The unimpressive adjustment budget that was tabled by Finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko in the Eastern Cape Legislature today is a sad reflection of the state of the fiscus in general. The MEC failed to come up with any innovative ideas and out-of-the-box thinking to shift resources away from a non-core expenditure to core expenditure. We simply cannot carry on in this manner and bold steps need to be taken to …


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The Eastern Cape will not have a voice in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) today, where the National Adjustments Budget is being discussed, due to the abysmal turnout at the public hearings last week Friday. The only stakeholder to join the public hearing on the 2022 Division of Revenue Amendment Bill and give input was Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor, DA councillor Retief Odendaal. Once the adjustments budget is …


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Despite being instructed by the Eastern Cape Legislature to ensure that a water disaster plan is put in place for schools in and around the Nelson Mandela Bay area, nothing has been done. Should day zero arrive, our learners’ education will be severely disrupted. Schools could become hotspots of infection as sanitation conditions deteriorate. Learners would be faced with the very real choice of either staying home and missing school, …


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Learners across Nelson Mandela Bay face the prospect of school closures if day zero hits because the EC Department of Education has failed to honour the deadline to put a water disaster plan in place for schools. Learners cannot be expected to relieve themselves in open fields and learn in unhygienic conditions. The DA will be approaching the Speaker of the Eastern Cape Legislature to get answers from the Department …


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The Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECdoE) is failing in its mandate to manage Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, with hundreds of ECD centres apparently not being paid since the Department took over in April this year. The Democratic Alliance has raised this issue with the Education Department and with Education MEC, Fundile Gade, to have these non-payments resolved as a matter of urgency. We will continue to fight for …


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The Department of Education has been compelled to put together a water disaster management plan for schools, after a motion from the Democratic Alliance was unanimously adopted by the House in the Provincial Legislature on Thursday. This is part of our ongoing fight to put forward constructive solutions around Day Zero in Nelson Mandela Bay and surrounds. I also tabled oral questions in a House Sitting on Wednesday, 22 June …


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Learners at Alheit van der Merwe Primary school in Aliwal North are only receiving four hours of schooling per day after a fire destroyed their school infrastructure a year ago because the Department of Education has failed to follow through on its promises of temporary classrooms. Education MEC, Fundile Gade, must explain what the delays are in providing this school with the seven temporary classrooms that his department has been …


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The Department of Education believes that just R34 a year, per learner, is sufficient for schools in the Eastern Cape to maintain their collapsing infrastructure. This shocking figure was revealed during the budget debates in the Education Portfolio Committee. In fact, the lower 1, 2 and 3 quintile schools, which make up 96% of all schools in the province, are only receiving R983 per learner for their school budgets. From …


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The latest budget put forward by the Eastern Cape Department of Education has shown that it does not care about learners with special educational needs, with scant provision to address the massive backlog for spaces. There is a severe lack of space for learners at special schools for those who have been evaluated and are languishing on waiting lists, unable to find a space. Principals at schools in Cradock and …


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Close to a billion rand has been set aside to cover potential costs for the controversial Sizwe Africa lease agreement for computer tablets for grade 12 learners that have been gathering dust at schools since the beginning of last year. A recent Education Portfolio Committee meeting revealed that the Department had been forced to raise a contingent liability in excess of R972,7million to cover the contract, despite the initial cost …


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