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.

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

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.”

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.