OPPOSITION parties at the provincial legislature cried foul yesterday after they were excluded from a delegation to attend public hearings on the Protection of State Information Bill, to be held in three districts today. The delegation was later rejigged to accommodate their protests by legislature speaker Fikile Xasa.

THE Chief Parliamentary Officer at the provincial legislature has resigned after working for the institution since in 1994. Herlu Smith has now joined the Office of the Premier (OTP) as Chief State Law Adviser, a position previously held by Zoleka Fanana in an acting capacity. The position was left vacant in 2009 by Advocate Perry [...]

THE Democratic Alliance has called on the Eastern Cape government to reverse the appointment of the Sundays River Valley municipal manager. The party has written to local government and traditional affairs MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane to stop former Bitou municipal manager Lonwabo Ngoqo from taking up the Sundays River Valley post from today.

DOCTORS working for the Eastern Cape department of health are going the legal route to force the provincial authority to pay them their January salaries. Despite assurances by health superintendent-general Siva Pillay, 16 junior doctors have not received a cent for their work in public hospitals across the province.

OPPOSITION parties in King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) have called on local government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane to intervene in the affairs of the Mthatha-based council. “We appeal to the MEC to closely monitor the political activities of the KSD municipality as it is fast becoming a pigsty,” the UDM, COPE and DA said in a joint [...]

The Eastern Cape education department has filled 1500 vacancies following wildcat strikes by teachers who complained about being overworked, a spokesman said on Wednesday. Loyiso Pulumani said the department was “pushing hard” to ensure schools’ staff needs were met and that teachers for core subjects were in their posts.

Meddling and cadre deployment caused education crisis that led to national intervention by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, writes Sam Mkokeli “THE department is not dealing with movie stars that will come back by popular demand,” Eastern Cape education MEC Stone Sizani said in 2001, as he faced public pressure to take back the sharp-shooting [...]

PUPILS at several Eastern Cape schools that were severely damaged by storms last year may return to renovated classrooms next year after the Education Department received a multimillion-rand cash injection last week to fix them. Renovations to more than 60 schools in rural Transkei will begin later this month after the department received R125-million from [...]

SENIOR officials from the Eastern Cape department of education have been locked in meetings with five deputy ministers to assess the implementation of national intervention in the beleaguered department. The Daily Dispatch has learnt from a reliable source that deputy ministers involved in the national five-a-side team arrived on Monday for a two-day visit to [...]

THE DA is threatening to approach the public protector and national parliament after its motion to nullify ward committee elections across the province was outvoted by the ANC during a sitting at the Bhisho legislature on Tuesday. The ANC voted against the motion even though Transport MEC Tandiswa Marawu, speaking on behalf of Local Government [...]