Opposition parties in the Western Cape wants Premier Alan Winde to provide practical solutions in SOPA2023

Opposition parties in the Western Cape wants Premier Alan Winde to provide practical solutions for residents in the province.

Winde is set to deliver the State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Thursday, at the Provincial Legislature.

Picture: WCPP

Winde is expected to give an update on progress made by the Western Cape Government (WCG) over the past year in delivering priorities, such as job creation, safety, healthcare, amongst others.

The Premier will also speak to how the WCG will to support municipalities, businesses, and residents on the ongoing load shedding.

The ANC’s Cameron Dugmore says the party has low expectations for the premier’s address. Dugmore described Winde as a ‘’weak premier that makes empty promises.’’

"We dont expect anything from the Premier. He has shown himself to be a weak premier. A premier who distorts. A premier who doesn’t tell the truth and makes empty promises.

The ANC wants Winde to address housing, racial issues, agriculture, amongst others.

"If he was a serious Premier, he would announce clear plans to allocate land to people in the Cape Metro and rural areas for human settlements, agriculture, sport and recreation,’’ ANC Western Cape leader, Cameron Dugmore.

‘’He would do something concrete that only 3% of agriculture land is owned by coloured and African farmers. We know he should be concerned about racial capital. He won't deal with racism, and the taxi violence that is affecting the lives of our people, because he is a weak premier who doesn’t tell the truth and is not committed to really supporting the needs of this province where we know, that the majority lives in conditions of squalors, sewerage running in the streets, potholes, no proper water and sanitization. These are the things we expect him to do, but we come to know Winde as a weak and lying premier,’’ he added.

Meanwhile, the GOOD party’s Shaun August wants Premier Winde to focus on solutions to tackle the province’s socio-economic issues.

‘’The looming Western Cape State of the Province Address should be focused on solutions to those problems that keeps most residents awake at night. The provincial government wants to, ideally, position themselves as the better alternative than their national counterpart. However, the people of this province are not spared from hunger, crime, joblessness, poor services and a slow government that dwells on dreams and what-ifs as opposed to seeking solutions that could end our collective shortcomings,’’ said August.

‘’Now is the time for robust action and implementable solutions that caters to some of our provinces most pressing problems. We look forward to departments such as health, social development and education working together to tackle social problems and curb the tide against drugs, violence and addictions, and to fix our broken families,’’ he added.

Done By: Mitchum George