Admin
28 Jun, 2019
Response to the premier’s Eastern Cape SOPA on the 28th June 2019 delivered by the Honourable Mncedisi Filtane, UDM Member of the Eastern Cape Legislature
1. We would like to take this opportunity as the United Democratic Movement and formally congratulate you on your crowning as the Premier. However, William Shakespeare once scribed in Julius Caesar, if my memory serves me well: “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown’’. You will be no exception to this notion. Let us dissect the beast you presented to us. 2. The route to solving most social challenges lies in an inclusive economy in which the majority of the Eastern Cape citizens wholesomely participate. There is a whole mile to meander in order to get there. Your speech hardly sounded like a starter’s gun. Consequently, we remain with more questions than answers, the reason being that you indicated the pointers but fell short of: • Telling us how to get there and, more importantly, • Exactly what fruits we shall harvest for our efforts, and when. No short-term, medium-term or long-term projections. You were generous with generality. Because of the dire situation engulfing the state of our economy, we expected a more radical approach to tackling the economic woes of the province. 3. Today’s policy buzzword in government corridors is a ‘’ transformed economy’’. Part of your preamble states that: “…we are here to outline our programme of action in the next five years’’. ‘That is why we expected more detail. 4. Some of the questions that arise are: (i) How much will preferred areas of investment contribute to the GDP of the province? (ii) How much ownership stake will be allocated to the previously disadvantaged to advance the cause of ownership? (iii) How much raw material, including for infrastructure development, will come from the Eastern Cape? Are you setting up factories for the manufacture of those materials? Here we wait to see an extension of the value chain, both vertically and horizontally. (iv) Exactly at what rate will your administration produce food within the province so that we greatly reduce the unhealthy importation of food? This is very sore point, Honourable Premier, when one considers the amount of land the Eastern Cape has. A lot of which is suitable for agricultural produce. How many will feed from 50,000 hectares? (v) You have listed tourism as one of your administration’s priorities, yet you have spent less than half a page talking about this sector. As a result, you have not addressed the very fundamentals of any economy, which is product development, referring only to the second last value step which is selling. “What will be sold, and produced by whom with what and where? The exception here is the waterfront in Port Elizabeth. (vi) Sport attracts lots of consumers yet you have said zero on it. Knowing that sport offers itself as a very viable option to intelligence driven economic opportunities, then we have to ask you why you did so much injustice to sport? Knowing that sport is also a catalyst for social cohesion, then why did you leave it out? This would have given the Eastern Cape citizens an opportunity to feel that those that want to make a living out of sport are foregrounded by the Mabuyane administration. You have missed out on a golden opportunity. The Eastern Cape has produced a number of rugby springboks, but the current administration has sent out a loud message saying “we care less about the legacy you have left behind. Mara why, why, why Honourable Premier. (vii) You painfully complain that it was the deliberate act of the apartheid regime not to invest in the economic infrastructure of our province to make us the labour basket of the country. But alas, all the proposed construction projects were neither for of specific employment numbers nor level of local ownership once in operation. If the focus of government remains anchored just on skills development only, then your administration will have created a perfect platform for prolonging the very apartheid strategy you rightly bemoaned, we want change. Change is what we want. Are you able to deliver drastic change? Siphendule Mhlekazi. (viii) So, you are planning to build a Smart City. Hmmm? Where are you going to get smart administrators and mayors from? When you allowed yourself to day-dream about a smart city, had you so soon forgotten about Mthatha’s rolling collapse with filthy streets, no water, no power and a recently sacked mayor of the ANC? Had you forgotten about the fact that most villages in Mnquma are accustomed to live without water, or were you actually dreaming about a “dark city” but because it was during the day you actually thought there was light in that city? (ix) Kha uqale ulungise I gravel road ezi zibulala imoto ezithutha abantu. (x) We welcome your admission of fifteen years of failure by three administrations, but now you want to pass the buck to civilians by establishing a Khawuleza Project Management Office within your office. Thereby sending a clear message to the current public servants to say ‘’I have no confidence in you’’, look I am superimposing another structure on you. Are these members any better qualified than your current staff compliment? (xi) One of the best ways if preparing a country for economic revival is to re-organise the fundamentals in the education sector. I just would not believe my own ears to hear you say that you want to equip children with skills that would make them highly competitive in the labour market. A flood of questions gushed to my mind as a seasoned development practitioner. (a) In whose forms will they be working? (b) Why not prepare them to be creators of wealth instead hewers of wood? (c) Why not prepare them to be knowledge producers, inventors, researchers, product creators in their own right? The list is long, but time is limited for me. (d) Why leave out men on projects? (e) The effect of climate change in development. (f) The fourth industrial revolution to be embraced with caution, there are too many unskilled citizens who must earn an income. It is already beginning to bite, estimated to take six million out of work. (g) Prevalent fraud in department like education. (h) Will you ensure the implementation of the amended Audit Act? (i) How many job submits must your administration organise in order for jobs to be actualised. Since 2005, this province has been holding these fruitless summits very regularly, but jobs dololo. Instead, more jobs were being shed by the previous economy. We suggest a different approach in fighting joblessness. (j) Your administration has virtually no local government as if the Auditor General’s report is anything to go by. I thank you
Admin
28 Jun, 2019
Response to the premier’s Eastern Cape SOPA delivered by the Honourable FG Mahlati, UDM Member of the Eastern Cape Legislature
Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker Honourable Premier and Members of the Executive Honourable Members of the Legislature Officials present here Distinguished guests and visitors at the gallery Be greeted in Jesus’ name. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate you, we wish you all of the best and happiness in your new venture, may this journey take you to the way of success. The Eastern Cape is faced with many challenges, like poor housing development and houses that were built without proper infrastructure. The lack of proper planning of housing projects results in delays in the timeous implementation of a number of projects. The government must strive to improve planning for housing projects to prevent unnecessary time wasting which results in serious cost implications. The United Democratic Movement (UDM) also commends the Honourable Premier for the rollout package of basic services such as electricity, water, sewage, sanitation to 700,000 indigent household in our province, but the government has allowed corruption to flourish for a long time, which is a very serious concern. This has spread like cancer cells throughout the public service. We support the strategies that are in place to fight this fiscus gobbler that has caused so much damage and hurt to the people of this province. The UDM is more concerned about the shortage of educators, and non-teaching staff such as administrators as well as securities. There is also a shortage of water and sanitation facilities in most rural schools. The Honourable Premier must ensure that this is also addressed. Our children are faced with societal challenges such as crime, teenage pregnancy and substance abuse. The educators always fear for their lives because they might not know what a child is going to do. We want the government to place more focus on these problems. The Honourable Premier must put in place a monitoring mechanism and proper plans on how it intends to deal with the shortage of qualified mathematics and science educators in our public schools. There is also the need for food security for our disadvantaged people because the absence of proper food is a serious main contribution to chronic diseases. Such intervention can help to alleviate hunger, poverty and disease in our society. There is still a need for government to focus on educating nurses on how to treat their patients considering the Batho Pele principles; there are many people that still complain about the conduct of our nurses. We do not know if the complaints by the public are ever taken into consideration by government. There are serious challenges of medico-legal claims which leads to unexpected serious and unnecessary expenditure by the government. We appreciate the effectiveness of education and advocacy on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, but the growth rate of these diseases is still alarming. The bulk of the budget of the province is spent on the department of health, but there is still more to be improved. The current socio-economic situation in the Eastern Cape requires that a greater effect is made to address job creation so that fewer and fewer people need to depend on social grants. Poverty has reached inter-generational levels. The condition of the roads, especially in rural areas, leaves much to be desired. One hopes that the budget of relevant department will cater for this painful need. Public Works needs to embark on a programme of regularly attending to public buildings; especially hospitals. There cannot be unhealthy people in unhealthy buildings. The officials of the department of social development often find their buildings uninhabitable resulting in the loss of productive time. Your address shied away from these issues, yet they cry for the attention of a caring government. I thank you.
Admin
01 Jul, 2014
Eastern Cape: Budget vote SOPA 2014
Speech by Mr Mhlati, leader of the UDM in the Eastern Cape Legislature The Honourable Speaker, Honourable Premier, Honourable Members of the Executive and Honourable Members, the Premier has been a Member of this Legislature for over 12 years as least, which clearly shows that he is well aware of the shortcomings facing the provincial government, he had been pulling the strings of power behind the curtains as chairperson of the ruling party in the Province. The UDM does not expect the premier to re-invent the wheel, government policies are there and no one can fault them, we expect effective and efficient rendering of services to our people which are accompanied by value for money and transparency principles which are enshrined in our Constitution. South Africa is where it is today because of the struggle fought and sacrifices made by the Leaders produced in this province without which we should not be enjoying this freedom we are having, let us not fail them. It is the honourable belief of the UDM that the Eastern Cape should take its rightful place of being the centre of good governance in South Africa. For that to happen we need you as Premier to display a will and commitment to pull the strings in the administration of the departments who are expected to provide quality services to our people on the ground. I for one do not doubt your humility but your position now needs the adoption or cultivation of the strong character to enable you to enforce compliance with the prescripts for good governance. Given the calibre of the Members of the Executive who form nucleus of this administration, the UDM hopes that their elevation is based on merit and nothing else, we do not need tokens but people who will add value to the onerous task lying ahead. When accountability gets hot in Committee Rooms there should be no cry-babies to Calata House. The call for accountability on the Executive is not the sole responsibility of the opposition parties. We are in this Legislature for the same common purpose of providing quality services to our people and to see to the compliance with laws and regulations governing the use of public resources. The failures of your team Honourable Premier in the execution of your responsibilities will compromise our integrity among the communities as we are all painted with the same brush of being Members of the Eastern Cape Legislature. You must deal decisively with issues of maladministration, corruption, incompetence and flouting of supply chain procedures without fear or favour. I can assure you Honourable Premier of our full support in all the endeavours you undertake to uplift the living conditions of the people of the Eastern Cape in all aspects of their needs. Of cause Honourable Premier you will only be able to achieve this if you can devote more attention on the performance of Municipalities which are on the verge of collapse due to corruption and maladministration. To take this crusade of good governance further the Honourable Premier should consider the advisability of getting time slots from the Public Broadcaster on certain days where the people can air their views on issues of service delivery by departments. This will promote transparency and accountability. Honourable Speaker, the Honourable Premier should please indicate to this Legislature what are his short term achievable goals and long term goals in this menu of goals so as to monitor whether the targets are met or not. We are termed a Province of Legends and our performance should commensurate that status. I thank you
