any sound Government, even if it was not cash-strapped like ours, would jump at this offer with open hands, in the best interest of the taxpayer. Yet the answer is negative because it is alleged that some senior civil servants in this ministry have a preference of the more expensive that has assumed monopoly of government tenders in construction.

I pray for the day  when His Majesty the King appoints Thuli Dladla as Minister of Finance because in her current position as Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), she has done wonderful work over the years.

It is now about time she became the political head of finance. Maybe corruption levels could drop drastically.
This is my humble plea to my King: try her just for five years in that portfolio and see the difference.
On the road issue, maybe we should lobby each other, as users of this road, so that the Minister of Public Works and Transport and her staff can jump into action and quickly sort out this agony.

Since we have been failed by our three MPs, we now appeal to the conscience of the minister to think seriously about the purpose of her ministry, which is the service of the people through sound and dependable infrastructure.
Minister Lindiwe should engage this construction company without any further delays, for the sake of the people of Lubombo who daily suffer the pain of driving on this road.

She should either remove the tar and we travel on gravel road as we used to before independence or quickly put this construction onto the ground so that we can also look forward to a future with adequate road infrastructure.
As for you, members of parliament who have let us down in this fashion since we voted for you in 2013, you have been warned: do not ever again take our votes for granted.

M. Hlophe.
SITEKI

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