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.

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

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”.

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”.

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.

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?

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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”.