The delegation was later rejigged to accommodate their protests by legislature speaker Fikile Xasa.

DA MPL Bobby Stevenson complained the ANC had made a “manipulative and indecent attempt to engineer a particular outcome for a rotten piece of legislation”.

This was vehemently denied by legislature media liaison officer Bulelwa Ganyaza.

Public hearings on the secrecy bill are to be held today in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and the OR Tambo and Joe Gqabi regions. Eastern Cape MPLS were supposed to accompany the ad hoc committee of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to the different areas.

Stevenson said the move was a “huge deviation” from normal procedures, where all official delegations that embarked on public hearings were supposed to be of a multiparty nature. “This undemocratic move betrays the ruling party’s paranoia that the public at large is vehemently opposed to these bills. Why else would they engage in this underhand charade to try and whitewash the proceedings.”

Stevenson said a dangerous precedent for the legislature had been set as it undermined democracy. “These public hearings are of critical importance to the future of our constitutional democracy,” he said.

“The secrecy bill is a danger to freedom of information in South Africa. This bill criminalises the possession and disclosure of classified documents even when they reveal wrongdoing.”

Max Mhlathi of the UDM said the party should not have been excluded from the delegation. “We were not even told at the time that the NCOP would come here to conduct public hearings.”

COPE also condemned the decision to exclude opposition party members. “The explanation given to us by the speaker was that they had decided to send only committee chairpersons but obviously all chairpersons belong to the ANC,” said MPL Mbulelo Ntenjwa. “It was a blatant decision to exclude opposition parties.”

But after a number of inquiries and letters of complaint, opposition parties were included in the delegation.

The only portfolio committee chaired by an opposition party member is the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) which is chaired by the UDM’S Mhlathi.

The public hearings will be held at Nangoza Jebe Hall in Port Elizabeth; OR Tambo Hall in Mthatha and the town hall in Barkly East. They all start at 9am. — abongilem@dispatch.co.za

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 Beningfield.

Opposition parties have described his move as a great loss while legislature speaker Fikile Xasa described Smith as a “source of inspiration and wisdom to many”.

He said Smith had played a significant role in the legislature since becoming a staff member in 1994. “Many who have worked with him can attest that his leadership, diligence, legal knowledge and his passion for constitutional democracy has helped to build a thriving and credible legislature,” he said.

Smith started working as the Head of Committees in 1994 and later became the institution’s senior legal adviser. He told the Daily Dispatch that the reason behind his departure from the legislature was to “possibly serve the province as a whole”.

He now heads the shared legal services unit at the OTP.

Bobby Stevenson of the Democratic Alliance said Smith’s departure was a great loss to the legislature.

“He has played a critical and a dedicated role in ensuring that the legislature operates in an efficient manner,” he said.

The UDM’S Jackson Bici said Smith would leave a lasting legacy. “He has had a wonderful contribution to the institution. Herlu was very patient, and he worked well with members.”

COPE’S Mbulelo Ntenjwa praised Smith’s efficiency and his fairness when dealing with political parties. “He was really resourceful, even at the time when I was the speaker of council in Mnquma Municipality. We’d call him for his legal opinion on our council. When I joined the legislature, I discovered he was apolitical – always willing to help any member regardless of the political party they belonged to.

“He wanted to ensure the functionality of the legislature.” — abongilem@dispatch.co.za

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.

Ngoqo was suspended last June by the DA-COPE executive in the Plettenberg Bay-based Bitou council for “non-cooperation” after he presented mayor Memory Booysen with a lawyer’s letter stating officials would not work with the new council.

He was also charged and found guilty in four of seven financial misconduct cases.

In the letter to Qoboshiyane, the DA’S local government head Dacre Haddon asks him to “reverse or stay this appointment on legal and moral grounds”.

The Local Government Municipal Systems Amendment Act of July 2011 states that any municipal employee dismissed for misconduct may only be re-employed after expiry of the prescribed penalty, while any municipal employee subjected to a disciplinary hearing may not be employed in another municipality until their case had been concluded. “Mr Ngoqo has not yet resigned from the Bitou municipality, yet is appointed to commence work at Sundays River Municipality on February 1.

“The sanction against Mr Ngoqo is still awaited and my colleague in parliament is obtaining details of the sanction before the employment of Mr Ngoqo takes effect,” read Haddon’s letter to Qoboshiyane.

“Should the sanction against Mr Ngoqo be one of dismissal from Bitou municipality, then in terms of section 57(a) sub paragraph (1) … a staff member dismissed for misconduct may only be re-employed by a municipality after the expiry of a prescribed period.”

Qoboshiyane’s spokesman, Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha, confirmed that the MEC had received the DA’S letter last Friday, but would only be able to act once the appointment had been confirmed by the Sundays River council. Sicwetsha said the Municipal Finance Systems Act stated that all councils had to send correspondence to the MEC “for concurrence” when they appointed municipal managers.

“It will be premature to decide on what to do as he [Qoboshiyane] has not seen any correspondence from the Sundays River Valley about [the] appointment of a municipal manager.”

In his acceptance letter, a copy of which was seen by the Daily Dispatch, Ngoqo demanded that his R850 000 salary be increased by R100 000 to R950 000.

Haddon also referred to a letter to Qoboshiyane dated January 23, which states that Ngoqo was excluded from the original six successful candidates because he was under investigation at Bitou.

“The acting municipal manager who wrote the letter lied to the MEC by not informing him in the letter that indeed Ngoqo had already been found guilty of misconduct,” said Haddon.

“If the MEC condones this appointment, then he must be held responsible for any actions that may arise in supporting this questionable and unethical appointment.”

Sicwetsha said: “At this stage … we do not know about this case whether it is on appeal or concluded. So we can’t conclusively say we are going to act in this manner. What we can safely say is that the MEC is inspired by the need for good and clean governance.”

Ngoqo could not be reached comment.

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.

Now the Junior Doctors’ Association of South Africa (Judasa) are instituting legal action.

Adding to the furore is that the 194 newly-appointed junior doctors at government hospitals – that were paid for January – did not receive overtime payments or rural allowances either.

Yesterday, Judasa chairman Dr Tende Makofane expressed concern over the failure of the department to pay junior doctors and said the problem was becoming more frequent.

“We have instigated legal action against the provinces that did not pay salaries to their junior doctors and this includes the Eastern Cape and Limpopo,” Makofane said.

The chairman identified Gauteng and Kwazulu-natal as among the worst offenders but said the Eastern Cape was at the top of the list with 16 unpaid junior doctors. “We can’t accept it any longer. “Government must be held accountable because the doctors want to work in these provinces but they (the provincial departments) have created this reluctance perceived by doctors,” he said.

The legal threat comes after a threat from the Eastern Cape health department against young doctors who studied on a provincial bursary but failed to work in the province after graduating.

Yesterday, Pillay said that 631 new health professionals were paid their basic salaries and labelled it a success.

“[In the past] doctors were paid after 60 or 90 days due to the HPSCA [Health Professionals Council of South Africa] registration problems … this is a major success,” he said.

Pillay last week promised that only doctors not registered with the HPCSA would go unpaid.

He said those not registered with the council and not captured on the department’s database would be paid, at the latest, by February 7.

“If not, they will receive a cheque instead,” Pillay vowed.

However, a junior doctors’ committee member for the department said yesterday all the community service doctors and medical interns not paid had received their certificates from the health council.

“This handful of doctors did register and did receive their certificates from the council but were still not paid,” the member, who asked to remain anonymous, said. The committee member added that none of the junior doctors received additional benefits like overtime and rural allowances.

Eastern Cape health department spokesman Siyanda Manana said while they could not disclose the exact figure of unpaid junior doctors, the issue stemmed from a “systematic problem” with the database not being updated.

“We are busy mopping up those that fell through the system and investigating the matter and will get more information tomorrow [today].”

According Manana, at least 80% of the doctors being owed overtime and rural allowance would be paid in full by Monday.

Pillay said the problem may have arisen because some doctors had been captured on the department’s database twice.

“They would have been rejected because they tried to register themselves at two hospitals to keep their options open,” he said, adding that he looked forward to going to court to show that the department did everything they could.

An unpaid doctor who works at the East London Health Complex said yesterday: “I am registered with the council but it is the human resources department’s fault. I have been asking them for weeks but they were obviously unable to help.”

Another doctor said: “It is such an inconvenience. I have been working here for a month but have nothing to show for it.”

He said debit orders for his student and vehicle loans would go unpaid unless he could find the money somewhere else. “It is rubbish and not fair,” the doctor said.

National Department of Health spokesman Fidel Hadebe declined to comment, saying only: “As far as I know [the] Eastern Cape health [department] maintains there are no plans for any doctor not to receive their salaries.”

However, the DA’S shadow MEC for health, John Cupido, said he was not surprised that some doctors were not paid.

“The Eastern Cape is known for not paying their doctors.

“The department should have put measures in place to ensure the new doctors were paid,” he said.

Chairman of the province’s health portfolio committee Mxolisi Dimaza said it was unfortunate the doctors were not paid as promised.

“Everyone knows the province has a shortage of doctors and this is creating a serious problem.

“The department must apologise and pay up immediately,” he said. — michaelk@dispatch.co.za

“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 statement yesterday.

The parties made the statement after they walked out of a meeting on Monday as the Anc-led council went ahead with what was described as an “illegal” meeting.

The Daily Dispatch reported yesterday that the parties had complained that council’s standing rules on convening meetings and delivery of agendas had been flouted.

In terms of standing rules, the agenda and notice of meetings are supposed to be circulated to councillors seven days in advance. Yesterday, the opposition expressed disappointment at the flouting of the Municipal Structures Act and the constitution by the ruling party in KSD.

“Ever since this council came into being after May 18, we have been an embarrassment to the nation as KSD, by the undermining of the constitution that governs this country as well as other relevant pieces of legislation governing local government.

“In the previous meetings we have been warning the speaker of the dangers of running a council like a spaza shop and it is in that spirit that we decided to walk out of the council proceedings,” the parties said.

Defending their walkout, they said they could not sit in an illegally convened meeting.

In a separate but related issue the DA has written to Qoboshiyane requesting him to intervene in the suspension of councillor Raymond Knock.

Knock was suspended in absentia at the “illegal” meeting pending disciplinary action for allegedly disclosing confidential information to the media in connection with appointment of the municipal manager.

DA local government spokeswoman Veliswa Mvenya described his suspension as unlawful.

“In the Municipal Systems Act, Schedule One, there is no legal basis for summarily suspending a councillor by the council. There are processes that have to be followed.

“Councillor Knock obviously hit a nerve within the ANC camp by pointing out irregularities during the interviewing process for the municipal manager [position],” she said. — mayibongwem@dispatch.co.za

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.

However a “go-slow” by the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) in protest against poor working conditions and long hours was hindering the start of the academic year.

“Education in the Eastern Cape would be dramatically improved if all stakeholders worked together,” Pulumani said.

“This means principals, parents, teachers, learners and the department working towards a common goal.”

Teachers embarked on wildcat strikes when they returned after the school holidays to find that temporary teachers had not been reappointed to old posts, or had been sent to other schools.

Many permanent teachers felt their workload had been increased, without the help of temporary teachers.

Pulumani said schools were asked last year to provide the department with lists of vacant posts, most of which had now been filled.

“Some schools did not do this, but we are working to ensure their needs are met and that children don’t suffer.”

The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday commended the provincial education superintendent general Modidima Mannya for moving quickly to appoint temporary teachers in short-staffed schools.

DA MPL Edmund van Vuuren said the steps Mannya had taken had relieved pressure on schools where there was a shortage of teachers in critical subjects like maths, physical science, accountancy, and English.

“It is regrettable that excess teachers are not complying with re-assignment letters issued to them, but have instead decided to remain at their old schools where their services, as per the post provisioning, are not required,” he said in a statement.

Van Vuuren said these teachers were robbing schools of much-needed human resources. – Sapa

“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 head of his department, Modidima Mannya, who had resigned in a huff.

Mr Sizani was wrong. Mr Mannya returned to the department as superintendent-general 10 years later, early last year.

The Eastern Cape education department is receiving assistance from Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga in getting the basics right.

This is not the first national intervention — the provincial department has been under the watch of Pretoria for most of its life.

On his return, Mr Mannya would have found things as bad as they were when he left in 2001.

But his return to the Eastern Cape has not been that of a movie star. He quickly fell out of favour with a teachers’ union for not extending the contracts of 2100 part-time teachers.

That upset teachers affiliated to the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), which went on a go-slow as pupils returned for a new school year this month. The province is the worst performer in matric results, where only one in two pupils passes their finals. The union has demanded Mr Mannya quit as he did in 2001.

Since its formation in 1994, the province’s education department has languished compared with other provinces. It has suffered years of stop-start political leadership, as MECs were replaced for various reasons.

The ANC has appointed a range of MECs since 1994 to turn the troubled department around — from a gymslip-wearing Nosimo Balindlela in 1994, to seasoned provincial politicians like Mr Sizani — but this has produced poor education results and bad financial management.

The department often overspends and, together with the province’s health department, this often results in overexpenditure of the overall provincial budget.

The province is also home to ghost teachers — some of them creations of crooked administrators who intercept the money meant to fund new teaching posts.

Democratic Alliance leader in the Eastern Cape legislature, Bobby Stevenson, says the department has had 10 administrative heads since 2000. In one instance, where politics got in the way of strategic vision, the ANC lured United Democratic Movement MP Philip Qokweni during the floor-crossing a decade ago. In a classic case of cadre deployment, he emerged in the Eastern Cape as head of department. He left after a short stint, leaving the department on its path to nowhere.

Mr Stevenson says the turnover at the top is a disgrace and is one of the factors that has “condemned children to a perpetual cycle of poverty because of inferior education”. Changing MECs and department heads created an “illusion” of change at the top, while things stayed bad on the ground.

Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi yesterday held a crisis meeting with Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet to resolve tension between teachers and the government over Mr Mannya’s role. Mr Mannya became unpopular with the teachers following his measures to cut costs, which included letting go 2100 temporary teachers whose contracts were due to expire next month.

However, it was announced yesterday that a third of the teachers would be absorbed in other funded posts available in the department.

mkokelis@bdfm.co.za

Renovations to more than 60 schools in rural Transkei will begin later this month after the department received R125-million from the national Treasury last week.

About 114 schools were damaged last year. The department has fixed only 52 so far.

Now the department – which has no dedicated funding for repairs at schools ravaged by storms annually – aims to take care of the remaining 62 dilapidated schools this month.

Departmental spokesman Loyiso Pulumani said the funds would be set aside for repairs to the schools.

“The national Treasury last week provided R125-million in respect of the natural disasters that blight our schools annually during the rainy season,” he said.

“We are allocating these funds to our schools disaster project to start in the next few weeks.”

But DA education spokesman Edmund van Vuuren MPL was sceptical, saying the department should allocate a portion of its budget to fix storm-damaged schools.

“Tornados and heavy storms are an annual phenomenon from November to February in Transkei. Policies and procedures are needed to manage this yearly occurrence,” he said.

“The department must set up a task team to monitor these natural disasters.

“An amount should be ring-fenced within a disaster management system allocated in the department, for storm-damaged schools.”

In portfolio committee meetings, the department reportedly blamed the failure to revamp damaged school on its chronic lack of funds, despite having returned about R443-million of the Infrastructure Conditional Grant that was not spent.

Pulumani said further details would be known in a fortnight’s time.

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 province.

They included Department of Basic Education (DBE) Deputy Minister Mohamed Enver Surty; Finance Deputy Minister Nhlanhla Musa Nene; Constitutional Development Deputy Minister Andries Carl Nel; Higher Education Deputy Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize; and Public Service and Administration Deputy Minister Ayanda Dlodlo.

The meetings were held at the Stirling Education Leadership Institute in East London.

Eastern Cape provincial government spokesman Mahlubandile Qwase said the deputies were asked by the 10member ministerial team in a meeting with Zuma on November 18 to visit the province to monitor the implementation of the intervention.

Qwase said the team had met with departmental officials and stakeholders on Tuesday and yesterday.

“They will report to the full five-aside their findings. This is in line with the decision of the meeting with the president and five-a-side on September 13 that the Eastern Cape will implement and national government will monitor and support,” he said.

This comes after an insider in the department claimed the visit followed a meeting between DBE Minister Angie Motshekga and President Jacob Zuma where it was decided that a “total takeover” of the department should now be implemented.

The source said both education MEC Mandla Makupula and head of department (HOD) superintendent-general Modidima Mannya were among the officials “grilled” in the meeting this week.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj would not be drawn into commenting on the meeting between Motshekga and Zuma.

“I’m not able to confirm that. I suggest you contact Motshekga’s department.”

DBE spokesman Panyaza Lesufi, however, said reports that the meeting had taken place were “false”.

Lesufi confirmed that Surty and others were in the province to compile reports on the state of preparedness of the department for the 2012 academic year.

“They will meet with all stakeholders, including the MEC. They are going to get reports on whether there have been challenges since implementation of intervention.”

Opposition parties, however, claimed the intervention was not working.

DA spokesman on education Edmund van Vuuren said that since the implementation of section 100 (the legal provision allowing for national intervention in provincial government), there had not been changes.

“The same senior directors who are not accountable are still in charge and things are still the same,” he said. Van Vuuren said it was possible that some schools would begin next year without necessary learning material.

COPE provincial deputy chairman Mbulelo Ntenzwa said the intervention was not working.

“The HOD has not demonstrated readiness on the delivery of books to school early next year. Much time has been spent on who was the accounting officer of the department and there are no deliverables on the ground.” — msindisif@dispatch.co.za

The ANC voted against the motion even though Transport MEC Tandiswa Marawu, speaking on behalf of Local Government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane, admitted the department had received reports about flawed elections in at least four municipalities.

The DA’S Dacre Haddon, who tabled the motion, said: “The ANC members were obstructive in not accepting the motion because they knew they had been caught out and done little to rectify irregular ward elections. By not supporting the motion the ANC has publicly confirmed its acceptance of illegal and flawed ward committee election processes.

“In view of the seriousness of this matter, we will be consulting with DA party structures to ensure it is dealt with at the level of parliament and the public protector.”

But the ANC’S Michael Peter said the DA was only “crying crocodile tears” for having lost the June election.

“The DA is contesting space it lost [during elections]. You cannot lose elections in June and a few months later expect to win [ward committee elections].”

This was despite Marawu earlier admitting there were disputes in four wards at King Sabatha Dalindyebo Municipality (Mthatha); three wards in Nkonkobe Municipality (Fort Beaufort); two in Maletswai (Aliwal North) and one ward in Tsolwana Local Municipality (Tarkastad).

Marawu said the municipalities’ responsibility was to investigate the disputes and take decisions to ensure proper compliance with the law.

“We are interacting with mayors and speakers of the four municipalities where there are still unresolved disputes. Where we find evidence of an election process having [been] breached or having been contrary to the dictates of the law, we will nullify the election of ward committees and start the process afresh.”

Induction of these respective municipal ward committees has also been delayed.

“It was categorically stated ward committees with disputes should not be inducted and allowed to commence with their duties until all disputes have been resolved,” Marawu said.

“We must also put it on record that no stipend will be paid to ward committee members whose elections still have disputes or queries.

“Opposition parties must refrain from making challenges that crop out of the election of ward committees a political football. They must mature to a point where they play a positive role towards assisting these municipalities to ensure proper elections of these committees,” Marawu said.