Planning was poor, and the costs were out of control. The new city administration has committed itself to finishing the N2 Gateway, but only as and when the national government makes funds available. The city has also opened a forensic audit to see where all the money was going.
That is why Minister Sisulu is upset, because the truth is coming out. She has accused Mayor Zille of going to the media instead of the set structures, of being unprofessional and unethical. The mayor did no such thing. What she did do, upon taking office, was to open mayoral committee meetings to the media, so that the public would know what was going on. [Interjections.]
The letter was read as matter of routine at a housing portfolio committee meeting. The media reported on an open meeting, as they should in a free and democratic state. If those meetings had been open to the public when the ANC was in power, perhaps the problems with the N2 Gateway would never have happened.
The problem is not that the ANC can't deliver. The problem is that it won't deliver, because it would rather do everything behind closed doors and reward its cronies in the name of empowerment. The ANC does not realise that the fight against corruption and service delivery to the poor are linked. You cannot deliver to the poor if you are busy giving corrupt contracts to the ANC elite.
Now the national government says that each of the provinces is going to give up 10% of its housing budget so that the N2 Gateway can be finished. What do your provinces say about that, hon members? If I were a resident in one of your provinces, I would be furious! Why must other people suffer because of former Mayor Nomaindia's mismanagement?
The ANC and the Minister are pretending that Mayor Zille failed to attend a meeting on the N2 Gateway. They fail to mention that the mayor agreed to attend the meeting, but the Minister rescheduled it twice. Eventually, the meeting was moved to the very time that Mayor Zille had to be in a council chamber to prevent the ANC and ID from toppling the multiparty government. [Interjections.]
The meeting is just a red herring, a useful pretext for the Minister to throw a tantrum and kick the city off the N2 Gateway project. But the Minister has in fact scored an own goal.
The forensic audit will continue. The city will continue to expose the ANC's corruption and mismanagement. Meanwhile, the ANC national and provincial governments will be solely responsible for the N2 Gateway's failure. The city will set ...