ZIWAPHI • VOL 4 NO 1 • 15-28 JANUARY 2010

Welcome to our first edition for 2010!

Just like it was the case at the beginning of 2009, we start this year on a sombre note, the killing of Sammy Mpatlanyane - prompting other people to go as far as suggesting that those who killed Mpatlanyane were the same people who killed Jimmy Mohlala.

It’s a bit far fetched, however all we can say is that there is or there are hit squads that are operating successfully in Mpumalanga and they are doing their work very effectively because even our police are not able to arrest the culprits.

Just as was the case with the murder of Mohlala, the killing of Sammy has also attracted all kinds of speculations from self-appointed “criminologists” who already have suspects.

All we can call for is that we should allow the police, to issue rewards and fail to find the perpetrators until January 2011 when another person is killed.

Wild suspicions can only help hurt many people.

Hit List

Whoever starts the gossip about the hit-list should make it public now or give to the police, and not wait until someone has been killed and then claim that the deceased was on the Hit List.

Matric results

As in 2009, we also started 2010 with another matriculation results scare.

Umalusi, the examination quality assurance council, shocked everyone by announcing that Mpumalanga matric results would not be released with those of the rest of the country.

Thanks to the intervention by the Minister of Education because we believe that the delay was unjustifiable.

The provincial department of Education, however, cannot be forgiven for the decline in the matriculation pass rate to below the 50% mark.

They must forget about the construction of schools and issuing of tenders and focus on their core business.

While we do not support the creation of a super department by the Premier, the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport and scholar transport, we believe that the removal of the scholar transport from the Department of Education will minimise number the excuses of failing to deliver a quality service.

We agree with the Minister, Angie Motshekga that they should only concentrate on education, and not the stupid things such as school construction.

The Department of Public Works itself is not innocent because we now know that they, while it claimed that it had constructed schools, the Select Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) discovered that the department had lied by claiming that they had constructed schools where there were none.

Which makes us wonder why the a person who was in charge of such a Department was allowed to head such a crucial department as Education?

BUSY HOLIDAYS FOR THE HURRICANE

While everybody else was on holiday, the man they call the Hurricane was at his most devastating form.

On Christmas eve he appointed an HOD for the super department of Public Works, Roads and Transport. On new year’s eve he appointed the province’s new Director General.

Whatever he was in a hurry for, he was not properly advised that both these chaps had previously been suspended from their jobs.

It’s a pity that while the Hurricane was critical of his predecessor, Thabang Makwetla, for appointing his Gauteng buddies, many of whom have become the province’s biggest headaches, he also did the same thing, if not worse.

The poor chap (the new DG) had to run to the media to claim that he had been victimised by his former employers.

Well, we sympathise with the poor DG because it is not him we are concerned about. We are more concerned that the Hurricane seems to be unearthing recruits that every other province or institution has no use for. In the worst case scenario where they had been involved, implicated or suspected of having been involved in some questionable dealings.

Do the people of the province have to be involved in scandalous conduct or suspected, rightly or wrongly, before they can be considered for appointment at senior level?

Ag sies, niyasinyanyisa!

We welcome the decision to bring the Hawks to Mpumalanga, except that what they are coming for, the leaking of matric examination papers, is just a tip of the iceberg.

Mpumalanga is South Africa’s unofficial corruption capital. What we need is the Assets Forfeiture Unit.

“Seize the assets we can’t account for and we will claim them back if  we are able to prove that they were not acquired through the proceeds of crime.”

Immediately after the Hurricane was swept into power, thanks to the “donations” to iNkandla, we advised him to conduct an audit to determine what he was inheriting. As expected, he ignored our advice.

We believe that a due diligence exercise or procedure was originated for a reason! While it is largely seen as a private sector practice, it is more relevant in the public sector.

Finally, we are told one of the lieutenants of the Hurricane has been told never to open his mouth again in Parliament until his term expires in 2014, because he every utterance is an embarrassment to the ANC.

Isikole sibalulekile indeed!

Ag Sies, niyasinyanyisa