Online booking system in BCMM welcomed, but backlogs must be addressed
February 1st, 2022
The Democratic Alliance welcomes the move to online bookings for learner’s and driving licences in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, but backlogs need to be addressed. Transport MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe must ensure that Driving Licence Testing Centres (DLTCs) in BCM, and across the province, are capacitated to deal with the growing backlog for learner and driving licenses. It is clear that the current licencing centres cannot handle the existing workload. The …
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Cash crisis deepens for Health, Education as budget requests denied
January 28th, 2022
The future of the two biggest provincial departments in the Eastern Cape is growing increasingly bleak, as their requests for billions of rands of additional funding has been denied. These cash-strapped departments applied for unprecedented extra funding, as part of the latest adjustments budget, to cover ever-growing costs, but Provincial Treasury simply could not meet their needs with the finances available. The situation is so dire that, unless immediate action …
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Tyres burn over water shortages in Somerset East
January 27th, 2022
Yesterday residents of Somerset East, in the Blue Crane Route Municipality (BCRM), took to the streets in frustration as they have been without water for up to 23 days in December and no water for up to 15 days in January! Somerset East residents have been without their basic Constitutional human right of access to water for 38 days. There is no drought in the area, the dams are overflowing, …
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Kariega school turns away learners on their doorstep
January 27th, 2022A flawed admissions process being applied at Gamble High School in Kariega (Uitenhage) is seeing learners being forced to go to school over 10km away, despite living within walking distance from Gamble HS. This came to light during an oversight inspection earlier this week by myself, Shadow Minister of Basic Education, Baxolile Nodada, MP, and constituency leader Marshall von Buchenroder, MPL. See photos Our visits, prompted by complaints from …
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SIU shows how deep the rot goes in EC Dept of Education
January 26th, 2022
The damning Special Investigating Unit’s report into Covid-19 corruption, released by President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday, shows just how rotten the Eastern Cape Department of Education has become. Premier Oscar Mabuyane can no longer continue to give lip-service to the fight against corruption, he must ensure that immediate action is taken against Department officials implicated in the SIU report. Mabuyane need not twiddle his thumbs, he only has to read the …
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