DA comments on EC budget

The DA regards the 2011/12 Eastern Cape budget as untruthful and devious. The budget is significant for what was unsaid rather than what was said. The MEC for Finance, Phumulo Masualle, must come clean with the public and spell out the real state of the province’s finances. Read more ...

DA municipality wins VUNA awards

March 16th, 2011

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is proud to announce that the Baviaans Municipality won two Vuna Awards in the Eastern Cape this week. The first is for the municipality with the best payment rate and the second award was for the municipality with the best service delivery.

These awards are proof that the DA governs very well where it is in control and the DA has the ability to run a clean and efficient administration. The DA in Baviaans has proved that it delivers services to all the people. Read more ...

DA welcomes decision to place EC Department of Education under administration

The Democratic Alliance concurs wholeheartedly with the decision of the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, to place the Eastern Cape Department of Education under administration. Although the DA is opposed to centralisation, we agree in this case that any intervention that is for the benefit of the learners in this province should be supported.

The DA has warned the department on numerous occasions that it is dysfunctional because it is riddled with people who simply cannot do their jobs. Read more ...

Eastern Cape municipalities lose R82 million to wasteful expenditure and fraud

Local government in the Eastern Cape is festered with fraudulent and fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

In a written response to a parliamentary question, it emerged that 21 municipalities incurred fruitless and wasteful expenditure while 13 others incurred some fraud activity in the 2009/10 financial year. The combined amount of the fraud and waste was a staggering R82.482 million. For the response, click here:

Of the 45 municipalities in the province, 34 (or 75%) are implicated in this fiasco.

This issue highlights the seriousness of how the government’s policy of cadre deployment has resulted in unskilled and ill equipped financial officers being appointed to run municipal finances in many of these municipalities. Read more ...

Eastern Cape Education: DA welcomes reinstatement of 6,000 teachers

23 February 2011

The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes the decision of the Eastern Cape High Court to grant an interim order for the reinstatement of 6,000 teachers. Their reinstatement is a positive development. The High Court order will bring great relief to the parents who have been up in arms about the atrociously bad start to the school year which left their children without teachers, texts and schooling. A great deal more needs to be done to rebuild the shambolic education department in this poor province.

At the end of 2010, 6,000 teachers were axed by the Eastern Cape Education Department (ECED) because of lack of funds. The medium term budget of R24 billion was exhausted because of maladministration and corruption. The Auditor-General (AG) issued a disclaimer, the worst finding the state institution can make about an organisation’s financial affairs. The result was that the ECED was in the red to the tune of R1.6 billion and, to get itself out of trouble, it committed the worst offense by taking much needed teachers out of the classroom.

The reinstatement of the 6,000 teachers is the first step. But a lot more needs to be done to rebuild the Eastern Cape’s shambles of an education system. The nutrition programme for children coming from very poor families (where the school meal is often the only proper one) has been suspended. Except for the farm schools, where the much maligned farmers have continued to provide support, bus transport for children has also been suspended. The R300m set aside for transport has disappeared.

A parliamentary committee oversight visit confirmed that fraudulent practices were rife in the tendering process, with the result that at least 1,100 schools had no textbooks or workbooks. The committee found dumped stationary to the value of R3 million. It is well known that the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) has ingratiated and inserted itself into the education department to the extent that government has surrendered its responsibility to manage to a union incapable of running anything but its own misguided revolutionary project.

Minister Angie Motshekga has rightly apologised for this appalling state of affairs. She has said she intends to intervene in the province to save the day. The DA believes that though emergency measures clearly ought to be taken, our much cherished and constitutionally entrenched provincially based school system should not be taken over by the national department (which in any event also lacks the capacity). Instead, Minister Motshekga should request Kwazulu-Natal, Free State and Western Cape, neighbouring provinces that are in any event dealing with the consequences of Eastern Cape’s collapse, to help her rebuild the education department into a working and functional institution.

Dr. Wilmot James MP
Shadow Minister of Basic Education

Comment: Eastern Cape State of the Province Address

19 February 2011

The Premier correctly focused on jobs and development. However, she did not make any game changing announcements. One would have expected something very substantial in relation to the education crisis in this province. For example, we would suggest a skills audit to root out the poor management in that department.

There was also nothing said about the possible financial over-expenditure in the province of R3.7 billion.

There was also nothing said about the water crises in this province. The Nelson Mandela Metro could run out of water in August if there is no intervention.

She simply glossed over the problems at local municipal level.

Although she correctly focused on improving the attitude of civil servants to service delivery she said nothing about cadre deployment, which is the root of many of the problems in this province.

With regard to rooting out corruption one would have expected something significant in relation to tender reform. The Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape has outlawed provincial civil servants from doing business with the government.

What this province needs is a cohesive vision that can galvanise all roleplayers to putting it on the high road to prosperity.

Bobby Stevenson

Draft Land Tenure Security Bill

Whenever proposed legislation poses a real threat to property rights and the rule of law, it’s by definition unconstitutional and poses a real threat to the fundamentals of democracy. The Draft Land Tenure Security Bill is a classic example of such proposed legislation.

The Bill being proposed by the ruling party and strategically tabled with the National Council of Provinces shortly before the Local Government Elections aims to arm farm workers with the right to farm with their own livestock on their owner’s land and give them the right to commercial farming practices – again not on their own property. When reading the Bill one should automatically ask yourself who will provide and pay for water, grazing and all the other costs related to farming practices? Read more ...

Tip of the iceberg

The angry demonstration that took place outside the Port Elizabeth District Education Offices recently by parents of learners from the Northern Areas is the tip of the iceberg with regard to the mounting anger at the state of education in the Port Elizabeth District and the Eastern Cape in general. Read more ...

Eastern Cape Education Department projected to overspend billions

The Eastern Cape Department of Education overspent by R624.5 million on compensation of employees at the end of September. It is projected that over expenditure on compensation of employees for the whole financial year will be a staggering R1.952 billion.

A total of R17.372 billion was budgeted for personnel expenditure which represents 76.6% of the total budget for the department of R22.680 billion for the 2010-11 financial year.

One of the main reasons for the over expenditure is due to irregular salary increases given to office based educators (Deputy Chief Education Specialists, Education Development Officers and Senior Education Specialists) in 2009, which has pushed up the average employee cost.

Read more ...

New MEC for Education

Fit for purpose or not?

Will the lack of exposure to the education system render the new Eastern Cape MEC for Education, Mandla Makupula, not fit for purpose? The Democratic Alliance is grappling with the question whether the new MEC is indeed equipped to fulfil all expectations with regard to educational matters.

Honourable Makupula has been entrusted with the task of improving the quality of service rendered by the department of education. Given the lack of background in the education system, the Democratic Alliance hopes that he will, unlike his predecessors, consult with those in the trenches of education before making important decisions. Read more

Reshuffle will "harm delivery"

CAPE TOWN — The long-awaited reshuffle of the Eastern Cape cabinet announced by Premier Noxolo Kiviet at the weekend had nothing to do with service delivery and everything to do with managing factional politics, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader in the provincial legislature Bobby Stevenson said yesterday.

He said that by changing every cabinet position barring the portfolio of sport, art and culture in what was the biggest shake-up in the province’s history, Ms Kiviet and the provincial African National Congress (ANC) had failed to take into account the need for continuity. This would undermine service delivery, Mr Stevenson said. Read the full story in Business Day

Province to pay R30 million for municipal audit team

Thirty managers have been employed by the Eastern Cape at a cost of R30million to assist municipalities to obtain clear audits by 2014.

Details about the appointment of the additional 14 managers at senior level and 16 officials at manager level are contained in a reply to a legislature question by the DA to the Eastern Cape MEC for Local Government, Sicelo Gqobana.
The DA welcomes this intervention as part of “Operation Clean Audit” to assist municipalities in obtaining unqualified audits by 2014.

However, this intervention by the province shows no confidence in those employees in municipalities tasked with obtaining unqualified audits.

With these managers signing two year agreements with the department, the actual cost will exceed R60 million for the intervention period.

Yet again, the failed policy of cadre deployment by government in appointing staff who are unqualified and incapable of doing their jobs has resulted in this mess and an intervention by employing extra managers to solve the problem.

Of further concern is the appointment of Mr Speech Sohena, the former Municipal Manager of Sundays River municipality which was plagued by financial mismanagement under his watch.

Mr Sohena has been appointed as one of these managers to assist with this process.

When the Democratic Alliance runs this province we will ensure that those fit for purpose and who are capable and qualified to do this work will replace those who are currently failing.

Appointments of staff will be on a “fit for purpose” basis and not political deployment as is so often the case with government staff.

This will lead to greatly enhanced service delivery for all and especially the vulnerable who will not waste their money on sub standard service delivery that they are currently experiencing under this government.

Bhisho no longer upbeat on matric pass rate

The Eastern Cape Education Department has “revised downwards” its earlier upbeat forecast of a 10% improvement in this year’s matric pass rate, but remains “fairly optimistic” that it can do marginally better than last year’s dismal 51%.

The DA has called into question the department’s ability to handle this year’s exams, following the AG’s disclaimer and last year’s debacle which saw thousands of markers go unpaid until March. “Our question is whether markers from last year will be willing to mark the exam scripts again this year, because of this type of mismanagement (which led to the disclaimer),” said DA educational spokesman and MPL Edmund van Vuuren, a former principal.

Click here to read the full story.

DA slams Bhisho's shortage of key heads of department

A TOTAL of five of the 13 Eastern Cape government departments are without permanent heads of department (HODs) and the province is expected to overspend by R3-billion in this financial year.

DA MPL Bobby Stevenson, who is a spokesman on finance, said this had emerged in response to a question to Premier Noxolo Kiviet. Read the full story in The Herald

Health MEC must quit

THE DA is calling for Eastern Cape Health MEC Phumulo Masualle to step down because the health budget was overspent on entertainment, travel expenditure and accommodation for officials.

DA MPL Pine Pienaar said: “Accruals are at R500-million, irregular expenditure at R84-million, fruitless expenditure at R17-million, unauthorised expenditure of R776-million has been incurred, an overdraft exists of R450- million and about R800- million has been spent on erroneous OSD (Occupation Specific Dispensation) and HROPT (Human Resource Operating Team) payments.”

Teaching temps given a reprieve

The EC Department of Education has backtracked on its decision to terminate the contracts of temporary teachers in the province, citing “humanitarian concerns”.

In a statement, Edmund van Vuuren, the DA’s provincial spokesperson for education, said the DA maintained that the inhumane and authoritarian decision to terminate contracts before the end of the term went against best practices for quality teaching and learning.

Weekend driving on Eastern Cape roads is a free for all.

Weekend driving on Eastern Cape roads is a free for all as provincial traffic cops refuse to work any longer due to non-payment of overtime.

This news was conveyed to a Legislature Transport Portfolio oversight meeting at the Provincial Traffic offices in Port Elizabeth yesterday (subs: Thurs, 2 Sept).

Furthermore, a legislature question regarding when overtime payments will be done, asked by myself in July to the MEC for Transport, Ghishma Barry, remains unanswered.

The outstanding overtime owed to some officers goes back as far as December 2009.

The lack of visible policing on our roads over weekends will put the lives of all motorists in extra danger. Weekends will now be a field-day for drunk drivers, speedsters and lawbreakers to flout traffic laws.

All motorists are entitled to be protected with safety while using our roads and their safety must not be at risk due to the non-attendance of traffic officers.

The MEC must be squarely to blame for accidents committed on weekends when traffic policing could have avoided such incidents.

I will be raising this issue as a matter of urgency with the Transport Portfolio Committee at its meeting on Wednesday (subs: 8 Sept) asking for urgent intervention to pay these officers so that weekend policing can resume on our provincial roads.

For more information contact Dacre Haddon on 079 694 3788

EC education infrastructure budget slashed again

Of the R1.3 billion that was allocated for infrastructure to the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape, only R492 million will be available for new projects in the current financial year. This shocking revelation was made during a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Education in Bhisho this week.

This budget, which had been set aside for the building of new schools, repairs and refurbishments and the eradication of mud structures has been depleted by R808 million. The amount of R808 million will be used to pay for commitments to infrastructure in the last financial year, as well as for accruals resulting from the non-payment of contractors in the 2009/10 financial year.

The cut in the infrastructure budget will have a huge effect in providing much needed schools to our communities. The eradication of mud structures will remain a pipe dream. Schools like Booysens Park Secondary in Port Elizabeth are still not sure whether their school will be repaired, although promises were made that work on the school will start towards the end of October of this financial year.

This department is in direct opposition to the Constitution by denying our learners access to education by not providing conducive conditions for teaching and learning to take place.

The Democratic Alliance firmly believes that education is the foundation for opportunities and children should not be denied these opportunities because of the circumstances of their birth.

This state of affairs seems all too much like a repeat of last year, when all infrastructure activities in schools in the Eastern Cape had come to a halt due to a lack of funds.

This state of affairs will have a major impact on the outcomes of education in the Eastern Cape and the dismal year-end results in the province will continue because of the horrendous conditions under which our learners must prepare for the final examinations.

The image displayed by the department in this province impacts negatively on economic development and economic decisions: major investors are not interested in doing business with a place that is backward and under-developed.

The current situation means that the backlogs that this province has been facing for the past 15 years will continue. According to the annual report of the Eastern Cape Department of Education for 2007/08, of the 5 885 public ordinary schools in the province, 20% did not have electricity, 19% did not have water and 9% did not have access the sanitation. A total of 1 461 schools were still built of clay or still had to accommodate learners in some kind of mud structure.

The Democratic Alliance is making an urgent appeal is made the MEC and HOD for Education to arrange a meeting with Treasury and ensure necessary funding.

Many schools still lack the facilities and resources that make effective teaching easier.

The DA believes a core minimum of resources should be a given for each school:

• A safe and secure environment;
• A satisfactory classroom;
• Electricity;
• Running water;
• Access to a flush toilet;
• A telephone;
• Access to sports facilities; and
• Enough teachers.

For further information, please contact Edmund van Vuuren, MPL on 072 184 7840

Defective overspending budget has all warning lights flickering

INSIGHT - Bobby Stevenson


NOW that a successful World Cup is over, we cannot sit back and bask in the glory of its aftermath. We need, once more, to focus on the very real issues of service delivery.
Last month, on the eve of the World Cup, the provincial legislature passed a defective budget with huge implications for health and education opportunities.

The Democratic Alliance took the historic step of voting against the budget. Our opposition, in particular to the budgets for the two big departments of health and education – which constitute 75 percent of the budget or R36 billion out of R48bn – have resulted in us not being able to support the provincial budget this year.

We do not believe the figures for Health and Education have integrity. These departments are going to overspend and not keep within their existing budgets. This was confirmed by the MEC for Health, Phumulo Masualle, who, in reply to my question, informed the house that the budget for Health was not adequate.

The director-general for Health, in an interview with the Daily Dispatch, was also quoted as saying that he needed R2,9bn more.

The budget figures that have been approved are simply not credible. There are cost structures in place that are now running and at this stage there is not secured funding to sustain this.

If these two main departments overspend again they will plunge this province into financial chaos. Last year the province overspent by R2.8bn, of which R2bn will be topsliced from the equitable share over the next three financial years. If we again overspend by R2.8bn there will be no increase in the provincial budget next year.

It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We cannot simply go forward in faith when there is no guarantee that funding will be secured. The budget needs to be re-prioritised.

Given the pressures on the national fiscus it is unlikely that this province will receive a national bailout. Given this assumption, it is important that we look inward for solutions. This means tighter financial management and public private sector partnerships, as well as value for money.

This is linked to the DA’s second objection to the present budget: the tender process. There is an urgent need for this province to undergo tender reform. It has been estimated that up to 20 percent of our goods and services and capital budget is being lost through corrupt tender practices. By this I am referring to rip-offs, over-pricing, poor workmanship and outright corruption. In our province this would amount to R2,6bn. This figure is higher than 11 out of the 14 departmental budgets.

An initial and simple step which could be taken is to prevent provincial employees trading with the province.

In April, the acting superintendent- general of the Education Department, Professor Harry Nengwekhulu, whose contract expires today, stated that up to 90 percent of senior officials were trading with the department and that it was rotten to the core.

Thirdly, this budget is not innovative enough to meet the needs of the province. A budget is a political instrument whereby the governing party implements its policies and ideology.
From the DA’s perspective a budget that is underpinned by the concept of a developmental state and cadre redeployment can never provide full value for money.

The ruling party needs to break out of its ideological strait jacket. It cannot be ideology as usual when it is service delivery unusual. The following questions arise:

Could a major hospital be run more efficiently if the management of that hospital was outsourced to the private sector and that same hospital was allowed to collect its own fees?

Could one maintain some schools better if one sold off surplus land around those schools and used those funds for the improvement of the infrastructure of those schools?

Is there not scope for examining whether one could exchange provincial land for a development or road, for example, with a private entity?

If some of these ideas were implemented it would release funding to meet shortfalls in other departments. It is time to be innovative and embrace the lessons learnt from the World Cup where the private sector, working with government, made the soccer showcase a success. It is the business of government to regulate and the business of the private sector to operate.

Fourthly, we believe that the amount of savings that have been identified from non-core expenditure – R484m – is insufficient. There are other cuts that can be made.

Last year in June and November the DA warned that this province was sitting on a fiscal time bomb, particularly concerning the Health budget. This has huge implications for the overall financial wellbeing of this province. Once more the danger lights are flickering.

This budget needs to be reworked, re- prioritised and certainly become a lot more innovative.


Bobby Stevenson is an MPL, DA leader in the legislature, and the party’s EC spokesperson on finance


From the Daily Dispatch - 16 July 2010

"Still gaps" in new Treasury price guidelines

2010/06/17

DESPITE the provincial Treasury releasing a price guideline to regulate the way tenders are provided, there are still gaps which need to be filled.

On Monday, the Treasury released a list of items at market-related prices with strict orders to supply-chain managers to disregard any grossly inflated quotes.

While government was previously paying R26 for a loaf of bread, the new pricing guideline ranges between R8 and R9. A typical ballpoint pen which was being charged at R19 is now set to cost between R10 and R13.

A calculator previously costing R500 will now have to be priced between R79 and R87. A stapler costing R120 is now between R46 and R52.

In a circular to departments and parastatals, acting Treasury head Qonda Kalimashe outlined that average prices were determined by Statistics South Africa through quotations directly from suppliers and physical visits to retailers in the province. Thereafter, the average prices were increased by a percentage equivalent to points received. Points are awarded based on where in the province companies are situated.

Companies based in East London and Port Elizabeth earn 10 points and have 12.5 percent added to the average price.

Companies in secondary urban towns such as Grahamstown, Mthatha and Queenstown, earn 15 points and have 18.75 percent added to the average price. The third category consists of other businesses which fall within Eastern Cape rural areas, which earn 20 points and have 25 percent added to the average.

Spokesperson for the Public Service and Accountability Monitor (PSAM) Derek Luyt suggested that the system was flawed as businesses could use fake addresses to apply for tenders.

“The index allows for businesses based outside of metros and secondary urban areas to qualify for preferential ratings in the awarding of tenders,” Luyt said.

“While the PSAM appreciates the rationale behind this reasoning, we hope that there will not be a flood of metro or secondary urban area-based businesses relocating their headoffices to some rural location.”

Luyt added that provincial Treasury would have to be certain to monitor the procurement process as business could exploit the rules.

“These businesses should not benefit from preferential procurement policy by putting a phone and fax machine in a rural town.

“The PSAM urges the provincial Treasury to consider closing down this potential loophole,” added Luyt.

The Democratic Alliance’s Bobby Stevenson said: “The price index issued by the Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury for the procurement of goods is welcome, but this is only one step on the road to rooting out tender corruption.”

Stevenson and the UDM’s Max Mhlati insisted that Treasury should now also focus on creating a similar price index for larger scale items.

“A price index for major items such as clinics, classrooms and roads needs to be issued,” added Stevenson.

“This benchmarking has not yet addressed the major government tenders. It deals with small tenders of things which are required by hospitals and other institutions. — By JUSTIN LAWRENCE and MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA, DAILY DISPATCH