Nelson Mandela Bay heavyweight Xego to quit ANC

Former Nelson Mandela Bay regional chairman and Robben Island prisoner Mike Xego will be among those resigning from the ANC tomorrow when several members quit at a press conference at 5pm. He will be joined by former regional secretary Mtiwabo Ndube.

However, it is not those quitting that present the problem but those who are remaining until it is strategically the right moment to leave.

While he has denied that he is planning to defect to the new party Social Development MEC in the Eastern Cape Sam Kwelita will leave at some stage, while there is a question mark over the head of Housing and Safety and Liaison MEC Thobile Mhlahlo who has also denied any intention of quitting.

The provincial launch of the planned national convention will take place in Port Elizabeth this weekend and the organisers are hoping that in addition to former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa that Western Cape firebrand cleric Alan Boesak will also speak.

Boesak has stated that he does not want a return to politics but may be persuaded to do so and could be a powerful force for the new party in the Western Cape.

With the name of the new party scheduled to be announced at the national convention on November 2 in Bloemfontein, one month after it has been registered resignations from the Nelson Mandela Bay council are likely to force by-elections in what will be a test of electoral strength in the metro, ahead of next year’s national election.

Legislators meet to consider Pillay Commission report

The ad hoc committee on the Pillay Commission report that has been moribund for some two months will meet in the Bhisho Legislature.

The DA in the Legislature introduced a motion in the Legislature in Graaff Reinet earlier this month that was supported by all parties calling for the committee to meet and finish its work and that process will now start on Friday.

The task of the committee is to:

• Consider the process of receiving the report by the Legislature – it was only submitted to the Speaker after a motion demanding this had been passed
• Consider the report against the background that the Premier and Executive must be accountable to the Legislature and must therefore consider the report with due regard to the funds that the Legislature has voted to fund the commission
• Consider the report, the findings and the recommendations thereof, the appropriateness thereof for implementation by the Executive and investigate the steps taken by the Executive to implement the recommendations of the commission and
• Consider the terms of reference of the commission and to what extent they have been complied with.

Dolphin capture: Has Nelson Mandela Bay flipped?

The compiler of a report submitted to the Nelson Mandela Bay council on the capture of local dolphins had very clearly been smoking something.

The part of the report dealing with the capture of the animals was headed “Recruitment of Dolphins from Local Waters”.

One presumes if that is the approach that is going to be adopted the process will need to follow the recruitment policies endorsed by the municipality and 50 per cent of the new animals will have to be female and two per cent disabled.

Those who are responsible for persuading the dolphins that a life in captivity is just what they need had therefore better be armed with the Employment Equity Act and targets set by the Metro!

Blobby Stevenson: Forever a lunch party supporter

At the lunchtime meeting called earlier this week by the ANC breakaway group it was possible to spot one or two “strangers” – members of the party who are strong backers of Jacob Zuma.

Strangest presence of the lot, however, was DA Bhisho MPL Bobby Stevenson.

Now any mention of a national convention or splits in the ANC excites the DA in a way that is akin to an invitation to dinner with Madiba. And the current official opposition – a position it might well lose if the “Terror” and his team perform as well at the polls as some are suggesting – are obviously eyeing the showdown between the ANC and those bent on forming a new party with relish.

(There could be some perks going out the window if that happens and a reduction in the speaking time allocated to the party!)

Any bets on how many DA supporters will join the new party that will be staunchly anti-communists? The phrase “rooi gevaar” has a particular effect on white voters. ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe thinks the DA will be a major loser.



Luke says: Good for you Bobby – the new party needs some heavyweights!

Who in Nelson Mandela Bay is linked to ANC breakway?

In the early 1980s every public meeting addressed by the fledgling Conservative Party was eagerly scrutinised to see which members of the National Party had and were now planning to defect.

Political voyeurism is very much back in vogue with every meeting that is addressed by former ANC national chairman Mosiuoa Lekota being subjected to the same scrutiny to see who will attend and who might therefore be considering joining the new party.

One of those is Eastern Cape Social Development MEC Sam Kwelita who hails from the Amathole region lead by former deputy-minister of Defence Mluleki George who is part of plans to form a new party. The region is heavily pro-Thabo Mbeki and MPLs at last week’s session of the Legislature in Graaff-Reinet said the Kwelita wanted to engage on whether to remain within the ANC or not.

He has denied that he intends leaving the ANC but insiders expected him to do so.

In Nelson Mandela Bay, council speaker Charmaine Williams has also been linked with the formation of a new party and a council source said that there were moves afoot by the pro-Jacob Zuma faction in the metro to have her removed. That in turn could well be linked to another bid to oust Mayor Nondumiso Maphazi and an attack on municipal manager Graham Richards with the goal of having him suspended.

Full report on Lekota’s visit to Nelson Mandela Bay in The Herald today.

ANC split: No laughing matter according to Nkwinti

Eastern Cape Agriculture MEC Gugile Nkwinti responded to the barrage of jokes about the pending “divorce” in the ANC after former national chairman Mosiuoa Lekota stated this morning that it appeared there would be a “parting of the ways”.

The United Democratic Movement invited any ANC members who wished to do so to join them while the DA suggested that the real reason for problems at an old age home in Port Elizabeth’s Northern Areas lay in divisions within the ANC.

Replying to a debate in the Legislature later, Nkwinti said: “Those who have read the Sunday Times will have read what the President of the Republic Kgalema Motlanthe had to say ... in the ANC there is always a tomorrow”. (Although subsequent research suggests this quote appears in a story in the Mail & Guardian rather than the Sunday Times)

To which Nkwinti added somewhat pointedly: “There are not many political organisations in the country that can say that of themselves."

Pillay Commission: MPLs demand final report

The Bhisho Legislature has instructed the ad hoc committee into the Pillay Commission report to “reconvene as a matter of urgency” to finalise its report and submit it to the Legislature.

The Legislature, meeting in Graaff-Reinet, unanimously adopted a motion introduced by DA leader Athol Trollip that all called for “specific timelines to be established with regard to this report” so that it can be debated before the end of this year.

Introducing the motion, Trollip noted that the Legislature had voted R10 million for the commission headed by Judge Ronnie Pillay and that it was only after MPLs instructed the former premier Nosimo Balindlela to do so that released the report.

Initially the report of the ad hoc committee was to have been presented in July.

LUKE says: Good one Athol - this is not an issue that should simply be allowed to die. A number of serious allegations were made against senior politicians that were untested and that was quite wrong.

• Full report in The Herald tomorrow

ANC split: Eastern Cape Premier keeps his sense of humour

While the Legislature is abuzz with a possible split in the ANC, Premier Mbulelo Sogoni is clearly one of those who still finds some humour in the situation.

Introducing the tabling of his annual report, Sogoni commented on the earlier election of a new deputy-speaker and chairman of committees telling DA leader Athol Trollip that there was only one nomination for each position “and that demonstrates how united the ANC is”.

Chairman of Committees Sam Masoziwe was elevated to the position of deputy-speaker and Neo Moerane-Mamase takes over his position.

There seems to be general acceptance now that there will be some kind of split, senior members of the Legislature indicating yesterday that they expected the former deputy-minister of Defence Mluleki George to drive the new entity in the Amathole region while there was also a suggestion that former presidential spokesman Smuts Ngonyama might emerge as its candidate for the premiership of the Eastern Cape in the next election.

Eastern Cape political commentary gets real teeth

A top notch political commentator will join the Bhisho blog for the Legislature session in Graaff Reinet as an armchair critic.

Luke Cull is an expert in retrieving information and will be on tap to watch the activities in the Legislature that will among other things today witness the signing in of former Eastern Cape Development Corporation CEO Mcebisi Jonas.

Ironically, as Luke points out saliently, Jonas will make his appearance in the Legislature on the day in which the ECDC annual report is tabled along with all the other departmental and parastatal reports.

Meanwhile the Eastern Cape Tourism Board that has been in a parlous state since former Premier Nosimo Balindlela let Andre de Wet loose on a wild purge has a new CEO in Zola Tshefu.

Tshefu, who piloted the development of the Kouga Development Agency, previously was the ECDC’s representative in Port Elizabeth when Jonas was CEO.

Eastern Cape egislature 'invades" Graaff-Reinet

The Bhisho Legislature will descend on Graaff-Reinet this week for the annual “Taking the Legislature to the People” although the good citizens of the historical town may well be asking themselves what they have done to deserve this invasion of politicians.

Still it’s a good boost for the local coffers.

The highlight of the week, although that is probably not the right word, is the tabling of the departments’ and parastatals’ annual reports on Tuesday. Thousands of trees will have been felled to provide the mountain of paper required to print the reports that will in all likelihood not be read even by the members of the Legislature.

Tabling the reports is, however, a requirement of the Public Finance Management Act.

Each MEC will introduce his department’s report after which there will be debate on a Committee on Local Government and Traditional Affairs report on a proposed approach to the consideration of Annual Reports of Municipalities.

That should be riveting and ensure a solid thirst is in place for the evening’s revelry.

The more intelligent have taken up residence in Nieu Bethesda for the week where the tranquillity will be decidedly welcome.

• Full report in The Herald tomorrow

Is the Pillay Commission probe a dead duck?

After the initial fervour to address the findings of the Pillay Commission report it appears that ANC in the Bhisho Legislature is bent on quietly allowing the matter to die.

The ad hoc commission was appointed in early August to:

Consider the process of receiving the report by the Legislature – it was only submitted to the Speaker after a motion demanding this had been passed

• Consider the report against the background that the Premier and Executive must be accountable to the Legislature and must therefore consider the report with due regard to the funds that the Legislature has voted to fund the commission
• Consider the report, the findings and the recommendations thereof, the appropriateness thereof for implementation by the Executive and investigate the steps taken by the Executive to implement the recommendations of the commission and
• Consider the terms of reference of the commission and to what extent they have been complied with.

The first delay resulted from the tardiness with which some departments provided the information required and then work ground to a halt when the committee’s chairman Phumulo Masualle was appointed to the provincial cabinet.

Since then, although it has a new chairman, the committee has not met and some kind of explanation is going to be demanded by the opposition when the Legislature gathers in Graaff-Reinet this week for its annual “taking the Legislature to the people”.

End to dry spell for Eastern Cape legislators?

Democratic Alliance MPL Bobby Stevenson’s water problems may be about to end.

Stevenson has been without water in his house in the government compound in Bhisho for three weeks but this morning received an SMS stating: “Supply to Legislature, Fort Hare and Bhisho CBD to be interrupted today in order to switch ministerial houses from low pressure to high pressure supply”.

The message came from the Buffalo City municipality.

Stevenson and others occupy houses in the “ministerial complex” that was once home to the members of the Ciskei cabinet when they are required to be in the provincial capital.

The problem according to Stevenson is that currently the houses are served by the lower reservoir and needed to be connected to the upper reservoir. Buffalo City maintains “this is the problem of the Amathole District Municipality as they are responsible for supplying water to the reservoir. Amathole District Municipality say it is the problem of Buffalo City Municipality”.

While Stevenson will know doubt be pleased to have water it will also provide comfort to his neighbours to know that Bobby will be bathing again.

New hope for PE's Bayworld?

There is possibly light at the end of the tunnel for Bayworld.

The complex in Port Elizabeth that needs a cash injection of R400 million for a new structure to house the dolphins has received an additional R5,3 million for operating costs and may receive funds from national government, Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture MEC Noxolo Ntantiso-Abrahams told the Bhisho Legislature today.

The MEC said that Bayworld had made a presentation to a meeting of minister of Arts and Culture Pallo Jordan and other provincial MECs and would now present a business case to the national department for additional funding.

Just where Bayworld will get additional dolphins no one is saying, least of all the Bhisho committee that probed the situation at the facility mumbling darkly about an “unethical route” whatever that might be.

Bhisho in MPLs' bad books over libraries

Bhisho’s Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture committee has issued a damning report on the department’s handling of libraries in the province saying that among other things it has neglected its constitutional obligation for rendering library services in the Eastern Cape by “sub-contracting this function to municipalities”.

The report says that most municipalities do not have the capacity to provide library services “nor do they have an interest in rendering the service because it is viewed as being auxiliary to their mandate”.

The committee recommends that:

• Funds should be transferred directly to local authorities and not through district councils that deduct 10 per cent as an administration fee
• Vacant posts in libraries should be budgeted for and filled, and
• More library books should be provided for township libraries

The committee visited libraries across the province in June this year discovering that in many of the facilities staff had been serving in an acting capacity for several years and that insufficient books were provided and little or no provision made for periodicals and other publications.

PE's Bayworld in stormy seas

Bayworld in Port Elizabeth needs R400 million for a new structure to house the dolphins according to a report from Bhisho’s Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture committee that was tabled in the Legislature today.

The report reveals that 600 000 people visited the complex last year including 50 000 pupils.

One of the major problems facing the institution, the report states, is that there are now only two dolphins and they cannot be allowed to breed so that if the facility is to survive as a tourist attraction money will have to be found for a new facility and for additional animals.

Currently the budget allocation for Bayworld from the province is less than R900 000 and represents 20 per cent of operational costs. There is also a shortage of skilled staff and only 67 posts out of 93 were filled at the end of last year.

Add to that the head of department appointed a committee including the senior manager: Museums and Heritage to drive the proposed re-development of the facility but he had “not been available to attend meetings nor has he advanced the required actions of the department in this regard”.

Full story in The Herald tomorrow.

Primary school nutrition? Let them eat cake

There may be problems with the School Nutrition Programme but there certainly are not with the Legislature Nutrition Programme with MPLs provided with a veritable feast of food to keep them fortified during plenary sessions.

Catering staff slave over stoves all morning to ensure the tables are groaning by the time the hordes arrive shortly before 2pm – and it is showing on the girth of some of the more portly members of the Legislature. In fact some of them are becoming positively rotund.

Some time ago as he observed the girth of members of the National Assembly expand in an almost exponential manner, one MP proposed that members should be weighed as they were sworn in so that there would be a record of if and how they had ballooned as the session worn on.

Unfortunately plenary sessions only last four days otherwise there would be a superb opportunity for a weight loss company!

Probe into Pillay commission back on track

The ad hoc committee of the Bhisho Legislature that will look at aspects of the Pillay Commission report is back on track with a new chairman Alfred Mzi, following the appointment of the original chairman Phumulo Masualle as MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Environmental Affairs.

The committee had initially been scheduled to report back at the end of last month but must now do so by October 24 when the Legislature will meet for the next time.

The task of the committee is to:

• Consider the process of receiving the report by the Legislature – it was only submitted to the Speaker after a motion demanding this had been passed
• Consider the report against the background that the Premier and Executive must be accountable to the Legislature and must therefore consider the report with due regard to the funds that the Legislature has voted to fund the commission
• Consider the report, the findings and the recommendations thereof, the appropriateness thereof for implementation by the Executive and investigate the steps taken by the Executive to implement the recommendations of the commission and
• Consider the terms of reference of the commission and to what extent they have been complied with.

In addition, the committee must look at the Eastern Cape Commissions Act and assess whether it should be amended “to make provision for improved transparency and accountability in the appointment and terms of reference of and reporting by commissions”.

Thobile Mhlahlo ducks housing question

Newly appointed Housing MEC Thobile Mhlahlo is being cagey about whether the R1,2 billion conditional grant for housing will be spent in the current financial year.

Answering a question from Pine Pienaar (DA) this afternoon, Mhlahlo declined to give a guarantee that the money would be spent, although he did say his department would do its best to ensure that it was – last year the Eastern Cape had to hand back R500 million of its conditional grant when it became clear it would not be able to spend it.

Mhlahlo did acknowledge that his department was not on track to spend the money at present saying it had spent 24 per cent of the R1,2 billion in the first five months of the financial year – underspending of about R143 million.

It doesn’t look good!

Another candidate for our special award (below)?

If Zuma's ever in King ...

Democratic Alliance MP Stuart Farrow is one of the most popular people in King William’s Town at present.

Farrow has water and his DA colleagues in the Bhisho Legislature who have now been without water for three weeks at the houses provided by the Legislature and are hurtling down to Farrow’s house to shower.

DA MPL Bobby Stevenson is one of those affected and after endless complaints to the Buffalo City municipality who have offered promises and not much else this week took up the offer of the Legislature and moved into a guest house with his colleagues for the duration of this week’s plenary session.

Big heads set to roll in Bhisho

Eastern Cape Health superintendent Lawrence Boya who is to be charged in terms of the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) with financial misconduct need not feel alone as he is to be joined by three other heads of department as the Bhisho Legislature’s standing committee on public accounts gets tough.

Heads of the department of Education, Social Development and Economic Development and Environmental Affairs are all facing criminal charges in terms of the PFMA and once the legislature adopts the report of the standing committee they will be charged. Joining them will be the head of the Eastern Cape Liquor Board, Advocate Naledi Burwana-Bisiwe.

Chairman of the committee Zingisa Mkabile told the Legislature at the start of debate on the SCOPA report that the findings generally “point to the fundamental challenge of lack of proper control systems, monitoring and requisite policy implementation and evaluation systems which generally plague the provincial public administration”.

With regard to the heads of department and head of the Liquor Board, SCOPA concluded that they had failed to convince the committee that there was “no wilful or element of neglect” in their failure to account properly for the department’s financial affairs.

PE cops' daily struggle ... with their cars

The police cowboys are resident in Port Elizabeth if a report tabled in the Legislature is anything to judge by.

The report compiled by the Safety and Security committee states that the police in the Eastern Cape have a “relatively high number” of vehicles damaged in accidents and that this is particularly true in the Port Elizabeth area. Just what “relatively high” means was not explained.

If the vehicles are not damaged then it would appear they are stolen, the report stating that a “high number” of police vehicles are stolen “and very few are recovered”, adding that SAPS should formulate a strategy to ensure stolen vehicles are recovered and that those colluding with members of the public are “severely punished”.

Health head in trouble

The Eastern Cape director-general of Health Lawrence Boya is in trouble.

The Bhisho Legislature’s standing committee on Public Accounts says in a report tabled today that he was provided with an opportunity “to explain gross mismanagement in his department” but that his responses were “inadequate”.

The committee states that taking into account the “significance of the matters reported by the Auditor-General” Boya had failed to account for his department’s financial affairs for the 2007/08 financial year and should be charged with financial misconduct in terms of Section 81 of the Public Finance Management Act.

This followed, the committee states, because he had failed to convince them that there was “no wilful or element of neglect” in his failure to account properly for the department’s financial affairs.

If the Legislature adopts the report, Boya will be the first official to be charged under the provisions of the PFMA.

Official: Eastern Cape cops have no power

It’s back to Bhisho for a three-day plenary with public accounts committee reports on the agenda for today, including one compiled by the Legislature’s Safety and Liaison committee on the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) annual report.

That’s unlikely to contain too much by way of good news and one element of the report reveals that there are still some police stations in the Eastern Cape that do not have electricity! That must qualify the national department of Safety and Security and Eskom between them for a special award that will be given each day the Legislature sits and even when it is not.

We are pleased to a present a picture of the prize (below). Competition is likely to be stiff.

We are, of course, still in the Good News Centre while the lavish accommodation in the Legislature is completed.

Somewhere along the line this week someone will hopefully reveal what is happening with the ad hoc committee looking at the findings of the Pillay Commission report.

A crime of commission?

Any ideas how this might effect the Pillay Commission?

Sapa reports that the Erasmus Commission, set up to probe alleged irregularities in the City of Cape Town, was unconstitutional, a full bench of the High Court ruled on Monday.

Judges Kevin Swain and Chris Nicholson, sitting in the Cape High Court, also said the appointment of a serving judge to chair the commission was incompatible with the principle of separation of powers, and was therefore unlawful and invalid.

The commission was set up by former Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool ostensibly to probe the legality of the City of Cape Town's bribery investigation into renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.

However the judges said Rasool's motive had in fact been the "improper one" of seeking to embarrass his political opponents, in particular the Democratic Alliance, which led the city.

Rasool's actions in establishing it had been arbitrary and unlawful, and his decision therefore "falls to be set aside".

The judges said Western Cape police commissioner Mzwandile Petros broke the law when he handed over information gained in police raids to Rasool.

The court challenge was launched by the city, which was then joined by the Democratic Alliance. They claimed Rasool, an African National Congress appointee, had purely political motives in appointing the body, and that the use of a serving judge - Nathan Erasmus - to head it, was unconstitutional.

The case was heard by Swain and Nicholson, who are from the KwaZulu-Natal bench, because Erasmus is a Cape judge.

The Erasmus commission had suspended its sittings pending the outcome of the case.

Where is Pillay Commission report?

What has happened to the ad hoc committee on the Pillay Commission report?

The committee had been chaired by Phumulo Masualle until he was appointed MEC for Economic Development and Environmental Affairs and the Provincial Treasury but since his departure the committee has not met.

The committee was to have reported on August 26 when the Bhisho Legislature had been scheduled to sit but that session was postponed until Tuesday September 9 and at the moment it doesn’t look like a report will be tabled then.

An ad hoc committee viewing the report of the Pillay Commission is likely to question the legitimacy of the report and also raise issues around the reasons why Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela appointed the commission.

The ad hoc committee in terms of a motion introduced by ANC whip Neela Hoosain and adopted by the legislature was required to:

• Consider the process of receiving the rep ort by the Legislature – it was only submitted to the Speaker after a motion demanding this had been passed
• Consider the report against the background that the Premier and Executive must be accountable to the Legislature and must therefore consider the report with due regard to the funds that the Legislature has voted to fund the commission
• Consider the report, the findings and the recommendations thereof, the appropriateness thereof for implementation by the Executive and investigate the steps taken by the Executive to implement the recommendations of the commission and
• Consider the terms of reference of the commission and to what extent they have been complied with.

In addition, the committee must look at the Eastern Cape Commissions Act and assess whether it should be amended “to make provision for improved transparency and accountability in the appointment and terms of reference of and reporting by commissions”.

Sections of the controversial commission report that was tabled yesterday were leaked to the media suggesting that a number of high-profile politicians generally associated with those opposed to a third-term for President Thabo Mbeki had been involved in corrupt activities.

The politicians were not provided with the opportunity to reply and have instituted legal action.

Many a slip twixt prof and whip

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University vice-chancellor Derrick Swartz managed to get the name of the new Eastern Cape Premier wrong when he introduced him ahead of the Raymond Mhlaba Memorial lecture delivered by President Thabo Mbeki.

Swartz introduced the premier as Mbulelo Goniwe rather than Mbulelo Sogoni.

Goniwe, for those who incredibly short memories, is the former ANC chief whip in the National Assembly found guilty of sexual harassment by a party-appointed disciplinary committee – “abuse of office by trying to obtain sexual advantage from members or others, and charges related to bringing the ANC into disrepute".

Goniwe's ANC membership was suspended for three years; and the penalty suspending his membership was also suspended for three years, conditional on his not holding office in any structure of the ANC for three years. He was also barred from being an ANC public representative for that period.

No wonder Sogoni looked shocked.

Eastern Cape jobs up but we're not out the woods

The unemployment rate in the Eastern Cape according to the survey declined by 3,3 per cent and now stands at 24,8 per cent, the third highest along with Mpumalanga after the Free State (25,9%) and Limpopo (20,6%).

Between the first and second quarter the labour force (population 15-64 years) grew by 12 000 to 3,949 million or 0,3 per cent. Figures for the various sectors are:

Agriculture – an increase of 9 000 (12%) to 84 000
Manufacturing – increase of 1 000 (0,6%) to 174 000
Construction – decrease of 12 000 (9,7%) to 112 000
Trade – increase of 16 000 (5,3%) to 391 000
Transport – increase of 16 000 (23,5%) to 84 000
Finance – increase of 19 000 (15,8%) to 139 000
Community and Social Services – increase of 15 000 (4,6%) to 341 000, and
Private Households – decrease of 15 000 (12,4%) to 106 000

The decrease in private household employment indicates that domestic workers and gardeners are being laid off as interest and fuel and food hikes bite.

The answer is blowing in the wind

Extraordinary revelation at a briefing on renewable energy in Nelson Mandela Bay last week concerning methane obtained from sewage at the rather quaintly named Fish Water Flats.

It would appear that even if the size of the sewage works is the same, the amount of methane that can be harnessed for electricity generation will not be the same because it will depend on what people in the area eat and therefore what they dispose of (I must resist the temptation to be too anal while writing about this subject).

The methane contribution of sushi one presumes may be less than boerewors, steak and a dollop of oily chips liberally splashed with some rather cheap and nasty tomato sauce.

The thought had crossed my mind that rather than going to the huge expense of testing the methane level at sewage plants around the world, a flatulence-testing mechanism might well short cut the process. Without being unkind to Bob Dylan the answer would be “blowing in the wind”.

Given the level of debate on many occasions, the Bhisho Legislature might not be a bad place to start the testing.

High tech house built on shifting political sands?

These (left and below) are artists impressions of how the newly revamped Eastern Cape legislature's main chamber will look when it is officially opened next year.

THE R33-million state-of-the-art Bhisho Legislature that will have the latest technology so allowing MPLs to play solitaire or obtain the latest cricket score during sessions will be officially opened when Premier Mbulelo Sogoni delivers his State of the Province address in February next year. Coincidentally the Provincial and Local Government department committee investigating among other things the future of the provinces and provincial legislatures will report at the same time and there appears to be a consensus emerging that the role of provinces will be downgraded.
That could result in functions such as primary health care and housing being devolved to local government level. The process will, however, be gradual and anyone betting on the seats on the provincial legislature gravy train being jettisoned is probably smoking the same substance as filtered into the Legislature on one occasion when Gugile Nkwinti was Speaker. On that occasion, two workers were sharing an, ahem, pick-me-up of the less than legal sort and the fumes appeared to have been sucked into the chamber by the airconditioning. Amazing how everyone there was able to identify that smell.

The new chamber (above) under construction last week and (below) as it was in the early days of Nosimo Balindlela's tenure.

Do unto others ...

Got to thinking around Nosimo Balindlela’s unhappiness about the way that her “forced removal” was handled and particularly the fact that the news was in the media before Luthuli House informed her she could return to her farm in Stutterheim.

That would have brought some wry chuckles from some of the people she fired during the four years she was Premier.

Take Johnny Makgato, for example, who was initially appointed Finance MEC in 2004 in Balindlela’s first cabinet but before he was even sworn in received a note stating that his services were not required when Balindlela was forced to retain Enoch Godongwana.

And then Godongwana who was at a meeting when a “flunkey” arrived with a terse note telling him that he had been fired. And in a foretaste of what was to eventually come in the Pillay Commission, the statement issued at the time said:

“The Honourable Premier, Mrs Nosimo Balindlela, wishes to announce the removal of Mr Enoch Godongwana as the MEC for Finance with immediate effect.

“This action is taken in the light of the Executive Council decision last week that an investigation into the provincial finances be instituted.”

Take that Enoch!

Not to mention big Andre de Wet who served in the provincial cabinet with Billy Nel who had defeated him in the 1989 election in East London for the House of Assembly and who was, depending on how charitable one is feeling, either the hatchet man of the Balindlela administration or its “useful idiot”.

Having created general havoc in the provincial parastatals from which some have still to recover, but removed as many perceived enemies of the administration as possible De Wet found himself out in the cold. The telltale signs were there when Balindlela refused all his requests for meetings and in due course the axe fell.

Put in that perspective does Balindlela really have any reason to gripe?

Province awash with EIAs

There were 354 environmental impact assessment applications “pending” in the Eastern Cape at the end of March, Environmental Affairs and Tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk has told the National Assembly.

Van Schalkwyk revealed that 93 applications were “pending” in terms of the 1997 EIA regulations and 261 in terms of those promulgated in 2006.

In reply to a written question from Gareth Morgan (DA), the minister said that there was a shortage of staff and even in provinces such as the Eastern Cape where there were only two vacancies at the end of March “a significant percentage of filled posts are occupied by case officers with limited experience”.

Nationally, Van Schalkwyk said the situation was improving with applications in terms of the 1997 regulations that were pending standing at 998 on March 31 this year as opposed to 5 859 at the end of June 2006..

With regard to the 2006 regulations, he said that some 70 per cent nationally were dealt with in the prescribed timeframes and “provincial authorities have started to express concerns that a new backlog might be forming … primarily due to capacity considerations”.

Huge underspending holds Eastern Cape back again

THE Eastern Cape underspent on several of its conditional grants during the first quarter of the current financial year. To date, the province has spent only R192 million of the R1,25 billion it has been allocated for housing in the current financial year.

In the last financial year, the Eastern Cape forfeited R500 million of its conditional grant for housing that was allocated to other provinces able to spend the money and still did not spend what was left.

The Community Library Services Grant has also been underspent with only R3,6 million of the R9.2 million allocated for the first quarter actually spent.

The HIV/AIDS Life Skills grant administered by the Education department is also under-spent with R2,6 million of the first quarter allocation of R7,1 million paid out to date.

• Full report in The Herald tomorrow.

Wanted: R24 billion to fix education

The Eastern Cape Education department requires R21,2 billion to eliminate backlogs and bring all buildings up to the required standard. In addition, it needs R2,2 billion to wipe out mud structures and a further R1,4 billion to address the maintenance backlog.

But, the department’s Infrastructure Plan tabled in the Bhisho Legislature last weeks shows that the budget for the next financial year (2009/10) is only R1,3 billion and for the next two years a total of R3,2 billion. The department states that while this is “a significant improvement on previous years, these budgets are still wholly insufficient to begin addressing backlogs”.

Currently, only 621 (11%) of the 5 704 schools in the Eastern Cape are described as being in a “good condition” with a further 237 (4%) being housed in new buildings.

The condition of 1 060 (19%) is described as “very weak” and of 1 601 (28%) as “weak” with a further 2 088 (37%) being in need of repair. Just 71 schools are currently being upgraded.

• Full report in The Herald today

Qwase's challenges

Anyone doubting the challenges facing new Education MEC Mahlubandile Qwase need only look at a document tabled in the Legislature last week that provides departmental responses to the education committees visit to schools in March this year.

The first two entries in the report:

LOWER CULUNCA JSS

Enough stationery but not all textbooks received – intervention: meet with the supplier
No electricity and water facilities , school depends on water tanks – intervention: none (the space for intervention, whose responsibility it is and time frames are left blank)
Toilets were in bad condition – intervention: none (the space for intervention, whose responsibility it is and time frames are left blank)

and

UPPER CULUNCA JSS

60 per cent of learner support material still outstanding – intervention: meet with suppliers
Only dilapidated temporary structure, no toilets, school not fenced, no sports facilities – intervention: provincial office to be informed as soon as possible
School Nutrition Programme – supplier providing stake bread twice a week- intervention: meet with supplier as soon as possible

And it goes on and on and on…

Sogoni broom denies Cosatu/SACP a clean sweep

Eastern Cape Premier Mbulelo Sogoni announced his cabinet on Friday afternoon leaving Alliance partners Cosatu and the South African Communist Party decidedly unhappy with the final outcome.

Cosatu and the SACP wanted a clean sweep with almost all the existing members of the provincial cabinet axed but in the end had to be satisfied with what was a compromise with some of the old guard being retained. Thobile Mhlahlo, who had been one of those targeted for what is euphemistically described as “re-deployment” survived and while he lost Roads and Transport he did get the major portfolio of Housing to go with Safety and Liaison.

Deputy-Speaker Gloria Barry gets Roads and Transport.

Housing has been separated from Local Government that is retained by Thoko Xasa who was also a target for re-deployment.

Phumulo Masualle becomes the most powerful MEC in the cabinet taking control of both Finance from Billy Nel, and Economic Development and Environmental Affairs that was held by Sogoni.

Health will now fall under Pemmy Majodina and Education goes to Mahlubandile Qwase replacing Nomsa Jajula and Johnny Makgato respectively.

Sogoni's cabinet: Who will the ANC pick?

The ANC will unveil the new Eastern Cape provincial cabinet at lunchtime tomorrow with the major focus on who will take over Housing and Local Government from Thoko Xasa and whether these two departments will be split.

New premier Mbulelo Sogoni acknowledged earlier today that the possibility of creating separate departments was under consideration and the name of outspoken the former mayor of Buffalo City Lulamile Nazo has emerged as a contender for Local Government.

That would leave Housing with which ANC provincial chairman Stone Sizani who was MEC for Education between 1999 and 2002 and the former CEO of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation Mcebisi Jonas have been linked.

Nazo has also been named as a possible deputy-speaker, succeeding Gloria Barry who is tipped to take over Roads and Transport from Thobile Mhlahlo.

Sogoni speaks

Here he is. The first picture of Mbulelo Sogoni after his swearing-in as the fourth premier of the Eastern Cape, speaking to reporters outside the Good News Centre in Bhisho.

New premier makes big promises

New Eastern Cape Premier Mbulelo Sogoni was sworn in this morning as the province’s fourth premier outlining a broad plan for the next eight months leading up to the election and saying the new cabinet will have until the end of August to realign their budgets with his priorities.

Sogoni said there would be “zero-tolerance” of failures in service delivery specifically in the areas of schools, hospitals and clinics, adding that the performance contracts of all heads of department would be reviewed in the light of what would be required.

Among the priorities Sogoni spelled out were the timeous delivery of stationery and text books; eradication of mud schools; providing support to improve the public health system, and drive the delivery of housing.

Sogoni said another priority would be to persuade FIFA to change the decision to take the Confederations Cup games away from Port Elizabeth.

Hurry up and wait ...

A 10am swearing in of new Eastern Cape Premier Mbulelo Sogoni is one thing that is not going to happen.

At 9.58 there was indication of when proceedings would start although outgoing Premier Nosimo Balindlela arrived a few moments ago and took up the seat she has occupied for the last four years - and the next few minutes.

Balindlela did not attend this morning’s ANC caucus and has announced her resignation as a member of the Legislature. She will, however, remain as a member of the Eastern Cape provincial executive committee of the ANC.

Pillay report: Questions remain

Pillay yet again.

For reasons best known to somebody in the Legislature it was decided not to distribute Chapter 2 of the Pillay Commission report, authored by Judge Ronnie Pillay (pictured), that interestingly enough is dated December 1 2006 the first pages of which were leaked to the media and contain allegations to which those accused have not had the opportunity to reply.

That has now been rectified.

No explanation has yet been provided, however, as to why the Premier sat on the report for some 18 months and the question being asked is whether it was not being held back as “dry powder” for use at the right moment.

The ad hoc committee examining the report and that is considering among other things whether the commission complied with its mandate has requested an extension of time to complete its deliberations.

Committee chairman Phumulo Masualle says information is still waited from departments and he has now been given to August 26 to report when the Legislature is scheduled to sit again.

Computer error: The Blobster's on the case

Anyone remember the saga of the missing computers in the Ndlambe municipality (Port Alfred) when the municipal manager admitted that he “made a mistake” when he signed for 39 laptops worth R400 000, without checking whether they had actually arrived?

The DA’s Bobby Stevenson – affectionately dubbed “the blobster" by former DA leader Tony Leon - has not and has asked a question for oral reply this afternoon and to what progress has been made with the investigation.

Stevenson wants to know whether any disciplinary action has been taken or criminal charges laid and whether any steps have been taken to recover the money.

Ndlambe, however, needed not feel alone because Stevenson has unearthed the fact that six computers went missing in the Koukamma local municipality. These were not new computers they just held vital information such as salaries and details of municipal accounts.

Bhisho's apartheid legacy lingers

Shades of the past ... the parade ground and dias in front of the Legislature from where Ciskei President Lennox Sebe reviewed his troops.

Education dept deluged by court action

SOME 171 new civil actions were instituted in the last financial year against the Eastern Cape education department, 59 of them related to similar applications brought by 59 suppliers for the School Nutrition Programmer whose tenders were cancelled in 2004.

The 59 cases are all claims for a loss of profits and some are for amounts as high as R3 million.

Other cases involve the expulsion of pupils from Queens College, the filling of the post of principal at Sydenham Primary and even one involving a pupil who was appointed as a prefect and then demoted.

Replying to a written question from Donald Smiles (DA) Education MEC Johnny Makgato says that most of the applications were still pending and one had been decided in favour of the department. He added that there had been no civil actions instituted connected to irregularities relating to the appointment of officials to senior positions.

And Pillay on Coega ...

Yet more from the Pillay Commission

Another of Judge Ronnie Pillay’s apparent dislikes is the Coega Project. Among the lengthy list of recommendations contained in Volume 8 is the exhortation to the Eastern Cape not to invest further monies in the Coega Development Corporation at the expense of departments which provide social services to the citizens of the Province.

“If the CDC requires further finance, then Province should seek the same from National Government by means of a conditional grant and/or from Provincial surplus.

“Means to be reimbursed by the Department of Trade and Industry and/or CDC for the R1 billion already invested (plus interest) should be initiated or the Provincial Government should take complete control of CDC.”

• Coega announced earlier this week that six auto component manufacturers were in the process of concluding investment deals worth more than R1 billion with the Coega Development Corporation that will result in a total of 2 530 people employed between July 2008 and mid 2010. The factories are to be located in the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistics Park (NMBLP) in Uitenhage.

Treasury officials are party stooges: Pillay

More from the Pillay Commission

Wide-eyed Wonder!

Officials from the Provincial Treasury were also on Judge Ronnie Pillay’s hit list.

“It is noteworthy that some of the officials presently in Treasury have been in such positions or within Treasury for a long time. Some of them display an undoubted loyalty to leading political figures who played an important part in what has gone by.

“Even some of those officials who now find themselves in other departments but were within the Treasury department in the past seem to owe their loyalty to the aforementioned political figures.

“The reason(s) for this is, at best, unclear.”

What Pillay really thinks of Bhisho ...

Judge Ronnie Pillay is clearly not enamoured with Bhisho nor, for that matter, with East London.

The Pillay Commission report – dated June 1, 2007, but only tabled in the Legislature in Bhisho yesterday – contains this little comment on the area:

“As uneasy as the reader hereof might be caused to feel, the cold truth of the matter is that the geographical area where the Provincial Government essentially operates does not present any form of attraction to anybody who has an opportunity to work in another place.

“The big cities in the country in themselves present attractions, to those who can go there, and far outweighs anything the Bhisho/Zwelitsha and East London areas can offer. It is clearly not a difficult choice to make when presented with such options.

“Similarly, persons with expertise find nothing attractive to lure them out of an area when asked to give up that situation. By comparison, it is understandably difficult to give up the life in a city like Cape Town or Johannesburg to come and live in the Eastern Cape Government area for the same time and increment and where there is no comparable infrastructure at least for family life.”

People's premier out among the people?

There was no sign of outgoing Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela today when the Bhisho Legislature started a weeklong sitting even though a report on the Office of the Premier on a fact-finding mission to the Ugie/Maclear timber project was debated.

Her replacement Mbulelo Sogoni was present as were several MEC’s (Heath MEC Nomsa Jajula was the lone exception) who will be replaced on Friday.

Handed out were copies of the voluminous Pillay Commission that includes some eight annexures. Interestingly, as was noted by many members of the Legislature many if not all the recommendations contained in annexure eight had been made year after year in reports compiled by the legislature’s committees.

One imagines the ad hoc committee considering the report will comment on that when it submits its report.

Pillay Commission under scrutiny

The Pillay Commission report, tabled in the Legislature today, is itself the study of a probe by a special ad hoc committee chaired by Phumulo Masualle who will take over as MEC for Finance and Economic Development on Friday.

The ad hoc committee, among other things will “consider the terms of reference of the commission and to what extent they have been complied with” and must also consider the report “with due regard to the funds that the Legislature has voted to fund the commission”.

The committee is supposed to report by July 31 but it is likely to ask for an extension when it meets tomorrow morning.

There were indications yesterday that the ad hoc committee may question the credibility of the commission report and ask questions around its appointment.

• Full report in The Herald tomorrow

Baby deaths: Health department to blame

The Bhisho Legislature’s Health Committee has found there was “an inexorable causal link between elements of water supply contamination, poor sanitation and hygiene levels, and the diarrhoeal (sic) infections” that resulted in the deaths of 131 babies in the Ukhahlamba District Municipality between January and April 2008.

The multiparty committee visited the area on May 28.

The committee also found that the notice to the community to boil water as a result of the “compromised water purification processes”, was only issued to the public in April 2008 “despite recorded high numbers of diarrhoea-related baby deaths in the preceding months”.

In addition, the report states there was a failure by the provincial Department of Health’s monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure that monthly meetings of the District Health Advisory Council took place and that “the relevant challenges and measures to deal with them were identified and discussed.

“This would have ensured that the diarrhoea outbreak would have been detected and measures put in place to curb it. The meeting held on 15 April 2008 should not have been the first meeting to consider the outbreak and the resultant deaths of babies in preceding months.”

• Full report in The Herald tomorrow

New Premier takes the helm on Thursday

New Eastern Cape Premier Mbulelo Sogoni (right, with his predecessor Nosimo Balindlela) will be sworn in at the Legislature on Thursday, the ANC confirmed today.

The new cabinet will be announced on Friday afternoon and there is still discussion on who will
take the Housing and Local Government portfolio currently held by Thoko Xasa.

The Eastern Cape Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) is to meet on Friday morning to finalise the matter that will see Finance MEC Billy Nel who was informed yesterday that he is to be axed replaced by Phumulo Masualle who will also succeed Sogoni as MEC for Economic Development and Environmental Affairs.

Health MEC Nomsa Jajula will be replaced by Pemmy Majodina while Education MEC Johnny Makgato will make way for Mahlubandile Qwase.

• Full report in The Herald tomorrow

Running on empty

Members of the Eastern Cape provincial legislature must get thirsty after all that talking. But they won't get much relief from this out-of-order water cooler at the Good News Centre.

Chamber of the future or empty vessel?

Work underway gutting the inside of the Eastern Cape Legislature. Millions are being spent revamping the Chamber at a time when the very existence of the provinces is under review. This week's sitting is taking place in the Good News Centre while the work is underway in the Chamber.

Birthdays, babies and messy situations

Three subjects will dominate the Legislature this week – the celebration of the birthday of Nelson Mandela, a health department report into the deaths of babies at Ukhahlamba and the election and swearing-in of Premier-designate Mbulelo Sogoni and unveiling of the new cabinet.

The report into the death of more than 100 babies was the result of an investigation by the portfolio committee on Health but The Herald has been told that the ANC compiled a report long before the deaths of the babies warning of the impending disaster – but no action was taken.

That debate is set down for Wednesday.

Thursday, Arts and Culture minister Pallo Jordan will address the Legislature on Madiba and it is expected that Sogoni will be elected on the same day or early Friday, followed by the announcement of the new provincial cabinet.

In the meantime, the existing MECs will continue to answer questions and respond to all the reports that have been tabled – messy and a trifle embarrassing.

Among the other reports to be tabled is one that may raise eyebrows considering that the plenary session is being held at the Good News Centre – the Public Works committee according to the programme will submit a report on an “exposure” visit to Australia!

New Eastern Cape welfare graft probe

Social Development minister Zola Skweyiya has revealed that an investigation is being carried out by the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in collaboration with the SAPS Commercial Crime Unit into a welfare scam in the Mthatha area and that five people have already been arrested.

Skweyiya said his department was not able to confirm the extent of the fraud but that into addition to the arrest of five people in February, about 70 original birth certificates and clinic cards together with copies of identity documents had been found during the search.

He said that from the birth certificates SASSA had identified, 56 individuals who were receiving grants for one or more children that were registered at Home Affairs. The registration turned out to be false.

Skweyiya said one of the accused had turned State witness and had supplied valuable information.

D-Day for Balindlela

Three Eastern Cape MECs will be axed along with Premier Nosimo Balindlela as part of a provincial cabinet reshuffle that will see Mbulelo Sogoni, currently MEC for Economic Development and Environmental Affairs elected as the province’s fourth premier.

Out will go Education MEC Johnny Makgato his Finance colleague MEC Billy Nel as well as Health MEC Nomsa Jajula as part of efforts to speed up delivery and development in the province.

Alliance partners, Cosatu and the South African Communist Party remain opposed to the election of Sogoni and tough negotiations are continuing. They may, however, have to be satisfied with appointments to key portfolios for which they have already submitted proposals as part of a comprehensive agreement.

Full story on who is likely to be in the next provincial cabinet in Thursday’s edition of The Herald.

Eastern Cape edges in on Trevor's territory

THE Eastern Cape is set to become the first legislature in the country to pass a bill that will allow it to amend the provincial budget after it has been tabled.

The National Assembly has also initiated a process to allow it to amend money bills with a motion being passed that instructed the finance committee "to consider a procedure to amend money bills before parliament with a view to introducing a bill dealing with the matter".

The committee must report back to the National Assembly by August 15.

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has blocked attempts to introduce the legislation in the past arguing that amending the budget after it has been tabled could result in a lengthy process in which countless amendments might have to be accommodated.

The Constitution provides that a provincial legislature may amend a money bill – a bill that appropriates money or imposes provincial taxes or levies - and a White Paper on the procedure to amend such legislation has been tabled in the Legislature and referred to the Finance Committee.

The White Paper notes that before a money bill can be amended legislation is required in terms of which the procedure for this is set out.

Read Patrick Cull's full analysis of this new bill and its implications in Tuesday's edition of The Herald.

On lager and leadership ...

There may yet be more to the link between beer and malaria and we will have to consult the good doctor when the Bhisho Legislature meets in a week’s time for, among other things, one presumes the swearing in of the successor to Nosimo Balindlela as Premier of the Eastern Cape.

It is hardly the kind of job one would imagine there would be a scrum for but the pay is good and you get a chauffeur driven car and go overseas on trips that you promise the electorate you will tell them the importance of but never do – at least that’s what the general trend has been over the past four years.

But back to beer with colleague Keith Bell who spent some time in Nigeria saying that the locals consume a beverage called Star that they swear by as the means to prevent malaria. Bell, scorning the local brew opted for Heineken and contracted malaria three times!

Perhaps the next step is to import some Star and analyse it along with Castle to see whether the contents are similar. Perhaps a more simple way would be to import the brew, consume reasonable quantities of it and camp near a swamp to see if one is bitten by mosquitoes.

In a froth about a cure for malaria

One is fortunate in the Bhisho Legislature to have the services of medical practitioner Dr Bevan Goqwana available in cases of emergency, although much of the time he would probably need to be an expert in sleeping sickness more than anything else.

I had recent cause to consult him about the serious side-effects of Castle Lager that had after a great many years of merry and enthusiastic imbibing caused gout, a decidedly fiendish affliction that concentrates its efforts on the big toe, a digit that must surely be one of the most inoffensive.

A change to Windhoek ended the gout problem but had a disastrous side-effect as for all the years that Castle had slipped effortlessly down my throat I had not been bitten by a single mosquito. Copious quantities of Windhoek however have turned me into a veritable treasure trove for mosquitoes.

The good doctor explained quite simply that Castle made the blood acidic and therefore not frightfully palatable to mosquitoes while Windhoek made it sweeter and attracted them in their hoards.

What I could not get him to comment on was whether I had inadvertently discovered a preventative medicine for malaria thereby putting a damper on my vision of breweries trucks delivering cases with a prescription attached stating “take one every two hours or when necessary”.

Politics can be a pain in the neck ...

The Legislature is clearly feeling a little chastened about the amount of money being spent on revamping the debating chamber - the latest figure puts the cost at some R30 million.

Just to show what we can expect, one ANC speaker provided a screen with his speech on it saying that this is what would be available in the revamped legislature. Sounds a bit expensive - R30 million for a screen and a linked computer.

Only problem was at the Good News centre the screen was put in such a position that the opposition could hardly see it and the public will all have stiff necks from craning to see.

Meanwhile, the Pillay Commission report will simply not go away.

The Office of the Premier was supposed to have submitted the report to the Legislature by the end of March in terms of an earlier resolution but didn’t. Now it has been given to July 3 and probably won’t release it by then either.

Smart money is on the Public Service Accountability Monitor to obtain it through the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

Premier airlifted in for lunch

A major diversion - Premier Nosimo Balindlela has just landed in a brown helicopter outside the Good News Centre and is now enjoying lunch.

Ironically, inside the Chamber we are debating the Social Development report, third last item on the agenda and with chairman of committees Sam Masoziwe in the chair events will be speeded up.

No idea where Balindlela has been – perhaps she was hungry and heard that they were serving lunch at the Good News Centre.


Related stories:
Politicians cut back ... their lunchbreak

Politicians cut back ... their lunchbreak

LUNCHTIME – we have saved 43 minutes on the day so far and with deputy-speaker Gloria Barry cutting the lunch break to 40 minutes the long weekend is looming. Some of the MPLs have their cars packed, petrol tanks full and attendance on the last afternoon is likely to drop off.

It’s all a bit reminiscent of the old pre-1994 House of Assembly, when MPs left their briefcases in the lobby outside the Chamber ready for a quick spring for the exit and the bus back to the parliamentary compound.

No joy for the DA’s Bobby Stevenson in the Safety and Liaison debate. The Blobster, as Tony Leon used to call him, was hoping to prise some information out of MEC Thobile Mhlahlo on the Standard House stand-off on Monday night (when police arrested a number of ANC members holding a sit-in protest at the party's regional headquarters).

Mhlahlo, however, told “the Honourable Bobby” that this was not a government matter but an ANC matter and the “ANC will deal with it”.

Eastern Cape all at sea

THE United Democratic Movement’s Max Mhlati wanted to know whether Roads and Transport MEC Thobile Mhlahlo was planning to buy as boat this morning and if not why was the department advertising for consultants to draw up a maritime policy.

Mhlati got a laugh, although not from Mhlahlo who solemnly explained that he was not intending to buy a boat but the national minister believes that some of the functions of the national department should be delegated to the provinces.

“We have Port Elizabeth, East London, Ngqura and Port St Johns – we cannot ignore the fact that there is an ocean around us.”.

For those wanting to know if and when the R72 between Port Elizabeth and East London will become a toll road, there’s no news, Mhlahlo saying only that a study had been completed and was being discussed. “We would as a matter of policy want to toll the road because it makes business sense because then our spending on road infrastructure can be focused on different areas”.

MECs living in the past?

ANC MPL Max Mamase was this morning reminded of the days when he was a member if the provincial cabinet. Waxing eloquent during the debate on Public Works, Mamase was told he only had one minute left.

“Are you missing the time when you were an MEC and you had unlimited time?” DA leader Athol Trollip asked. After a long pause and in response to calls of “answer” he said “yes” – whether it was the time or the other goodies that go with being an MEC he didn’t say.

Public Works MEC Christian Martin was also waxing eloquent this morning talking about innovation, although why that should be necessary in order to rid the province of the 869 mud schools he didn’t say.

Public Works is responsible for replacing 208 of them and this will form part of an incubator launched by the department, he said.

Martin also quoted Barack Obama as saying; “This is our time. Our time to turn the pages on the policies of the past”.

Didn’t know we had had a change of government.

Pillay report: Premier under pressure

The Legislature is getting tough on the Pillay Commission report with ANC Premier Nosimo Balindlela being given 14 days to release the report.

The ANC this morning backed a DA call for the commission report to be released and if Balindlela now refuses to do so she is going to be on a collision course not only with the Legislature but her own party.

The Grahamstown Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) has also lodged papers in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act to get the report and Balindlela has until the end of this week to respond and until the end of this month to release it.

DA chief whip, Bobby Stevenson gave notice this morning saying the Premier had made a commitment to release the report on three separate occasions – most recently this week – but had no given no indication of when this would happen.

Now in just 14 days we will know why she has been so reluctant to let the people of the province know what the report contains.

Thank goodness it's Thursday in Bhisho

It’s any early start on the final lap of the four-day Bhisho session. Kick-off is at 10am although there was wholesale confusion about the programme.

One MEC asked me yesterday how I knew the Friday session has been cancelled and he does not know. I couldn’t be honest there were people listening. For as long as I can remember Bhisho sessions are set down for the full five days and somewhere along the line Friday is cancelled and we start early Thursday.

It’s a regular charade.

Today we start with a debate on Public Works followed by Roads and Transport, Safety and Liaison, Social Development, Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, the Legislature and finally the passing of the provincial budget.

It’s set to last nine hours – so with a break for lunch that should take us to between 8 and 9 tonight. Bet we’re out of there by 6pm.

Getting to the bottom of the housing mess

The African Peoples Convention’s Zingisa Mkabile has put his finger on why so few houses are built in the Eastern Cape.

Speaking in the debate on Housing MEC Thoko Xasa’s policy speech he said it was that the standard of work was so poor that “every time we have to build the same house two or three times, spending a lot of money in the process.”

Mkabile said that more houses could have been built “if we did not have to clean up every time. We always have to have a follow-up programme in place to clean up”

Mkabile clearly does not have much faith in the department telling the MEC: “Your housing function was taken back to national government that is reviewing our ability to handle it and we should assist national department to take it back because we do not have the capacity”.

Health department ripped apart in Bhisho

The Eastern Cape Health department is being ripped apart in the Legislature today with the African People Convention’s Zingisa Mkabile saying that spending R1,5 million of the audio-visual promotion material is typical of MEC Nomsa Jajula.

“She has an appetite to spend on things that are not vital like the refurbishment of the whole floor where her office is – yet there is a shortage of everything in her department.”

And, he said: “The ruling party remains quiet”.

Earlier UDM leader Mhlati recalled the death of a child at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha saying the family could not access the file to find out why the child had died – “this was a black child who had suffered at the hands of a black government,” he said.

DA Health spokesman Athol Trollip also waded in saying with regard to the deaths of more than 100 babies at Ukhahlamba that his party would obtain the report handed to national minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang through the Promotion of Access to Information Act and lay “criminal charges of negligence” against those responsible.

Related stories:

MPLs say no to hospital spin

MPLs say no to hospital spin

Tragedy – one of the early birds, an extremely overweight official has just bumbled in to discover the biltong is finished – wolfing down a couple of chicken legs instead.

The Bhisho Health department after being battered over problems at the Free Hospital maternity section and death of more than 100 babies at Ukhahlamba plans to spend R1,5 million “to broadcast audio-visual highlights of its achievements as a measure to boost its public image and community system”.

MPLs are not happy about this.

They are concerned that this is not in the best interests of health care and have asked the department to present a report with 30 days to state what they hope to achieve “within the context of the delivery of health services”.

Social Development MEC Sam Kwelita is standing in for the “ill” Nomsa Jajula. He admits he won’t be able to answer all the questions so that gets one of the worst performing departments off the hook.

Kwelita has come up with an extraordinary statement. Responding to a question from Bobby Stevenson about the shooting on a patient on the operating table at Livingstone he said: “…we want to ensure that members have the correct information.“We do not have information that a patient was shot on the operating table.”

Potholes, missing MECs and other mysteries

Extraordinary!

There are actually people in what serves as the public gallery in the Good News Centre this afternoon – it can’t be for the biltong because that’s all gone!

Maybe they are just officials.

Question Time is pretty boring today.

Housing and Local Government MEC Thoko Xasa says she paid bonuses to two senior managers for the 2007/07 financial year – one got more than R38 000 – despite the fact that the department only spent 87 per cent of its budget.

Perhaps the bonuses are one way of ensuring the budget is spent in the next financial year. Their buddies in Health won’t be happy they didn’t get bonuses.

What we did not learn this afternoon was how much motorists claimed for damage to their vehicles caused by potholes on the provincial roads and how much has been paid out?

Roads and Transport MEC Thobile Mhlahlo was absent and no one had been asked to stand in for him, prompting a distinctly peeved Speaker Noxolo Kieviet to tell Premier Nosimo Balindlela to take note of the absence.

We have just learned that Health MEC Nomsa Jajula is ill – nice timing considering she was in line for some heavy flak when he budget is debated this afternoon.

Funny, she was here yesterday!

Grub's up at the Good News Centre

The countdown to day three of the Bhisho Legislature sitting is underway and the MPLs who arrive early have already scooted through the Good News Centre to the room at the back where coffee, tea and grub is available.

Arriving early, they have discovered, is the only way to ensure you can snaffle a healthy handful of the biltong.

Question Time is first on the agenda today with the DA wanting to know whether senior staff in Housing and Health received performance bonus.

Then its policy debates again, starting with Health and then moving on through Housing and Local Government and ending with Finance.

Eastern Cape premier promises corruption report

Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela has delivered a rambling 40-minute reply to the debate on her Policy Speech succeeding in avoiding all the contentious points that had been raised during two hours of debate apart from saying that she was “committed” to bringing the report of the Pillay Commission to the House.

In addition, she apologised for not attending committee meetings saying she had had other duties.

Had she been there, she said, she would have been able to assist the committee.

Balindlela said that despite the fact that in 2007/08 more than 1 000 cases had been sorted out as far as litigation was concerned “we still have a long way to go”, adding “if you have any advice you can give us because it is long drawn out process.

Where is the Pillay report?

Premier Nosimo Balindlela came under attack from the African Peoples Convention this afternoon, with MPL Zingisa Mkabile stating that the failure of the Premier to release the Pillay Commission report into corruption was “unacceptable.

“Where is that report? We voted money for it. It really borders on disrespect for this House that this and the many other reports have not been tabled in this Legislature.

“We are not going to see the reports and the comrades on the right (the ANC) are going to keep quiet. It is a serious situation.”

Calling Balindlela’s administration “a lame duck” Mkabile said it was not surprising that there was no service delivery in the Eastern Cape “because it is clear that the heart does not function”.

As far as the branding of the province was concerns, Mkabile said if the Eastern Cape continued to perform the way it was then this would be “spin-doctoring – there is no point in talking about branding until we have resolved the problems connected with education, health and many other areas”.

Disabled sidelined in Eastern Cape: MPLs

The Office of the Premier (OTP) has been criticised for its failure to provide properly for disabled people in the Eastern Cape.

The portfolio committee Youth, Gender and Disability says in its report tabled today that the two percent target for the employment of disabled people has not been met and that there is “no system in place” for monitoring the plans and programmes of different departments.

In addition, the committee says the budget is “not sufficient” and not all departments have programmes in place for the economic empowerment of people with disabilities.

The committee says it wants the OTP to inform it when departments will meet the target for the employment of people with disabilities, to increase the budget and research programmes that are “biased to the economic needs of people with disabilities”.

A progress report must be submitted to the committee by the end of next month.

Premier's office blasted over jobs

The Office of the Premier (OTP) in the Eastern Cape has come under fire for allowing departments “to appoint people who do not qualify to senior positions in an acting capacity for more than a reasonable period”.

And the portfolio committee on the Office of the Premier said in its report tabled in the Bhisho Legislature this afternoon that this was a “malpractice” and it wants an audit carried out of unfilled posts and a plan to meet this challenge handed to it within 30 days.

The committee also found that despite its recommendations last year that there should be a review of the provincial bursary scheme there was no evidence that this had in fact happened. In addition, it said, departments continued to receive negative audit reports and “still fail to implement turn-around plans”.

Six hours in Bhisho ...

Imagine – six hours of debate in the Bhisho Legislature this afternoon.

That, in theory means that Legislature will only complete the day’s work some time after 8pm tonight although the smart money says it will be sometime between 6 and 7pm as MPLs start to tire and cut down on the time spent delivering reports and making speeches.

First up is the debate on the Policy Speech of the Premier for which two hours and 26 minutes have been allocated with Premier Nosimo Balindlela accounting for 30 of those and other speakers from the ANC another 24.

Once that’s over then Agriculture, Economic Development and Environmental Affairs and Education each get 91 minutes and we’re off home.

Fortunately there’s grub on offer and tea and coffee - but none of the strong stuff that one would have thought a sine qua non for a six-hour stretch without the option of a fine!

Eastern Cape Legislature sitting adjourns

The Bhisho Legislature adjourned just before noon today after agreeing to a proposed constitutional amendment that will outlaw crossing the floor and accepting a damning report on local government that the portfolio committee described as “an embarrassing cut and paste job”.

The Legislature sits again tomorrow afternoon when it will consider the policy speeches of the Premier and MECs for Agriculture, Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism and Education.

The session is scheduled to last until Friday.

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Policy speeches: A weird and wonderful process

Sorry, we'll try harder next time, says MEC

Local Government and Traditional Affairs Thoko Xasa has apologised profusely to MPLs in the Bhisho Legislature for a report that was described as “an embarrassing cut and paste job”.

There was “no proof-reading of the report nor was verification of the report done. We apologise profusely for that,” she said, adding that the issues would be addressed “and we will try our best to do better with the 2006/07 report”.

Xasa was replying to the debate on the Consolidated Municipal Annual Performance Report for 2005/06 during which she acknowledged that she had sent the report to national minister Sydney Mufamadi and the National Council of Provinces, a report she accepted was “an embarrassment to the department”.

Xasa said other provincial departments had also experienced problems in drawing up the consolidated report while some like Mpumalanga had not even submitted reports.

She said it was not that easy “to get into municipalities” which complicated the issue. It was easier to intervene in some local authorities than others.

“We are also looking into the wasteful expenditure – the committee demanded this as two reports were compiled the first of which was rejected as being “riddled with errors” - and will report in due course on the steps we have taken.

We understand the situation in which we have placed this House”.

Earlier, ANC Mabandla Gogo delivered a stinging attack on the department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs on a consolidated municipal annual performance report saying that: “No homework was done and it was just done to meet the legislative requirements”.

And he said it was “amazing that the officials of the department were not present so that they could understand how we feel”.

Gogo also asked what steps MEC Thoko Xasa had taken against department officials when a copy of her policy speech had been leaked to The Herald and also found in a rubbish bin and also what action she would take against the officials responsible for a report that was “an embarrassing cut and paste job”.

Related Links: Eastern Cape MPLs embarassed over report
MEC slated for "cut-and-paste" job

Eastern Cape MPLs embarassed over report

The Bhisho Legislature’s Local Government and Traditional Affairs committee today urged MPLs to reject the Consolidated Municipal Annual Performance report, describing it as an “embarrassing cut and paste job”.

And it also said that the fact that the first report had been rejected as it had been found to be “riddled with errors” amounted to “wasteful expenditure” demanding that the MEC probe the reason why two reports were tabled, who was responsible and what steps would be taken against them.

Further, the committee said Eastern Cape Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Thoko Xasa must report to the committee within 30 days how the issue of the wasteful expenditure would be dealt with.Presenting the report, committee chairman Lulamile Nazo (ANC) said that it was both “vague and embarrassing” and did not meet the requirements of the Municipal Systems Act.

The report must, among other things, identify under-performing municipalities “and specify measures that are going to be put in place to assist them”.

Both Xasa and the department’s superintendent-general Sindisile Maclean had signed the report.

Replying to questions, Xasa said her department was looking at what steps it could take to rectify the situation and was investigating through a service provider how “to come up with a proper report” adding that it was hoped this could be provided within 30 days as demanded by the committee and it would be “better”.

She acknowledged that what “an official” had done was a “cut and paste job” and was an “embarrassment” to the department.

Related Links: MEC slated for "cut-and-paste" job

MEC slated for "cut-and-paste" job

Both Eastern Cape Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Thoko Xasa and the department’s superintendent-general Sindisile Maclean signed the Consolidated Municipal Performance Report for 2005/06, the Bhisho Legislature was told today.

The report, tabled today, has been described by the committee on Local Government as an “embarrassing cut and paste job”.

Replying to questions, Xasa said her department was looking at what steps it could take to rectify the situation and was investigating through a service provider how “to come up with a proper report” adding that it was hoped this could be provided within 30 days as demanded by the committee and it would be “better”.

She acknowledged that what “an official” had done was a “cut and paste job” and was an “embarrassment” to the department.

Eastern Cape backs floor-crossing law repeal

All parties in the Bhisho Legislature this morning supported repeal of crossing-the floor legislation.

All the nine provincial legislatures must express their view on the matter ahead of the tabling of the Constitutional Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendment bills that scrap the legislation at national and provincial and municipal level respectively.

Deputy-Speaker Gloria Barry told the Legislature that the Rules Committee had met and discussed the proposed measures and supported them.

DA leader Athol Trollip said the crossing-the floor legislation had been “bad” especially as the electoral system in South Africa was that of proportional representation (PR) at national and provincial level, although he acknowledged that the DA had supported it at the time.

In doing so, he said, “we undermined the democratic wishes of the people of South Africa” and had led to greed and “massive opportunism” with people being offered financial inducements.

“Cheque book politics became the hallmark in South Africa”.

The United Democratic Movement’s Masiza Mhlati said that “at last” his party’s view had been respected saying the legislation had favoured those who “wanted to fill their stomachs at the benefit of the people”.

He said the ANC had been the main beneficiary.

He pointed out that the legislation had led to the creation of single-person parties that had disappeared at the next election.

The ANC’s Neela Hoosain noted that it was the then Democratic Party that had initiated the floor crossing legislation, adding that the ANC had wanted the provision that 10% of a party was required to support any crossing the floor in order to prevent the creation of a “plethora of small parties”.

What had actually happened, she said, was that “the identity of parties had been diluted”.

She said people should be encouraged to identify with the party of their choice but that this should be based on “ethics”.