This week’s annual “Taking Legislature to the People” in Cofimvaba will not debate the DA motion on Illegal ward committee elections for fear of publically embarrassing the ruling party. The motion, which was tabled and accepted in September by the Legislature for debate, is intended to nullify the plethora of illegal ward committee elections currently [...]

With reference to your headline “Bay Ward election chaos” (Weekend Post, October the Democratic Alliance has tabled a motion in the Provincial Legislature for the annulment of certain ward committee elections in the province. The motion tabled by me in September was accepted for debate.

THE Eastern Cape Legislature in Bhisho plans to splash out an estimated R150 000 for a lavish party to celebrate its first ever clean audit. The event, to be held in Bhisho’s Skenjana Hall on October 27, is being coordinated by legislature speaker Fikile Xasa’s office and will begin a few hours after a workshop [...]

The Eastern Cape Legislature is wasting money on a party for MPLs to celebrate a Clean Audit outcome for the last financial Year. The Legislature is to be congratulated on this fine achievement.

The awarding of exorbitant commissions when appointing contractors is eroding away vast amounts of our provincial roads budget. Sixty percent of the Provincial Roads budget of R1,668 billion has for this financial year been outsourced to the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) to establish road forums in certain municipalities.

EASTERN Cape human settlements MEC Helen August-Sauls yesterday came under fire from DA MPL Dacre Haddon, who accused her of misleading the public on housing fraud in the province. Sauls, in reply to a parliamentary question to Haddon two months ago, had said that since 2009 only one contractor had been suspended by the province [...]

The Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements is not being truthful about housing fraud figures in the province. According to a reply to a parliamentary question I asked, only one contractor has been suspended for housing fraud during the 2009-2011 Medium Term Expenditure Framework period.

THE Democratic Alliance (DA) has threatened to interdict Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane if he does not declare as null and void municipal ward committees allegedly established without following proper procedures. DA MPL Dacre Haddon this week alleged that ward committees in Eastern Cape municipalities such as Inxuba Yethemba, Emalahleni, Ikhwezi, Lukhanji [...]

The Democratic Alliance will be proposing a motion with notice to have illegally constituted ward committee elections in the province nullified. As the DA Spokesperson on Local Government in the province I will be tabling this motion at the sitting of the Legislature this afternoon (subs: Tues, 13 Aug).

The lack of action by the MEC for Local Government, Mlibo Qoboshiyane, in not stopping illegal ward committee elections from taking place shows a crisis of weak leadership and an endorsement of illegal ward committee election practices. The ward committee elections in Emalahleni Municipality are taking place today (subs: 6 Sept) despite due process in [...]