This behaviour should be condemned by all of us who has the education of our children at heart. By illegally closing these offices numerous school-related issues will not be addressed.

The DA is appealing to the Premier and her Executive to step in and to prevent our education system from dissolving completely. This Executive has not taken any steps since the reopening of the Eastern Cape schools on 9 January to ensure that proper schooling takes place. Madam Premier now is the time for this Executive to stand up and be counted. We are not a banana republic and must never allow one group to trample on the Constitutional rights of another group.

I have today submitted legislature questions to the MEC for Education to explain why he is allowing the district offices to be closed by employees of the department and what he intends to do to resolve this whole issue.

Let us not allow Sadtu to use our children and legitimate institutions to enhance their own agenda in their fight with the Superintendent-General of the department, Adv. Modidima Mannya. Let us put a stop to the impasse between these antagonists.

The victim, Mati (Felicia) Joka, received severe chest injuries after she was attacked by the mayor, Khayalethu Nqiqhi, following an altercation on service delivery.

With the assistance of myself and Tarkastad DA-councillor Carol Boast, Ms. Joka will be transported to Queenstown on Tuesday for a consultation with an attorney firm belonging to Queenstown DA-councillor Chris De Wet.

I have also written to the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mlibo Qoboshiyane, asking him to respond verbally in the legislature on this matter during the first plenary of the year in mid-February.

The mayor must be criminally charged and removed from office forthwith.

As a first citizen of a town such behaviour of assault against citizens, however provoked, is shameful behaviour and unbecoming of the conduct of a mayor.

for a picutre of Mrs. Joka:

Click here

Subsequent to my letter I was contacted by the Speaker who informed me that I would be contacted by the Chief Whip with regard to the inclusion of opposition members.

This has now occurred and I have been informed that members of the opposition will be part of the official delegation of the provincial legislature which joins that of the NCOP.

I will be joining the delegation tomorrow in the Nelson Mandela Metropole.

The fact remains that if the DA had not raised the issue, the opposition would have been excluded from these very important hearings. This once more highlights the value of having a vigorous opposition to safeguard democratic values.

This is a huge deviation from the normal procedure where all official delegations that embark on public hearings are of a multi-party nature. This undemocratic move portrays the ruling party’s fears and paranoia that the public at large is vehemently opposed to these bills. Why else would they engage in this underhand ANC parade to try and white-wash the proceedings and rig the outcome.

This action sets a dangerous precedent for the legislature as it totally undermines our conventional democratic practice and the multiparty nature of our constitutional democracy.

These public hearings are of critical importance to the future of our constitutional democracy. 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 wrong doing such as corruption. There is not public interest defence.

The action by the legislature highlights a manipulative and indecent attempt to engineer a particular outcome for a rotten piece of legislation. The smoke and mirrors politics that the ANC is engaged in by creating the illusion of bona fide public hearings will not fool South Africa. The Eastern Cape legislature’s attempt is now exposed.

I have written to the Speaker and the Secretary of the legislature, expressing my outrage at the subversion of normal democratic practices which this institution has always adhered to. I have requested that this item be placed on the next multi-party rules committee agenda so those responsible can be held accountable.

Supporting documents:

Letter to the Speaker Protection of State info bill

We are expecting the ANC to intimidate our councillors for doing a good job because they do not like to be held accountable.

KSD Municipality has suspended our councillor in a motion of exigency. This motion is unlawful. In the Municipal Systems Act, schedule 1, 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 a municipal manager.

This is how the ANC reacts to the heat when they are exposed. The question here is whether it was correct for an interviewing panel to allow a candidate to be given an unfair advantage over others, not whether it was correct for a councillor to expose such information.

I have today written a letter the MEC for Local Government, Mlibo Qoboshiyane, requesting him to intervene in the unlawful suspension of councillor Knock.

Top of the agenda needs to be the issue of job creation and how we can make this a winning province which is competitive with the others.

Secondly, this lekgotla needs to come up with solutions to the current education crisis in the Eastern Cape as we are condemning millions of learners to a system that does not prepare them adequately for the job market.

Thirdly, this lekgotla needs to deal firmly with the issue of corruption in this province and what decisive steps will be taken to outlaw cadre redeployment, civil servants doing business with the state and tenderpreneurs who are ripping this province off.

The fortunes of the Eastern Cape will rise and fall, depending on the calibre of leadership that this province exercises. The Executive Council needs to ensure that accountability is practised and not simply preached at all levels of government.

The incumbent, Lonwabo Ngoqo has been found guilty on four of seven financial misconduct charges brought against him in 2011. Despite a less than favourable financial situation at Sunday’s River Municipality, Ngoqo has requested in his letter of acceptance that the offered salary of R850 000.00 be adjusted by R100 000.00 to R950 000.00.

I have requested the MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs Mlibo Qoboshiyane to reverse or stay this appointment on legal and moral grounds.

Mr Ngoqo has not yet resigned from the Bitou Municipality yet is appointed to commence work at Sundays River Municipality on 1 February 2012.

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 on 1st February.

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.

Therefore, what happens if Mr Ngoqo is already in the employ of Sundays River Municipality at this time?

A letter in my possession from the Acting Municipal Manager of Sundays River dated 23 January 2012 and addressed to the MEC, states that Mr Ngoqo was excluded from the original six successful candidates because “based on reports from newspapers he was under investigation”.

However, 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!

There is a lack of moral ethics when Sundays River Municipality employ municipal managers.

For a second time, the Sundays River Municipality sees fit to appoint a second municipal manager found guilty of misconduct.

Previously former Sundays River Municipal Manager Speech Sohena was employed at Sundays River having been found guilty of 11 charges of inter alia gross financial mismanagement.

The cavalier manner in which such important appointments are being made in this province is shameful.

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.

Year on year, the DA has warned departmental officials that unless they immediately implement financial austerity measures, the department would find itself in the position it is today.

The cost cutting measures that have now been put in place are ones that should have been reviewed and considered years ago and now blanket implementation will severely risk the already dysfunctional state of healthcare service delivery in this province.

Although the measures implemented will save millions of rands, they will not make a notable difference to the existing and forecasted debt the department is in.

Recently the DoH has gone after the new doctores that have left the province without completing their community service requirements. Who can blame them when they’ve been told to not expect payment for the next two months at least. Imagine trying to make a financial comeback after this when you have student loans, car loans, rent and other expenses to cover.

Questions that need to be asked is how can we expect doctors to stay if other provinces are begging for them to go there and we don’t pay them, and why is it that the department is suddenly interested in the whereabouts of the doctors that are bound to the province now? Do they expect not to pay salaries for some time to come?

I reiterate my call for a complete overhaul of the Eastern Cape healthcare system as under the current system, the DoH only digs itself into a deeper debt hole. The Eastern Cape has a healthcare infrastructure backlog of over R19 billion. It is clear that without a complete overhaul or at the very least excessively strong austerity measures, or even national intervention, we will never start chipping away at this forver growing backlog that has direct consequences on the lives and wellbeing of the people of this province.

I have spoken to the Health Portfolio Committee chairperson, Mxolisi Dimaza, and have insisted that we investigate the matter and I will be submitting Parliamentary questions to acertain as to exactly the financial state of affairs at the DoH.

This will relieve the pressure on those schools with a dire shortage of teachers responsible for teaching critical subjects, such as Mathematics, Physical Science, Accounting and English.

We appeal to the Department to have the outstanding 603 temporary positions filled as a matter of urgency.

However, it is with regret that teachers that are in excess 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. They are robbing the receiving schools of much-needed human resources. Furthermore, Sadtu has in its misplaced wisdom decided to embark on a go-slow.

The DA welcomes the decisive stance of the Department that it will withhold salaries from those who refuse to teach or move to their receiving schools. All teachers have been contracted to work at least seven hours per day, and their refusal to adhere to policy, can and must be seen as abdication of their educational responsibilities. Parents were never consulted about the union’s action. These parents have placed their little ones in the supposedly caring hands of teachers. The actions of Sadtu must be unapologetically rejected and cannot be condoned by those that have education of our children at heart.

The DA agrees with the Department that it should intervene decisively to stop this illegal action by approaching the courts to issue an order declaring the actions illegal, and to hold principals and teachers accountable for any disruptions at schools.

It is a fact that Sadtu is using our learners as cannon fodder to settle scores with the Superintendent General of the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape, Advocate Modidima Mannya.

It is also an undeniable fact that the Eastern Cape is the worst performer in the Grade 12 results. This in itself is an indictment of the perilous state of education in the province. The feud and acrimonious relationship between Sadtu and Advocate Mannya will dump our dismal education into a deeper hole, from which it will never be retrieved again.

It is time that our learners are put first, irrespective of disagreements not settled, as our learners have been denied the opportunity to get off the ground, since the dispute between the mentioned antagonists.

During my reply to the 2010/11 Annual report debate on Roads and Public Works in the legislature today, I highlighted this issue.

This problem was told to me by officials of the roads department when I raised the issue at a preceding portfolio committee meeting.

Proper road maintenance and budgeting is imperative if our road network and jobs are to survive.

Recently the DA highlighted the state of the roads leading from Sundays River Valley to the harbours.

These roads are used by trucks carrying citrus for export: a revenue worth R1,5 billion to the province annually.

Due to the deterioration of these roads it is estimated that only 260 000 tons or 60% of the yield of citrus will be exported this year.

As the citrus season is only six months long such a loss has dire financial consequences for the citrus- and related industries.

This will have an immediate knock-on effect on further job losses, something this province can ill afford.

Furthermore, Sundays River Valley only gets R3,9 million next year to repair gravel roads: a disgrace given that the valley is a R1,5 billion citrus money spinner.

Other industries such as the tourism and dairy industries have been left stranded because clients and deliveries could not take place due to damaged roads.

I have stated that should further job losses be caused where lack of road maintenance played a part, the blame must be shouldered by the MEC for Roads and her department.

In another example the road from Alicedale to the N2 was given to a Durban contractor in October last year.

R25 million later the condition of the road is deteriorating. As no maintenance contract was inserted into the agreement, the province has to pay additional costs to repair a new road.

On behalf of the DA In the Eastern Cape I have suggested the following quick wins that must be implemented to improve this dire situation:

• There needs to be sufficient, focussed budgeting for damage caused by floods and other weather perils.

• The MEC, Thandiswa Marawu, needs to be more pro-active in sourcing emergency funding from parliament.

• The money spinner and job creator roads like the Sundays River Valley roads must be maintained on a sustained basis so that these industries do not collapse.

• There needs to be a shift away from budgeting according to a “model” to a system of efficient reprioritisation when needed.

• The use of competent contractors and legal staff to ensure maintenance clauses are inserted into construction projects to prevent long term maintenance costs that would be incurred as is now happening.

• Finally there needs to be a joint team from Transport and Roads departments to facilitate a shift of transport of freight from road to rail.

If this can be achieved quickly, the life span of our roads and road maintenance costs will decrease substantially leaving budgeted money for other developmental priorities.