The drastic water cuts on extraction from the Kouga Dam that are expected to come into effect from tomorrow, could be a devastating for Gamtoos Valley Farmers. The Democratic Alliance has reliably learnt that the Department of Water and Sanitation has cut the normal water allocation for agricultural use from the Kouga Dam by 80%. The 20% that is left over, which farmers can still extract, will not be sufficient …
Read More
Uitenhage Provincial Hospital is severely underfunded
June 28th, 2020
The Uitenhage Provincial Hospital has been severely underfunded, because the Department of Health has incorrectly allocated funds to it as a district hospital, when it is, in fact, officially gazetted as a regional hospital. This is an unnecessary bureaucratic nightmare in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Wards stand empty at Uitenhage Provincial, while other hospitals across the metro have become overcrowded battlegrounds against the disease. The hospital is supposed …
Read More
Urgent intervention needed to prevent complete collapse of Eastern Cape municipalities
June 26th, 2020
Municipalities across the Eastern Cape are in crisis. People across the province are waking up to piles of uncollected rubbish, dry taps, no electricity and deteriorating municipal infrastructure, as the consequences of years of poor governance and lack of proper financial management have begun to manifest. Municipal workers and service providers are going unpaid and service delivery has all but ground to a standstill as municipal coffers run dry. In …
Read More
The dire projections given by the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, during the adjustments budget yesterday, cannot be ignored any longer, and Eastern Cape Government need to start seriously cutting back on expenditure, if the province is to weather the economic storms that lie ahead. The year ahead will be the litmus test for Premier Oscar Mabuyane, it will make or break his administration. The last financial year has already …
Read More
Provincialisation of EC clinics must be reviewed
June 24th, 2020 Clinics across the province are stuck in limbo, with staff crying out for leadership, as the process of transferring clinics from municipal level to the provincial Department of Health drags on, eight years after the process started. Once again, a lack of decisive leadership and poor planning have left the department in a state of complete disarray. In 2012 the Provincial Department of Health embarked upon a provincialisation process to …
Read More