Eastern Cape Education MEC, Fundile Gade, must be called to account on his Department’s repeated failures to address death trap pit latrines at schools. How many more innocent lives must we lose before the MEC starts holding his officials accountable and starts taking action? Parents cannot be tortured by the nightmare of having to lose a child in this horrific way. The death of four-year-old Langalam Viki, who died in …


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The Democratic Alliance (DA) congratulates the Eastern Cape Matric class of 2022 for their dedication and resilience to achieve excellent results, despite the numerous challenges they faced. We congratulate every matric learner who has reaped the rewards of their hard work. Those who have put in extra hours with Saturday classes, attending summer and winter schools and participating in the LAIC programme to make up for the lost time in …


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Hundreds of Grade 12 learners from Pakamani Senior Secondary School in Butterworth have had their futures compromised because of the inept bungling of their Life Orientation paper during the matric exams last year. Not only will these learners not receive their results with the rest of South Africa’s class of 2022 matrics this week, but they will be forced to rewrite the subject. The subsequent delays in getting their results …


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Tens of thousands of learners at 1 075 schools in the Eastern Cape are at risk of contracting life-threatening diseases because the Education Department has still not done anything to remove the carcinogenic asbestos from schools. Education MEC Fundile Gade admits that asbestos can cause diseases such as asbestosis and asbestos-related cancer, but the Department is dragging its heels on eradicating it from schools. In response to a parliamentary question, …


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Close to 70 000 learners have disappeared from the Eastern Cape’s enrolment register between April and August this year, but despite this worrying trend, there seems to be no plan in place to address this, or even a sense of urgency to do so. I am deeply concerned as to what is happening to these learners, given the social ills in our society. They cannot simply be abandoned. In response …


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It is unacceptable that some educators that have exited the system more than 18 months ago are still waiting to receive their leave gratuities. In response to a parliamentary question from the DA, Education MEC Fundile Gade revealed that there are 108 retired educators who are owed R8.8 million in leave gratuity, with some queries dating back to the beginning of 2021. These educators, who dedicated their lives to assisting …


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The Eastern Cape Department of Social Development has failed to provide food parcels to thousands of starving households in the province. Since the beginning of the new financial year in April, the Department has distributed food parcels to just 3% of its beneficiaries. In response to a parliamentary question from the Democratic Alliance, MEC Siphokazi Mani-Lusithi revealed that between 1 April and 10 June this year, just 141 food parcels …


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Since the beginning of March 2022, the Department of Social Development (DSD) has not distributed a single food parcel to the destitute in the Buffalo City or Nelson Mandela Bay Metros. While the Department has not given any explanation as to why they have not done so, the problem is clearly not due to a lack of funds. Earlier this year, the DA revealed that R67 million provided in grant …


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Nearly two months into the new financial year and the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development has still not distributed the controversial bank cards to needy beneficiaries. Where are the bank cards MEC, and who are the beneficiaries? Show us the list! The Department decided to issue people in the province with bank cards pre-loaded with R1 500 cash, after failing to spend more than R141 million entrusted to them …


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The Eastern Cape Department of Social Development is failing to meet the needs of a growing elderly population in the province, leaving many old and frail individuals destitute and without care. Statistics released last month by Stats SA show that the province’s population of individuals 60 years and older has grown significantly over the past five years, from 708 000 (10.6%) in 2015 to 771 000 (11.4%) in 2020. The …


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