Chaos at budget debate

EFF MPL asked to leave for calling Zille a liar; ‘racist’ poster lambasted

RUNNING commentary, rowdy debate and heckling saw EFF MPL Nazier Paulsen kicked out of the Western Cape Parliament for calling Helen Zille a liar, while the ANC used a controversial poster to embarrass the DA and highlight issues of employment equity and racism in the provincial government.

Members of the provincial legislature spent yesterday debating the budgets for the premier’s department, the provincial Treasury, Human Settlements, Local Government and Social Development.

Opening the debate on her department’s budget vote, Zille said the 2015/16 main budget for the province was R304 million more than last year’s main budget, an increase of 29.6 percent.

This was mainly as a result of the funding allocated to the roll out of the broadband project from the 2014/15 financial year onwards.

The premier stressed that the budget outlook over the medium term remained constrained, due to budget cuts totalling R67m for the period 2015/16 to 2017/18.

“The budget was balanced with some difficulty, as gains from austerity measures were neutralised by the shortfalls that resulted from budget cuts. In an attempt to remain within its forecast baseline, the department reviewed all vacant posts according to strict criteria, which resulted in 111 posts being frozen indefinitely. A few absolutely critical posts were funded, some through cutbacks on project funding.”

Opposition ANC members entered the chamber armed with copies of a controversial poster they claimed was found in the corridors of the provincial government.

The poster depicts a white man pumping his knowledge into a black man’s head, under the heading “Knowledge Management – Power is gained by sharing knowledge not hoarding it!”.

ANC MPLs said the poster, which carried the provincial government’s emblem, clearly showed the provincial government’s perception of black people.

Opposition leader Marius Fransman waved the poster around, shouting at DA members opposite: “This is who you are. This is the DA. This is the abuse of state power in the Western Cape administration, knowledge management, power by sharing knowledge.”

And Fransman stressed that while Zille continued to deny equity problems in her administration, the ANC believed 70 percent of the management of the Western Cape administration was white.

Zille said Fransman clearly did not have any clue what was in the budget.

“The only budget that he is interested in is, for example, getting R41 million from the Lotto to try and buy political influence from people including gangsters.”

Tackling the EFF, Zille said she heard Paulsen telling a DA MPL that the word “oftentimes” was “an unusual word for a person of your background”. “Have you ever heard anything so patronising and racist, and outrageous?” she asked.

Paulsen objected, saying he had said “someone from the West Coast” and not someone from “her background”. The premier was “telling a blatant lie”.

This was deemed unparliamentary speech. When Paulsen refused to withdraw the remark, he was told to leave the House.