The Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister in the Presidency Joe Mcgluwa MP has expressed shock at the ANC’s shameless attempt to sugar-coat the failure of the Gauteng Provincial Government.

This follows the launch of Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane’s Premier's Hotline which will be an integration of all the existing hotlines of the Provincial Government departments, agencies, and municipalities.

In 2008 the Gauteng Provincial Government came under fire for responding to only 7 of the 195 corruption cases reported to the National Anti-Corruption Hotline, established in 2004, during the 2007/2008 financial year.

‘This is an outrage and an unnecessary expense on the taxpayer, especially since most of the calls logged by the President’s Hotline is directed toward irregularities from the Gauteng Province. There are currently a number of known cases logged with the Presidency regarding the turmoil within the municipal billing system in Gauteng since last year still awaiting a response,’ says Mr Mcgluwa.

‘All of these hotlines are aimed at bringing about operational efficiency, but in reality it is simply a duplication of existing systems which is a burden on South Africans and increases non-delivery by public services.’

  ‘It is common knowledge that the ANC is notorious for camouflaging one failure with another. The mushroom-effect of hotlines seems to be nothing more than creating a soft-cushion landing for a province that is clearly in dire straits on more than one level which is adding up to the service delivery chaos in that province.

‘It is crucial that the high rate of corruption be addressed as a matter of urgency. We will   use our oversight role to monitor this situation and pull out all the stops to ensure that both the President and the Gauteng Provincial hotlines are to be held accountable for unaddressed issues emanating from that province.

‘It is unacceptable that the taxpayer should bear the brunt of government’s failed attempts at sufficiently running this country,’ Mcgluwa says.