Speaker, when I was a child I really enjoyed fairytales. I can still remember the fictional stories about Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Snow White. It seems the Honourable Premier also enjoys a good old fairy tale because, just last Tuesday, he stood before this House and told us a fictional tale about the Eastern Cape. The Honourable Premier told us that all is well in his Kingdom, the …


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Honourable Speaker, Honourable Premier, Leaders of Political Parties, Members of the House Stealing from South African governmental departments and municipalities has become the easiest way of making a dishonest buck, more often than not without any consequences to the individuals involved. The now late former Auditor-General, Kimi Makwetu, last year revealed that South African Municipalities’ irregular expenditure increased to a mind-blowing R32,06 Billion in the 2018/19 financial year. This was …


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The Eastern Cape has experienced severe backlash due to excessive allegations of corruption surrounding its Covid-19 PPE procurement. When the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) briefed Parliament’s Scopa on 20 October 2020, it revealed that it was investigating 930 service providers with suspicious contracts. However, this figure was described as a moving target at the time. The total Covid-19 expenditure was R15.6 billion, while R10.5 billion of this total was being …


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The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement delivered by Mr Tito Mboweni on Wednesday, 28th of October 2020, made it very clear that the country is on the brink of a fiscal cliff. Mboweni painted a grim picture of an economy that has been decimated by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, expected to contract by as much as 7.8% year-on-year. Gross debt is also set to rise from R4 trillion to …


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Speaker, in 2011 the Eastern Cape Provincial Government revealed its Climate Change Response Strategy at COP17. This 350-page document dealt with both the key climate change risks as well as the priority response options to climate change. This strategy stated that: “Climate change projections indicate that the Eastern Cape is expected to experience higher temperature increases towards the north-west interior of the Province. Increasing temperatures are likely to result in …


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The following speech was delivered by Retief Odendaal, MPL in response to a motion tabled by DA EC MPL and Shadow MEC for Health, Jane Cowley . Speaker, I want to start off by congratulating the former HOD for Health Dr Mbengashe with his new appointment as strategic adviser to the Premier. That said, I also want to thank the Premier on behalf of many elated officials in the Department …


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Honourable Speaker, Honourable Premier, Leaders of Political Parties, Members of the House In January 2020, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hon Minister of Finance, Mr Tito Mboweni, warned that if the country could not effect deep structural economic reforms, then it would be game over for South Africa. Fast-track to June this year, ahead of the Special COVID-19 Adjustments budget Mr Mboweni said: “We can no longer spend the …


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Honourable Speaker, Honourable Premier, Leaders of Political Parties, Members of the House We are considering the proposed budget that is before us amidst the most challenging of times the world has known in recent history. The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the world economy and South Africa and the Eastern Cape has not been left unscathed. Whilst South Africa had some very serious fiscal constraints before our national lockdown started on …


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Honourable Speaker, Honourable Premier, Leaders of Political Parties, Members of the House According to STATS SA, South Africa recorded a decline of 2% in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2020. This data reflects only the first three months of 2020, before the nationwide lockdown was fully implemented. These worrying statistics come on the back of the announcement by Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, that the country will …


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Speaker, as the province is still fighting the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic, I think everyone in this house will agree with me that the farmers of the Eastern Cape, both commercial and emerging, have done sterling work in ensuring food security amidst this very trying time. I want to personally thank each and every one of them for their commitment to the wellbeing of the people of the Eastern …


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