Strategic plan needed to help provincial farmers weather electricity crisis
February 10th, 2023
The Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform needs to urgently put measures in place to assist farmers battling to keep their farms operational due to the indefinite rolling blackouts affecting the province. Countless farmers, both emerging and established, are seeing their farms devastated by the ongoing energy crisis. There have been significant disruptions to the irrigation of crops across the province, as pump stations that feed water into canals …
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EC DRDAR must step up and assist farmers with Foot and Mouth outbreak
August 22nd, 2022 The Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) must step up and assist farmers in preparing for a possible outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD). While the current outbreak has not yet been detected in the Eastern Cape, it is extremely concerning that the disease has moved outside of the traditional FMD corridor, and we need to be vigilant I will be writing to the chairperson …
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The Eastern Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee is not available at the moment, please try again later
July 5th, 2022 Eastern Cape residents seeking information on name changes, including the renaming of several major towns in the province, will be hard-pressed to find any, as the Eastern Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee (ECPGNC) has made it nearly impossible to contact them. The committee must be called before the DSRAC portfolio committee to give an account of their work, and the Democratic Alliance will be pushing for transparency in the name …
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Gender-based violence: Stop talking, take action and hold those responsible to account
December 8th, 2021 On Tuesday, I tabled a motion during the plenary in the Eastern Cape Legislature, calling on all public representatives in the province to take a pledge to commit that they will take steps to actively ensure safer communities for women, build a safer future for our children and be positive role models in our communities that respect and protect women and children. We need to stop just talking about gender-based …
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Young people remain locked out of sports opportunities as DSRAC cuts school sports funding
July 28th, 2021 Young people remain locked out of sports opportunities in the Eastern Cape, as the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture (DSRAC) has drastically cut funding for school sports activities. Our future Olympians are being denied an opportunity to participate because they are not being afforded the opportunity of having access to the best resources – be it nutrition, facilities or resources. In response to a parliamentary question, DSRAC MEC, …
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Vandalism of Biko statue condemned
March 30th, 2021
The Democratic Alliance condemns the recent vandalism of the Steve Biko statue, outside East London City Hall in Buffalo City Metro, that has been defaced with paint. The statue was unveiled by the former President Nelson Mandela in East London in 1997, to commemorate the contribution to the struggle towards liberation. Steve Biko was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known as the Black Consciousness Movement during the …
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Libraries at risk of collapse as funding delayed
October 14th, 2020Libraries across the province, which serve as cornerstones for reading and learning, are at risk of permanent closure as much needed funding has been delayed by a broken bureaucratic system. Not one municipality in the province has received their 2020/2021 library subsidies from the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture (DSRAC). These subsidies total R73,9 million. DSRAC MEC, Fezeka Bayeni, in response to a parliamentary question, said the delays …
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Ten years have passed and more than R24 million spent on upgrading the Butterworth Swimming pool that has, to date, still not opened its doors to the public. The swimming pool has become a bottomless money pit, with the costs for the upgrade more than doubling from the initial R10,1 million initially quoted. This is just one more mismanaged project in a province that is drowning in maladministration and corruption. …
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The Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture must urgently intervene and assist the many sportsmen and women, as well as artists and entertainers in the province, who qualify for relief funding. This follows the announcement by Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, has set up a relief fund, with R150 million allocated, to assist those affected by the lockdown. The sporting and cultural sector has …
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Magwa and Majola Tea Estates in financial trouble, again
December 3rd, 2019 The Magwa and Majola Tea Estates are proving to be an ongoing drain on the Eastern Cape’s finances, providing no return for the hundreds of millions of rands of taxpayers’ money that have been sunk into the estates for decades. These tea estates are sucking the lifeblood out of the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform’s funding, which could be far better spent on supporting drought relief for viable …
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