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”.