I solved this issue with the following steps (on sles 11sp2)
zypper remove pip
easy_install pip=1.2.1
pip install --upgrade scons
Here are the same steps in puppet (which should work on all distros)
package { 'python-pip':
ensure => absent,
}
exec { 'python-pip':
command => '/usr/bin/easy_install pip==1.2.1',
require => Package['python-pip'],
}
package { 'scons':
ensure => latest,
provider => pip,
require => Exec['python-pip'],
}