The Gauteng government has poured cold water over the DA’s latest scorecard for departments in the province.

Spokesperson Thabo Masebe said the provincial government didn’t believe in the opposition party scorecard, saying premier David Makhura preferred evidence.

“The premier believes in evidence that speaks for itself. Work has been done and what was meant to be done has been done. Evidence is there for everyone to see,” said Masebe.

Gauteng premier candidate Solly Msimanga, announced that the poorest-performing departments were health and human settlements, cooperative governance and traditional affairs, which each scored 1 out of 10.

The highest-performing department was education, led by MEC Panyaza Lesufi, which cored 7.5/10.

MECs for social development and community safety, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza and Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane, each received a 2/10.

The departments of economic development and sports, recreation, arts and culture each scored 3/10. Makhura’s department, together with the departments of infrastructure development and finance scored 4/10, followed by roads and transport, which received 5/10.

READ: Gauteng deserves better than Makhura

Turn a blind eye

Msimanga said Makhura has insisted time and time again since 2014 that e-tolls must go and even established a commission. However, he said he has not told both ministers of transport and finance to renew the collection contract when it comes to an end.

“If he were seriously on the side of the people, he would have used his so-called conviction to stand up to what is evidently wrong,” said Msimanga.

READ: E-tolls must be scrapped in Gauteng, insists ANC’s David Makhura

He added that under Makhura’s watch, he lacked the conviction to act against errant mayors and officials that have run the Emfuleni, Merafong and West Rand District municipalities into the ground.

“These municipalities stand testament to failing ANC governance. Instead of taking action, the premier shields those who have meted out cruelty to our people,” he said.

“One need to look no further than the murderous former health MEC, Qedani Mahlangu – the architect of the Esidimeni tragedy, allegedly corrupt Brian Hlongwa who bankrupted the Gauteng health department and the failed former mayor of Emfuleni, Simon Mofokeng.

“These individuals remain members of the party’s provincial decision-making body that will impact policy choices of a failing ANC government,” he said.

Job losses

Msimanga said under Makhura’s watch, at the end of the 2017/18 financial year, 124 000 jobs were lost compared to the previous financial year.

He said the province was suffering from a serious housing, healthcare and schools backlog.

“Under the ANC’s watch, they have allowed sewage from the Emfuleni municipality to flow into the Vaal River. The raw sewage is causing severe water pollution. The drinking water is now being used to flush pollution out of the Vaal River system and, as a result, we are left with a water shortage and an impending water crisis in this province.

“This province deserves a government that possesses the political will – the will of the people, to steer us on the right track,” he added.

Praise for Makhura

The ANC in the province said it was not surprised by the DA, which chose to ignore empirical evidence confirmed by reports from credible institutions and merely relied on political thumb-sucking to develop their so-called annual scorecard.

Spokesperson Tasneem Motara says residents won’t be fooled by this latest gimmick.

Motara said there was evidence that the performance rating of the provincial government by Gauteng residents was improving steadily since 2015/16.

A survey has revealed that satisfaction with the government was at its highest level of 45% since 2011.

“Since 2014, the ANC government in Gauteng has attracted R66bn in foreign direct investment flows. Through the investment facilitation work of the InvestSA investment centre, 14 000 jobs were created in the province.

“Gauteng province leads the country in promoting intra-Africa trade. By August 2017, more than 169 Gauteng-based businesses had 365 investment projects worth R356bn across the major regions of our continent,” said Motara.