Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s state of the province address received harsh criticism from opposition parties, with the EFF calling his reiterated pledges a “state of deception”.
Last week, Mabuyane laid bare his plans for the province for the next five years and made bold promises on infrastructure development, aimed at uplifting the Eastern Cape’s economic and social landscape.
He delivered the address at the provincial legislature in Bhisho on Friday.
However, during the Sopa debate on Wednesday, opposition parties lambasted the provincial government for the current state of roads and infrastructure in the province.
The EFF blamed Mabuyane’s administration for the death of Inam Bayisa, 13, and Thabisile Magimbela, 14, from Flagstaff, who lost their lives while crossing a river after school.
They were swept away by the strong current while crossing the dangerous Hlabathi River.
The devastating storm, accompanied by strong winds and extensive flooding, caused a trail of devastation in the OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo regions, with at least eight health facilities, including hospitals in Mbizana and Matatiele, damaged.
It also caused extensive damage in the Chris Hani district.
EFF provincial leader Zilindile Vena accused Mabuyane of annually reading a “fantasy novel of promises that will never be fulfilled”.
Vena said the province’s housing backlog was at an all-time high, while incomplete houses stood abandoned and vandalised.
“Two young girls, full of promise, taken from their families — not by accident, not by misfortune, but by a government that has failed to build bridges, that has failed to provide safe transport, that has failed to even acknowledge their tragic passing in the premier’s speech last Friday.
“If this government had done its job, they would be alive today. The premier and his executive should hang their heads in shame,” Vena said.
The DA’s Vicky Knoetze said the provincial government was out of touch with the people of the Eastern Cape.
“Our children drown in rivers trying to access education because scholar transport fails them, and if they do survive the treacherous journey, they sit in classrooms that are collapsing around them due to a R38m backlog in infrastructure maintenance, with insufficient learning material and a 1:120 teacher-learner ratio at some schools.
“Over 400 schools still make use of pit toilets.
“Our small towns are suffering as businesses close their doors due to the collapse of water and electrical infrastructure exacerbating poor levels of service delivery as 14 of our 39 municipalities are in distress, that is a third of our municipalities.
“Bloated administrations where the cost of employment outweighs the funds of service delivery 9 to 1,” Knoetze said.
UDM MPL Noncedo Zinti said the government must employ safety patrols for pupils crossing rivers and forests alone in rural areas.
“When you travel across the N2 and R61, you see scholar marshals and patrols, but in those deep rural areas there are none.
“It seems their safety is compromised,” she said.
Responding to this, Mabuyane acknowledged his government’s shortcomings and said more innovation must be done.
“Unfortunately, it looks like this is going to be a problem because kids in our rural areas are using shortcuts and in some areas we do not have bridges.
“We are working on these policies of bridges. We are far from resolving the actual problem that we have in terms of access.
“The innovation that we must have is not to think about a bridge that will be used by vehicles, and have pedestrian bridges that will be used by the kids,” he said.
During his Sopa speech, Mabuyane said while working with the South African National Roads Agency, there had been a total investment of R50bn for more road infrastructure projects in the province for the next five years.
“This investment will build road infrastructure on key routes such as the R61, R72, R58, R75 and R410,” he said.
“In addition to these roads, in the next financial year, we will be gazetting 600km of our roads, many of them gravel roads which we are going to upgrade with Sanral for the benefit of our communities,” he said.
Before the session started, University of Fort Hare student representative leaders from the Dikeni campus held a protest outside the entrance of the provincial legislature demanding government intervention into a string of issues plaguing the institution.
They submitted a memorandum of demands to legislature speaker Helen Sauls-August.
The demands were also submitted to the university management.
Some of the demands were that students who had already registered but were unable to add or cancel modules due to outstanding debt ought to be allowed to do so with immediate effect.
The students also demanded that the undergraduate debt threshold be increased from R30,000 to R50,000 to allow more students to register without financial exclusion.
“We demand the immediate postponement of all academic activities until these issues are effectively addressed.
“The student body is frustrated with the university’s lack of action on critical matters affecting student registration, academic progress and financial stability,” the letter said.
Daily Dispatch
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