Action and follow through needed to steer province to a better future
February 24th, 2020
Last year the Democratic Alliance called on Premier Oscar Mabuyane to show strong leadership during his inaugural State of the Province Address. We called for a commitment that action would be taken against public representatives and government officials guilty of corruption, follow through that would lead to convictions and jail time for offenders, and to make the urgent intervention in collapsing municipalities a top priority. But, despite the countless promises, …
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DA demands Johann Mettler be reinstated as NMB City Manager
February 12th, 2020 The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Eastern Cape has written to Premier Oscar Mabuyane and have requested that he urgently intervenes in Nelson Mandela Bay to ensure that Johann Mettler is reinstated as City Manager. The ongoing disciplinary case against Mettler is little more than a witch hunt, and the consequences of his ongoing suspension could cost the city billions. (letter attached) National Treasury has seemingly made good on its …
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Eastern Cape Provincial Scorecard for 2019
December 18th, 2019 The Democratic Alliance caucus in the Provincial Legislature have reviewed their respective departments and given them each a score out of 10. The department’s previous score is included in brackets, for reference. These scores are based on the overall performance of each department, which have been monitored and held to account by the various MPLs, through the various parliamentary processes including portfolio committees, oversights, written and oral questions. Since the …
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The Eastern Cape Government is clearly sick to its core, with the various government departments racking up in excess of 1,2 million days of sick leave in the past two and a half years. The abuse of sick leave is crippling the public sector. In response to a parliamentary question Premier Oscar Mabuyane revealed that in the 2017/18 financial year 494 621 days of sick leave were taken, in 2018/19 447 859 …
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EC provincial government continues to waste millions on rental space
September 17th, 2019
Eastern Cape departments are splurging almost R20,3-million a month on office rental, costing taxpayers over R243-million a year. This rental figure has escalated by over R5-million, up from the R238 million paid in 2018. This money could rather be spent on purchasing suitable buildings or constructing fit-for-purpose office space, which would insulate the departments from rising rental costs. Premier Oscar Mabuyane confirmed that the bulk of the rental expenditure is …
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Critical vacancies need to be filled as a matter of urgency
September 4th, 2019
Critical vacancies in Eastern Cape provincial departments need to be filled as a matter of urgency, as these posts are related to service delivery and are vital in the execution of the departments’ respective mandates. In response to a parliamentary question, Premier Oscar Mabuyane said there are currently 2536 posts that have been identified as critical posts. He also said vacant posts should be filled within six months of being …
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Residents of Ward 10 in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality yesterday reaffirmed their trust in the Democratic Alliance (DA) after the party retained the ward following a hard fought by-election. The DA’s candidate in the Enoch Mgijima Ward 10 by-election, Tokkie Deysel, emerged victorious and obtained 74% of the valid vote cast. The DA’s support in ward 10 shows a massive increase and the party improved on the 46,75% share …
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Destroying schools can never be the answer
July 31st, 2019 On Tuesday morning, angry learners at the troubled Atwell Madala High School in Mthatha burnt down ten prefab classrooms that had desks, textbooks and other school materials in them. This is part of a growing revolt among learners against the state of our education institutions in the Eastern Cape, coming from their desperation to get an education in a country that is facing an unemployment crisis. We are seeing protests …
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Ongoing delays at port killing jobs, economy
July 24th, 2019
Despite the illegal strike action at the Ngqura Port Terminal (NPT) having reportedly come to an end, Transnet has indicated that it will take two weeks, at the very least, to get back on schedule. This, while the Eastern Cape economy continues to lose tens of millions of rands every day. The Eastern Cape automotive sector is losing an estimated R42-million a day. The citrus industry, despite a bumper crop, …
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Government Precinct needs to be part of a revitalised Bhisho
July 16th, 2019 The concept of a Bhisho Precinct, which is aimed at alleviating the issue of office space for several provincial departments, needs to include an integrated approach to revitalise Bhisho and King Williams Town. Thousands of government employees will be expected to relocate to the Bhisho precinct, yet there is a drastic shortage of schools, clinics, accommodation and other vital services in the area. What thought has been given to these …
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