http://www.politics.za.net/articles/2007/03/13/gauteng-housing-mec-to-drop-contracts-with-ex-employees en-us 40 Third world country. First world politics. <p>Gauteng <span class="caps">MEC</span> for Housing Nomvula Mokonyane is <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&#38;click_id=13&#38;art_id=vn20070312233723384C390740">planning to blacklist</a> any company that employees a senior department official. I guess she&#8217;s decided to accelerate the proposed <a href="http://politics.za.net/articles/2007/03/07/cooling-off-periods-for-civil-servants">cooling off period</a> for civil servants entering private enterprise.</p> <p>The <span class="caps">MEC</span> however still has a lot of explaining to do for the housing backlog in Gauteng and can&#8217;t place all the blame on departing staff. Perhaps she&#8217;d like to explain how a <span class="caps">R58</span> million contract to build low cost housing granted in 2004 <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&#38;click_id=6&#38;art_id=nw20070312122747880C418416">has yet to actually produce a house</a>.</p> <strong>Update:</strong> And now the Department of Correctional Services is coming under fire for the <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&#38;click_id=13&#38;art_id=vn20070314030808226C731337">same problem</a> <blockquote> <p>Correctional Services came under fire on Tuesday as parliament demanded to know why the very same high-level officials who awarded contracts for the construction of new prisons later became directors of the same companies that won the lucrative tenders.</p> </blockquote> Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:13:00 -0500 urn:uuid:a498ed52-3e58-4d63-9c93-4b7ab9fbd257 Farrel http://www.politics.za.net/articles/2007/03/13/gauteng-housing-mec-to-drop-contracts-with-ex-employees Provincial Government Gauteng Correctional Services Housing