Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle sat down with Daily Dispatch editor Sibusiso Ngalwa to reflect on his term of office and the plans he still has for the remaining months of his government.
He spoke on a range of issues including the recent provincial cabinet reshuffle, his relationship with Oscar Mabuyane and the milking of state funds by unscrupulous lawyers.
SN: You have less than a year to go until your term of office ends, what have been able to achieve and what shortcomings have you encountered?
PM: The major focus has been the implementation of our programme of action which we had broken down to annual targets. I could say, relative to the execution of that programme of action, that we have recorded successes. We are steadily but surely progressively impacting on the educational platform to transform it so that we could have more of our learners able to access education. We have improved access to Grade it. We had a target of 80%, for the provision of Grade R classes by the end of term. Now we have over 72% of our schools across the province with access to Grade R. But with it there are challenges in terms of (getting the) educators who oversee the teaching and learning.
“Just as we continue to improve infrastructure, the want out there is so huge. If you look at the (school building) programme, it is in this province that this project has built more schools. If one looks at the Grade 12s we are now maintaining a very steady upward trend. We are looking to continue (on that path, perhaps to come closer to the national average pass rate which is about 72%
In health ...with the primary healthcare focus, we continue to extend the network of services ...more of our clinics are meeting the ideal clinic criteria. We have less incidents of reported drugs stockouts in our health facilities. Some of the indicators are showing that the quality of life is improving and people are living longer. If you look at incidences of TB and HIV-Aids, we continue to have less people dying of such ailments.
SN: And the economy?
PM: I would not say that in that environment we have really recorded as much as we could have. We have significantly attracted very big investments in terms of the auto sector. Almost all the car manufacturers in the province have made very significant investments in the province.
We have reclaimed the position as the biggest car manufacturing environment, whether you are looking at Volkswagen or Isuzu coming in. We have the R11bn (investment from) BAIC (the Chinese automaker). There is R10bn here in the form of Mercedes Benz’s investment. These are very significant developments.
We are also seeing a trickling-in of black suppliers. At VW there has been a deliberate programme to source a black component suppliers in an area where there is still a scarcity in terms of black players.
The economy is not just the auto sector, we have looked at the areas where we have the greatest potential and that is in agricultural development. We have done our bid to promote primary production. We have energised a lot of farmers who are active in that space .
SN: The failures?
PM: One thing we are failing to do is integrated planning, the result is that there aren’t synergies in government. For me integrated planning is not just the municipalities and the province but also the national government. More often you do find there are very good plans that are not integrated .
SN: Does that not take us back to the old argument about the need to do away with provinces and rather focus on strengthen district and local municipalities?
PM: I think 25 years on we still have to revisit that. I don’t think we are going in the direction of sustainability. I don’t think it works because in a way in the current configuration those that are poor are left to be poorer, which is a problem. So you need to have a centre that is capable to direct the development path of the whole country. There has also been an unfortunate tendency, with the leadership that is in office, where you tend to see the direction of big investment decisions (going) to their home provinces. That introduces a culture. I think we need to move away from that. It must be that we have a stronger central government that directs the way.
The way that provinces are currently configured we just take forever to get anywhere. For the development of the country we need a departure from this.
SN: The one thing we have not been able to shake off is the perception of the Eastern Cape being seen as a hub of corruption. There are a number of forensic investigations underway, can you talk about the progress of those investigations?
PM: Let me not try and play politics around this. It is not just perceptions, it is a reality that we have quite a number of corrupt incidents that bedevil our ability to provide our people with services timeously. It’s bad when even your prosecutorial agencies also get contaminated. It makes for a culture that is pervasive.
We have consolidated our anti-corruption strategy as a province to focus on creating capacity to detect and also to have corruption dealt with. In all departments we have established anti-corruption infrastructure.
SN: Is this as a result of weaknesses in the criminal justice system or is it the contamination you are referring to?.
PM: In this instance, I would just be talking to the weaknesses in the system. When you go to court you must go with strong evidence. I think it is that area that needs strengthening
SN: The reshuffle of the provincial government came and went. Mlibo Qoboshiyane was one of the popular MECs who were sacked, would it be correct to say that you had to reshuffle some of your best-performing MECs?
PM: It’s a matter I would really not want to get back to. It had to do with the ruling party and that was considered the best move at the time. I did make myself clear, that I thought Qoboshiyane to be exact. I thought he was still doing us good in that area.
SN: One might argue that with less than a year to go and with a new leadership at Calata House, there’s not much of a role for you to play. Are you still effective, can you still call the MECs and tell them what to do?
PM: (laughs) I laugh at that because that executive council is intact. That structure doesn’t belong to any political party. It’s a government structure and everyone who is there performs within the paradigm of government and there is clarity of roles and there is no confusion at all.
SN: The question on everyone’s mind is the relationship between you and the MEC for Finance (Oscar Mabuyane). Are you able to call him to meetings and give him marching orders or is it the other way around?
PM: All the MECs account to the premier and I relate to them as such. There’s not even one who has, on any single day, shown any resistance or reluctance towards instructions. We are a team.
SN: What is the one thing that you still want to achieve before your term is concluded?
PM: There is something that is draining government in the health sector, that is the claims against the state. It’s really ballooning out of control. We have designed a way to seek to have mediation before the lawyers are involved
SN: I assume those are cases where preliminary proof of negligence has been established?
PM: Absolutely. First we have to validate those claims. Where there is a finding that (there was negligence) then these matters are dealt with without having to go to court. The problem is that layers are milking the state. It’s one of the things I would want to see working effectively. The health sector is bleeding a lot.
In the last financial year we took out of the health budget around R260m towards paying (medico-legal) claims and it was not budgeted for. It impacts on the quality of service if we have such drainage of the health sector,..