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DA calls on public not to use companies claiming to be able to assist with license renewals

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is aware that there is a huge licensing backlog in the province and that residents are struggling to get timeslots to renew their licences. 

We have been made aware that there are companies who are offering to assist residents with their licenses and are charging between R2000 and R3000 for their services.  

In addition, there are also people standing outside the licensing department soliciting money from residents to assist them in getting their licenses renewed.  

This is illegal and is aiding in corruption. We urge members of the public to not pay any money over to these so-called ‘service providers’.  

A strategy to deal with the huge backlogs is long overdue and we therefore call on the MEC for Roads and Transport, Jacob Mamabolo to put a plan in place to deal with these backlogs.  

If you are approached by anyone claiming to be able to assist you with renewing your license, please report this to our tipoff line tipoffgp@da.org.za 

 

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Raw sewage spilling into Pienaarsrivier, while Tshwane Administrators sit idle

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is deeply concerned that the Tshwane administrators are doing nothing about the raw sewage that is spilling into the Pienaarsrivier that flows into the Roodeplaat dam.  

There is a thick layer of raw sewage on the riverbank and there is no longer any fish or bird life.

See video here 

The DA has been inundated with complaints about the raw sewage which comes from the Bavianspoort Waste Water Treatment Facility.  

The smell is unbearable, and the raw sewage has a negative impact on the wildlife in Roodeplaat.  

The sewage pollution will inevitably lead to algae bloom which will in turn give rise to a massive increase in water hyacinth growth. This is already a huge problem and the government has spent millions in an effort to curb the growth of these invasive water plants.  

Preserving our wildlife is of utmost importance for the preservation of our ecosystem. If the wildlife disappears from its natural habitat, the balance of the ecosystem will be disturbed with dire consequences.

It is clear that the Tshwane administrators have no clue as to how to address the problems at the Waste Water Treatment Plant which is responsible for the massive raw sewage spill.  

The DA is calling on the MEC for Environmental Affairs, Morakane Mosupyoe to liaise with the Tshwane administrators as a matter of urgency to intervene in this situation.  

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DA calls on MEC Lesufi to ensure that the admission process for Grades 1 and 8 is finalised before the end of November

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is calling on the Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi to ensure that the online admission placement process for Grades 1 and 8 for the 2021 academic year is finalised by the end of November 2020.

The Gauteng Admission Online Applications period for Grades 1 and 8 learners for the 2021 academic year was closed on 25 July 2020.

This follows last year’s disastrous experience where many parents applied online for their children for Grades 1 and 8 and had not secured school placement timeously.

It is important that the online admission placement process is finalised by the end of November 2020 to give both parents and schools enough time to prepare for the 2021 academic year.

The DA believes that the department should use the current applications as an indicator for the need for additional resources for schools such as recruiting more teachers, providing additional classrooms, building new schools and delivery of LTSM.

The department should avoid last minute interventions which results in the disruption of learning and teaching in January and February each academic year.

The DA supports the online admission process and, if it is properly managed, will help to save time for both parents and schools and prevent unnecessary long queues and also increase transparency.

The department must fix all the glitches and communicate with all parents who applied on time. The DA will table further questions to MEC Lesufi at the next Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Education Portfolio Committee meeting to ascertain the progress made to date with regards to the online admission placement process.

 

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125 staff and 64 patients got covid-19 at Sterkfontein Hospital

The Sterkfontein mental hospital has suffered a high number of COVID-19 infections, with 125 staff and 64 patients infected by the end of August this year.

This is revealed by Acting Gauteng Health MEC Jacob Mamabolo in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

According to Mamabolo, one of the infected staff died, but other staff at the hospital say that there were two COVID-19 deaths.

COVID-19 infections at the hospital affected nearly one in five (17%) of the 720 staff and about 11% of the 560 patients. This is disturbingly high as this hospital only treats mental patients and has a lower risk than other hospitals that treat all other patients.

There was a protest by 25 staff members about inadequate infection control at the hospital on 19 May, and they were dismissed but reinstated recently after referring the matter to the Bargaining Council for arbitration.

Although Mamabolo claims that sufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was supplied to the hospital, an investigation is needed as to why there was such a high infection rate.

It seems that the Gauteng Health Department neglected a mental health facility during this pandemic despite the lessons that should have been learned from the Life Esidimeni tragedy.

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DA notes the arrest of Tshwane councillor for alleged rape

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng notes the arrest of the DA Ward 8 Hammanskraal PR Councillor, Kenneth Nkosi.

Nkosi handed himself over to the police after a warrant of arrest was issued for an alleged rape incident.

We are cognisant of the seriousness of the allegations against him, hence our decision to proceed with an interim suspension from all Caucus, Council and Federal activities pending the outcome of the investigation.

Should Nkosi be acquitted he will be reinstated and if found guilty his membership with the DA will be terminated in terms of our Federal Constitution.

The DA is committed to upholding the rule of law and the constitution, and condemns any form of violence against women and children.

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City of Tshwane spending on Covid-19 homelessness relief created a “field for pillage”

In a leaked investigative report the DA has learnt that there were mass instances of irregular spending, financial and governance management failures an alleged corruption in the City of Tshwane’s spending on Homelessness relief during lockdown. 

 When the country went into level five lockdown the ANC administrators failed to follow legislatively prescribed supply chain processes in the appointment and management of service providers to support the homeless. 

The process was instead rushed, with no proper appointment letters in place or scrutiny of invoices or the costs that were being incurred by these service providers. These service providers are now trying to recoup the funds from the city. 

However, a leaked investigative report now shows that this entire process was a total shambles. Recommendations from the report indicate the following: 

5.1 The investigation has clearly showed that the invoices are inaccurate and untrustworthy, there is no justification for honouring the invoices as presented. 

5.3 The cost of the service provided or the charges per invoice was grossly overly overstated, the food is equivalent to 5 star executive and luxurious. 

5.4 The officials failed to properly manage the project and created a field for pillage. 

5.6 The department has no records that they rely on to verify the invoices, the records in question would have amounted to attendance registers. We conclude that this process was not even done. The Group Head and/or any other authorized official did not verify and validate the invoices prior to submitting them for the ex post facto process. 

5.8 We have evidence to suspect that a crime of corruption may have been committed, the project manager’s conduct is question. 

These recommendations are from an internal City of Tshwane report. It is a shocking indictment on mass spending failures presided over by the unlawfully appointed ANC administrators in the city. 

These funds were meant to go to the most needy and vulnerable in the city and yet it is clear based on the city’s own report that there was internal collusion between city officials and service providers to steal from the homeless during a time of immense vulnerability. 

 We call on the ANC administrators in Tshwane to release all of the Covid-19 spending that took place to the public along with a list of the service providers, what they provided and what they were paid. Failure to do is indicative of a mass cover-up of corruption. 

The officials involved in these crimes must be dismissed and prosecuted. Head ANC administrator Mpho Nawa must be dismissed from his post, he has presided over this “field for pillage”.

 

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MEC Maile needs to provide clarity on the status of the suspension of the Emfuleni Municipal Manager

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is calling on the Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Lebogang Maile to provide clarity with regards to the suspension and the lifting of the suspension of Emfuleni Municipal Manager, Lucky Leseane.

Leseane was suspended following the Emfuleni Council’s resolution to suspend him because he implemented salary increases for Emfuleni employees before the Council had taken a resolution on the matter.

The DA has been reliably informed that the Emfuleni Council had two options with regards to the employees’ salary increases due to the fact that the municipality is facing a serious cash flow problem.

The first option was to apply for exemption which means that the salary increases would be deferred to the next financial year with the hope that the municipality’s finances would have improved.

The second option was to give employees half of the 6,25 percent increase from July to December 2020 and the other half from January to June 2021.

It is alleged that MEC Maile advised the Emfuleni Mayor to lift the suspension of the Municipal Manager because the Council did not follow proper procedures in suspending him and that the process was unlawful.

Furthermore, the DA is in possession of a letter from the office of the Acting Emfuleni Mayor, Cllr Khethiwe Ntombela addressed to the Speaker , Whip of Council , Members of the Mayoral Committee and Executive Members informing them that the Executive Director, Vincent Campbell will be the Acting Municipal Manager from 2 to 14 October 2020.

The letter does not explain whether the Municipal Manager is currently on suspension or whether he is on leave.

The DA believes that Leseane should face the consequences of his actions.

We call on MEC Maile to urgently provide clarity on the matter and to ensure that Leseane is held accountable for implementing salary increases of employees before any Council resolution was taken.

The DA will be tabling questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to ascertain why Leseane’s suspension was lifted, which procedures were not followed in suspending Leseane, what actions will be taken against Leseane and who will be responsible for these actions.

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Alleged Tara rape should also be investigated

The Gauteng Health Department has indicated that it is probing two alleged rapes at public health facilities – one at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital that involves two male mental health patients, and another incident at Stanza Bopape clinic in Tshwane where a male staff nurse allegedly raped a male patient.

I am concerned that there may be a cover-up of another alleged rape which I am informed took place at the Tara Mental Hospital on 16 September. This involved a 15-year-old female outpatient who came with her parents for therapy and was allegedly raped by another patient when she went out for fresh air.

These incidents raise questions yet again about the adequacy of security at Gauteng public health facilities, especially for mental health patients.

It is inexcusable that hospital security contracts that were irregularly awarded in 2014 for a two-year period have been extended month-by-month for four years at a cost of more than R2.5 billion.

New security contracts need to be awarded as soon as possible to competent security companies that better protect patients and staff from all forms of violence at our public hospitals.

 

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DA gives Gauteng Premier 24 hours to reveal NASREC field hospital contract

Suspended Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku threatened me last week with legal action if I did not retract within 24 hours my statement on the exorbitant costs of the NASREC field hospital.

I stand by the figures I gave – about R350 million spent on only 700 patients – as they were from official sources, but we need to know far more about the secret contract that was signed with the Johannesburg Expo Centre (JEC) which manages the NASREC facility.

This contract was signed in July and apparently runs from 1 August to 31 January next year. It was signed by Richard Makhumisani, the head of the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID), and Mkhululi Lukhele, the now-suspended head of the Gauteng Health Department.

DID MEC Tasneem Motara has written to the Chairperson of the Gauteng Legislature’s Health Committee in a letter dated 1 September that “The lease agreement is a confidential contractual document between the Department and the Service Provider.” She offers an arrangement to view the document at the Department’s offices but this will no doubt include confidentiality provisions as well.

It is unacceptable that this document is confidential as it deals with public money and any contracts awarded by the JEC to subcontractors should be done in a proper manner to obtain value for money. This includes contracts for security, catering, medical waste removal, furniture, back-up generators, and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC).

 

Premier Makhura needs to confirm or deny whether the leasing contract with JEC includes the following:

 

  1. 1000 beds paid for at a tariff of R770 a day per bed for six months, which amounts to nearly R140 million, even if these beds are not filled with patients;

 

  1. A clause that does not allow for any refund of the above amount even if the agreement is cancelled;

 

  1. An infrastructure establishment fee of about R68 million for various furniture, HVAC and backup generators.

Masuku has defended the NASREC field hospital as a measure to ensure that beds were available for all COVID-19 patients if certain projections of the epidemic came true. But it was already evident from the Western Cape and the overseas experience that the worst projections were not happening and the epidemic in Gauteng was likely to peak in July rather than August/September as Masuku originally expected.

The real question is why a contract was signed so late into the epidemic and extending into next year, which was not predicted to be necessary by any serious modeling. Last month there were only about 21 patients at the NASREC facility which shows what a waste of money it has been.

I give notice to Premier Makhura that he has 24 hours to make the NASREC contract public, otherwise the DA will institute a Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) application for this document.

Furthermore, the Auditor-General should scrutinize this contract to ensure that it is rational and legal in all respects, and the SIU should investigate whether all sub-contracts were properly awarded rather than given to connected people at rip-off prices.

Premier Makhura needs to show that the provincial government is not hiding anything and that all COVID-19 related contracts are investigated for possible corruption, including the NASREC deal.