Thursday will mark the official opening of the Eastern Cape legislature. The decision to take the event from Bhisho to Ntabankulu, in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality, has generated a lot of debate.
Opposition parties, the DA and EFF in particular, have questioned the logic, arguing that a sitting outside the legislature’s precinct is a “complete waste of taxpayers’ money”.
They have a point as the ceremony will definitely come with the added cost of transport and accommodation for the 72 MPLs and their support staff.
However, the speaker also has a valid argument that they intend to uphold the vision of the legislature of reconnecting with the people from various areas of our vast province.
We are therefore waiting to hear what practical steps the seventh administration is going to take
While that debate goes on among politicians, many of us in the province are eagerly waiting to hear what the premier will say about the priorities of his administration in the next five years.
It would be disappointing if the premier went back to just narrating the problems that the province was facing and celebrating some of his government’s successes.
It is public knowledge that our local government is in shambles.
Recurrent adverse audit outcomes, wasteful and fruitless expenditure, and failure to deliver even on basic services with little to no consequences by most of our municipalities is well known.
The department of health, known for its struggles with its finances owing largely to medico-legal claims, has stumbled from one crisis to another.
Some service providers have even threatened to stop delivering essential supplies.
The issues of broken ambulances, shortages of nurses and doctors, as well as poor facilities are all well known.
We are therefore waiting to hear what practical steps the seventh administration is going to take to address these challenges.
What are they going to do to turn the tide on what Mabuyane called a “nightmare of a department” of health, which for now does not have a substantive CEO?
Will there be any tangible consequences for those in municipalities that are habitual failures?
Many of us hope to know when the poverty and hunger that have led to some women taking their lives will be decisively addressed.
Children who walk long distances to schools due to erratic scholar transport, and those learning in mud structures and relieving themselves in dangerous pit latrines want to know what the permanent solutions are to their problems.
The residents of this province are tired of hearing about statements of intent.
We hope that, on Thursday, the premier will lean more on solutions with timelines as well as a clear message of consequences for those who can’t deliver on their mandate.
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