In what could be seen as a reportback of his term in office, in his State of the Province address Premier Phumulo Masualle counted gains and challenges of the fifth term.
As part of accounting to the people of the province, Masualle said that heads are expected to roll over the Mthatha Airport downgrading and closure.
The airport was downgraded by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) last month after not meeting safety standards.
Masualle announced that provincial government had embarked on a “consequence management” process to deal with those responsible for the closure.
The downgrading was an embarrassment for his government.
“We have expressed in cabinet our utmost disgust in what has transpired at that airport. What is really annoying is that this did not come all of a sudden. There would have been notification of a need for things to be done and it wasn’t done after repeated efforts. It is important that necessary steps be taken to make sure that a situation like this doesn’t repeat itself,” Masualle said.
He said disciplinary processes against officials had begun.
The department of transport, which owns the airport, suspended its deputy director- general, Lomex Sisilana, two weeks ago over the airport among other issues.
Masualle also said that the airport would be operational soon and an announcement by the CAA was expected.
“I can report here that an announcement regarding the restoration of Mthatha Airport to category 4 [large jetliners] can be expected soon,” Masualle said.
However, UDM MPL Thando Mpulu said Masualle's announcement of consequence management was too late. “We are disappointed by his statement. The office of the premier should look into evaluation and monitoring. You cannot be surprised when you are getting downgraded at the 11th-hour.”
Masualle also criticised municipalities for the lack of implementation of forensic reports which implicated senior officials in allegations of negligence or wrongdoing.
Opposition parties were not impressed with Masualle's Sopa speech, saying it did not reflect governance in the province.
Eastern Cape EFF chairperson Yazini Tetyana criticised the provincial government for not allowing the party inside the legislature because of the dress code.
Tetyana said, on the advice of the national leadership, which he called, they would take the matter to court.
He responded to the Sopa address saying: “We’re unhappy. We came here with our conscience very clear. We don’t have confidence in the administration. We can’t trace any tangible thing that they’ve done in the province.”
Tetyana said Masualle gave a false account of the reality of the province.
PAC provincial chairperson Sandla Mgoqwana criticised Masualle for not including health and the effort to rid schools of pit latrines.
“While we welcome the address and could be saying farewell to the premier, we have to say that he gave us nothing new.”..