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 [...]

We as the DA support our councillor in King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality (KSD), Raymond Knock, who was suspended in absentia yesterday. After 2011 elections the DA had, for the first time, councillors in each and every municipality in the former Transkei. We are therefore expecting to see an impact in these municipalities where the DA [...]

TWO major tea plantations in the Eastern Cape struggle to make headway because of management and financial problems. At Majola, near Port St Johns, about 1 000 workers stand to lose their jobs as Bhisho has yet to transfer R5-million promised to the estate last year, the Democratic Alliance has claimed.

RURAL development officials – including the province’s head of department – were sent packing with a flea in the ear by the Bhisho Legislature oversight committee when the department failed to produce political and financial overviews in its annual report presentation. The committee expected to get answers about the Auditor-general’s (AG) findings on the department’s [...]

About 1 000 workers at the Majola Tea Estate in Port St Johns stand to lose their jobs after the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development failed to pay over promised funding of R5 million. It is time that the Eastern Cape government makes a firm decision about what to do with this estate to [...]

FLAGS flew at half-mast at the ANC’s provincial headquarters in King William’s Town yesterday as the province came to grips with the shocking news of the sudden death of MPL and a former MEC Nombulelo Mabandla. Mabandla, 41, died in Kokstad on Wednesday while on her way to Durban with her husband.

A SENIOR traffic official accused of sexual harassment is still at work in the provincial transport department despite two orders that he be suspended. Two weeks ago, the provincial legislature’s transport portfolio committee gave MEC Thandiswa Marawu a day to make sure provincial deputy director Charles Bramwell was placed on precautionary suspension.

ANC provincial bosses have thrown their weight behind Transport MEC Thandiswa Marawu and her department over a controversially awarded R206-million scholar transport tender. ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane said the law had been followed to the letter.

SOME 700 toilets built in Dutywa 18 months ago for a multi-million rand housing development that barely got off the ground are literally falling over and into pieces. Construction of the concrete toilets started in March 2010, however work stalled when a contractor walked off site amid accusations of poor workmanship.

THE Office of the Public Protector yesterday said its investigation into the disputed R206-million Eastern Cape scholar transport tender will be completed in six months’ time. In the meantime, thousands of kids will still be transported to and from school by the department of transport.