Gqeberha

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The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries has called on the Eastern Cape Department of Education to respond to the shocking news of half-a-billion-rands infrastructure grant being withheld by the National Treasury.

The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Makhi Feni, said the news was a setback for the province, and the timing is bad because it happens when the Eastern Cape delegation of the permanent delegates to the National Council of Provinces is to be troubled by this news.

“The Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Education needs to explain this challenge as it is the most affected by infrastructure needs. This is the time for honesty and reflection. The Eastern Cape is the last province to lose this amount of money sadly for the reasons that the National Treasury has alluded to,” said Mr Feni.

The committee visited schools in the Amathole West District and in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, in Gqeberha last month where serious infrastructure challenges were identified. The sad situation of the infrastructure needs was no better pronounced than at Greenville Primary in Bethelsdorp, in Gqeberha.

Mr Feni said what the National Treasury is saying has revealed the reasons behind a situation where 100% of the infrastructure budget would be spent in the second quarter, when in fact a mere 10% of performance had been achieved.

“The department should motivate to Treasury for the money to be released and not hide their heads into the sand. If help is required, they should indicate as such so that the national Department of Basic Education takes care of the provincial affairs. The province did not need this news, and the timing is bad.”

The committee will demand accountability and will hold the Eastern Cape Department of Education to the highest standard of accountability particularly around the issues of infrastructure.

The Eastern Cape's permanent delegates to the NCOP will from tomorrow be in the OR Tambo District on the Provincial Week Programme to, among other things, assess service delivery in the municipalities in the district.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

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The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries has told the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality not to commit funds on Red Location Museum without a detailed empirical information that will inform a workable business plan.

The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Makhi Feni, lamented the extent of decay in community infrastructure within the municipality. He said that it was shocking and unacceptable.

“There seems to be no care on government funded projects. The common thing about these projects is that they are within the communities and should serve to stimulate and drive economic activity in the townships,” said Mr Feni.

He added: “Vandalism took over everything but people and officials allowed for it to set in. That is why we are at this quagmire; this is government money.”

In the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, the committee visited the Red Location Museum, Dan Qeqe Stadium, KwaNobuhle Sports complex, Kyuga Sports Facility, and St Johns Swimming Pool.

Mr Feni said the committee was to spend money to visit the sites and be given the kinds of reports it received. “We are entirely disappointed with the collapse and the ruin we found on projects that are meant to be viable. It is evidently clear that the decay is a characteristic of Metro assets.”

Mr Feni said if the decay is allowed to manifest and expand as it has, what claim to legitimacy does the Metro have. “It is so sad that millions keep being allocated to refurbishing and reviving projects that should self sustain like the Red Location Museum.”

He said the committee will make firm recommendations with clear timeframes that it will strictly monitor every six months. “The Bay Metro must perhaps prepare to frequent committee meetings, the state of affairs in the Bay is unacceptable.”

The committee will visit Bay schools and TVET colleges on Friday.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

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The Select Committee on Economic Development and Trade has called for an urgent conversion of long-standing investment commitments into tangible jobs, exports and industrial output at Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The committee is currently conducting a weeklong oversight visit in the Gqeberha area to assess infrastructure networks around the Coega SEZ and the Markman Industrial Park.

The committee Chairperson, Ms Sonja Boshoff, said a key focus of the visit was the progress of large-scale strategic projects, including the green hydrogen and green ammonia initiative. “These projects have attracted strong international interest and have advanced to the engineering and planning phase. The committee has requested firm timelines for construction, local beneficiation and industrial participation. We cannot have a situation where such infrastructure projects are perpetually kept in plans and reports. We want urgent implementation.”

Ms Boshoff emphasised that announcements and ribbon-cuttings are no longer sufficient, stating: “Government has invested heavily to create the enabling environment. The private sector has made commitments. The time has now come to see operational results, with real jobs, local procurement opportunities and improved export performance. Coega must be more than a strategic asset on paper; it must be a driver of inclusive growth in reality.”

Coega is South Africa's largest SEZ and has received R4.2 billion in funding from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, of which R2.5 billion has already been disbursed. This makes it one of the largest public investments in industrial infrastructure in the country.

This state funding has enabled Coega to attract R12.5 billion in private-sector investment from both domestic and international companies, positioning the SEZ as one of the most significant public-private partnerships in South Africa's industrialisation programme. The committee made it clear that these partnerships must now translate into measurable outcomes – factories in operation, products being exported and South Africans being employed at scale.

“Similarly, the Coega Pharmaceutical and Vaccine Manufacturing Precinct, supported by Aspen Pharmacare, has been identified as a key driver of Africa's health sovereignty. While Aspen's existing facility in Gqeberha is operational, the broader pharmaceutical precinct within Coega remains in early development. We have requested clarity on investor readiness, infrastructure timelines and projected job creation,” Ms Boshoff said.

She also noted that the visit comes at a time when the Eastern Cape faces one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, exceeding 40%, and is confronting additional economic strain from recent retrenchments in the automotive sector, including the closure of the Goodyear plant in Kariega.

Ms Boshoff stressed that the Coega SEZ must be actively positioned to absorb economic shocks and drive resilience. “This SEZ cannot exist in isolation. It must be the engine room that drives industrial diversification, attracts new investment and safeguards South African jobs in the face of global economic uncertainty,” she said.

In addition to monitoring the national department's investment, the committee engaged with the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Eastern Cape Economic Development Agency to assess their contribution to investment attraction, provincial competitiveness and integration of township and rural economies into SEZ value chains.

The committee also called for a proactive response to global trade disruptions, including the recent announcement by the US administration of a proposed 30% export tax, which could affect South African manufactured exports. “Detailed mitigation strategies will be required to assure investors and protect South African jobs,” the Chairperson said.

Chairperson Boshoff concluded: “Coega is a test case for South Africa's ability to compete globally. With strong public investment, growing private participation and strategic sector opportunities in green energy and pharmaceuticals, this SEZ has every ingredient for success. What we expect now is delivery, delivery in jobs, delivery in exports, delivery in industrial capacity, and delivery for the people of South Africa.”

The committee will be in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality until Thursday.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

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The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries has called on the Eastern Cape Department of Education and the South African Council for Educators to work with speed on the matter involving a deputy school principal who has been arrested on allegations of trafficking schoolgirls in the Amathole West District.

The committee Chairperson, Mr Makhi Feni, said it was clear that the female deputy principal, who is also a so-called “reverend”, does not deserve to be an educator. He said: “We are disappointed to learn of this incident. The responsible educator bodies must move with speed to remove the deputy principal from the educators roll and appropriate sanction should be taken.”

An official from the provincial education department briefed the committee that disciplinary action will follow, but the process is currently with law enforcement. The committee heard that the deputy principal is currently behind bars and the department will strictly monitor her bail conditions.

“This is the least of the challenges we should be hearing about in the Eastern Cape given the extent of the challenges that the committee has heard about,” Mr Feni said. “Our children should be protected against this so-called ‘reverend'. We cannot wait for the outcome of a criminal process.”

The committee also heard about other issues, including extortion, theft of food from the nutrition programme, unmonitored scholar transport, burglary and ongoing payments of salaries made to former employees.

The committee is currently undertaking a week-long oversight visit in the Eastern Cape, focusing on Amathole West District. The committee will also visit Gqeberha on Thursday.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

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The joint parliamentary oversight delegation concluded the first day of its engagement with Eastern Cape municipalities with a firm call for greater accountability in local government.

The delegation comprising the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General engaged with the province's two metros, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and the Buffalo City Metro, as well as the Amathole District Municipality on Monday. The delegation, in collaboration with the Eastern Cape provincial legislature, is this week engaging with 19 municipalities in the province about their challenges and ways to address them.

Following presentations by the MECs for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the MEC for Finance in the Eastern Cape, the delegation expressed concern over persistent governance failures, weak accountability and the slow pace of reform in the province's municipalities.

The leader of the delegation, Dr Zweli Mkhize, told the provincial leadership that local government cannot continue to operate on “paper reforms and rhetorical commitments”. He bemoaned repeated audit disclaimers and financial mismanagement across several municipalities and said this shows that interventions have failed to yield sustainable results. “When the same findings repeat year after year, it means our actions have not succeeded,” said Dr Mkhize. “Oversight must lead to change, not repetition.”

Both the MEC for COGTA and the CFO of the Provincial Treasury urged municipalities to restore fiscal discipline, strengthen internal controls and implement consequence management for transgressions. They also stressed that political leaders must prioritise service delivery over factionalism and that restoring financial health is central to rebuilding public trust.

Members heard that only six of the Eastern Cape's 39 municipalities achieved clean audits. Thirty of these municipalities are also categorised as distressed and subject to intervention in terms of Section 154 of the Constitution.

Dr Mkhize cautioned that recovery and support plans for municipalities should not just be mere administrative exercises but must function as measurable performance tools. He called for a written report of all actions taken to address long-standing challenges and not just verbal assurances. He also warned that these repeated failures erode public confidence.

Referring to Section 216 of the Constitution, Dr Mkhize said municipalities that persistently breach financial management laws must face investigation and sanction. “If no investigations have been undertaken, we must ask who is being protected and why,” he said. He also urged the department of COGTA, National Treasury and sector departments to improve coordination and not work in silos since progress and change are delayed when oversight is fragmented.

Dr Mkhize emphasised that political power without economic inclusion continues to constrain the province's development and urged municipalities to include economic and social investment in their recovery plans. “Each failed project represents a lost opportunity for growth and dignity,” he said.

The joint delegation resolved that all municipalities and departments must submit detailed written reports within 14 to 30 days, including updates on audit findings, debt recovery, consequence management and infrastructure projects.

Five more municipalities, including Sundays River, Makana, Koukamma, Blue Crane Garden Route, and Inxuba Yethemba local municipalities, will appear before the joint delegation today.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

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The Select Committee on Social Services welcomes progress achieved by the Eastern Cape Department of Health in implementing the Public Protector's remedial action.

The remedial action follows the Public Protector's investigation into the allegation that pregnant women awaiting admission at Gqeberha's Dora Nginza Regional Hospital for critical caesarean section surgeries were once forced to sleep on the floor and chairs, among other things.

The Public Protector referred the report to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to be debated by the House. The remedial action, which stipulates timelines for the Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health and the Head of the Department, is aligned to sections of the South African Constitution.

The report included remedial action relating to the inadequate space in the maternity ward; staff shortages, which has a negative impact on the level of healthcare provided to patients; the absence of a district hospital in the Nelson Mandela Health District; and a lack of medical equipment, such as blood pressure, haemoglobin and cardiotocography machine, dinamap monitors in the postnatal normal vertex ward and infant warmers, among other things.

The committee embarked on an oversight visit yesterday to Dora Nginza Regional Hospital to assess the response and progress of the Eastern Cape health department's implementation of these remedial actions.

The committee was briefed by the provincial health department, led by the MEC for Health, Ms Ntandokazi Capa, who assured the committee that progress is being achieved in all the areas identified in the Public Protector's report. However, she also noted that the cost of medico-legal claims remain one of the fundamental challenges facing the department.

Welcoming the briefing, the committee told the department during engagement that although there is reported progress, it was inadequate, as it missed the stipulated timelines. Stakeholders present in the meeting also expressed their concerns about the implementation of remedial action and made other proposals, including that the department should be placed under administration.

The committee expressed its appreciation for the progress achieved thus far but called for even greater efforts to improve healthcare services. Furthermore, the committee Chairperson, Ms Desery Fienies, thanked the stakeholders for participating in the oversight programme. The committee also visited Empilweni Hospital, Livingstone Tertiary Hospital and the Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.