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#MakhuraNotFitToGovern: DA calls on Speaker to arrange Special Sitting for MONC

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has written to the Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL), Ntombi Lentheng Mekgwe to request that a special sitting of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature be held as a matter of urgency to debate the Motion of No Confidence (MONC) in Premier Makhura that was submitted on Friday to the GPL.

The DA is calling for the immediate removal of Premier Makhura because he has been implicated in a number of PPE corruption scandals.

If this province is serious about the delivery of services to its residents in a clear and transparent manner, the Speaker of the GPL will adhere to the DA’s call for a special sitting to be held.

It cannot be business as usual when the public purse has been looted by government officials and when tenders for the supply of goods and services is not done in an open and transparent manner.

The DA cannot allow a Premier who has been implicated in corruption to continue to hold office any longer and he needs to be removed immediately.

The same vigor that was applied to the dismissal of MEC Masuku for his involvement in corruption must be applied to Premier Makhura.

 

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DA launches petition for Covid-19 vaccines in Gauteng

The Democratic Alliance has launched a petition which calls on the Gauteng Provincial Government to make every effort to get vaccines from around the world wherever they are available.

This is because the sole reliance on national government to procure vaccines is unnecessary and unwise as health is a provincial competence.

The Gauteng Health Department has set a target of 10.72 million to achieve herd immunity and effectively stop the virus spreading, but projected supplies of vaccines will not arrive in time to mitigate an expected third wave of infections in early winter. 

Whereas the national government promised vaccines for health workers before the end of January, it now appears that this can only take place in mid-February due to logistic and quality control issues

Last week the Gauteng Health Department said it would vaccinate 150 000 health workers staring on 1 February, which shows how out of touch they are.

Gauteng should follow the Western Cape where DA Premier Alan Winde is trying to get extra vaccines from different suppliers. 

The benefits of vaccines for saving lives and livelihoods in Gauteng are immense, and the earlier the better. Not more than R1 billion will be needed to vaccinate 10 million people in Gauteng, which is less than 1% of the total provincial budget. It is also far less than what has been misspent, wasted and stolen in this province from money allocated to fight the pandemic.

The petition will be run on social media and can be found http://petitions.da.org.za/p/more-vaccines-now

 

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Premier Makhura not fit to govern Gauteng: DA asks Hawks to urgently investigate Makhura’s corruption scandals

Today, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng has submitted a letter to the Hawks calling for an urgent investigation into the full extent of the corruption scandals that have occurred under Premier Makhura’s watch.

Since the inception of the national lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic Gauteng has been plagued with corruption scandals.

Following the recent revelations by the former Gauteng Health Department chief financial officer, Kabelo Lehloenya that Premier Makhura gave her the names of the companies to appoint to supply and deliver PPEs in the province there is an urgent need for action to be taken against Premier Makhura.

The following are some of the corruption scandals that have happened while the people of Gauteng suffer under the Covid pandemic:

  • R2,2 billion was spent by the Gauteng Department of Health on fishy PPE suppliers in three months last year. The department paid inflated prices above the National Treasury’s regulated PPE price list and the husband of the President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khuselo Diko reportedly scored part of this contract to supply PPE’s for the Covid-19 pandemic,
  • Premier Makhura has been implicated in the Gauteng Department of Health PPE scandals by the former Gauteng Health Department chief financial officer, Kabelo Lehloenya who stated in her affidavit to the special tribunal that Premier Makhura gave her the names of the companies to appoint to supply and deliver PPEs in the province,
  • AngloGold Ashanti hospital on the far West Rand received R500 million worth of funding in order to equip it with extra beds and facilities to treat Covid-19 patients. The wards are still incomplete and are under construction. The completed areas have no equipment and there is no indication that the hospital will be ready for use anytime soon,

The Gauteng Department of Education has spent more than R431 million on sanitising schools in three months between June and August last year.

It is critical now more than ever that the standard that was set with the dismissal of MEC Masuku is also applied to Premier Makhura and that Premier Makhura is investigated to determine the extent of his involvement in these corruption scandals.

As the Premier of Gauteng, Makhura has failed in his oversight duty to safeguard our coffers and he must be held accountable for failing to prevent corruption in this province.

It is sad and disgraceful that the heads of the province are tainted by corruption scandals with the money meant to save lives during this critical period of Covid-19 pandemic.

The DA will be calling for an urgent sitting in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) and we will be tabling a motion of no confidence in Makhura as he has shown that he is not fit to govern Gauteng.

We will also be exploring other mechanisms to ensure that Makhura is held to account.

While awaiting a full investigation by the Hawks, I will also be writing to President Ramaphosa to act against Makhura as a matter of urgency.

 

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Damning report on death of Shonisani Lethole at Tembisa Hospital

I am shocked at the damning findings by the Health Ombudsman Malegapuru Mokgoba on the death of Mr. Shonisani Lethole at the Tembisa Hospital on 30 June last year.

It reveals a failure at every level, including denial of food for more than four days, poor record-keeping, falsified information, and general negligence that contributed to his death from Covid-19 complications.

Unbelievably, neither Mr Lethole or his family were informed of his positive Covid-19 test.

The National Health Minister initiated Professor Makgoba’s investigation after a public outcry caused by a tweet by Lethole that he had not received any food at the hospital.

I agree with Makgoba’s finding that Tembisa Hospital should never have been designated for Covid-19 patients as it was not adequately resourced. As he puts it:

“It was not fit for purpose. The infrastructure was defective, the hospital was understaffed, the staff lacked the requisite experience and high-quality skills necessary to care for critically ill patients.”

These problems were well-known at the time when I questioned why Tembisa Hospital had been designated for Covid-19 patients.

The sad reality is that most public hospitals in Gauteng are poorly prepared to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic because of years of mismanagement, under-staffing and lack of equipment.

I suspect that Mr Lethole’s case is the tip of the ice-berg of many more cases of sub-standard care in our hospitals that has increased the mortality from Covid-19.

There needs to be accountability for what has been uncovered in Makgoba’s excellent report, but it should also serve as a wake-up call that there are longstanding problems in our public hospitals that need to be fixed urgently to ensure a decent health service.

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DA calls on Premier Makhura to investigate more than R431 million spent by GDE on decontaminating Gauteng schools

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is calling on the Gauteng Premier, David Makhura to initiate an urgent investigation into the more than R431 million spent by the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) in three months on decontaminating of schools for Covid-19.

The DA has learnt with shock that the Gauteng Department of Education has spent R431 274 959 on sanitising schools.

It is alleged that hundreds of companies who were awarded this tender to sanitise schools do not have any expertise and experience and are not part of the cleaning industry. The money for service rendered by these companies was paid in sundry payments which raises questions as to whether this money was spent wisely.

Furthermore, late last year the Department informed the Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s (GPL) Education Portfolio Committee that they had spent R15000 per school for fogging and that Bidvest had also rendered this service to some of the schools for free.

We are calling on Premier Makhura to initiate an urgent investigation to ascertain exactly how much was spent per school and to identity those schools that were also sanitised for free by Bidvest. The investigation should also determine where the money was used as the department denied any expenditure in this regard.

Should it be found that there was an element of corruption where companies submitted invoices for no services rendered, the Head of Department must explain. The investigation must ensure that the money should be paid back and those involved face the consequences of their actions.

It has now become a norm for the ANC-led administration to use Covid-19 funds to enrich themselves while a number of people are dying on a daily basis due to Covid-19 related complications.

Premier Makhura should hold the Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi accountable for the millions spent on fogging schools for a period of only three months. These millions could have been spent on building more schools and providing additional mobile classrooms to ensure that all learners are placed and to ease overcrowding in classrooms.

 

 

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Gauteng should procure extra Covid-19 vaccines

The Democratic Alliance welcomes the Gauteng Health Department’s plan to start Covid-19 vaccines next week, but more vaccines need to be obtained urgently to reach the target of more than 10 million people vaccinated in the province.

Gauteng’s 150 000 frontline healthcare workers will deservedly get the first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but a really substantial number of vaccines may only come towards the middle of the year. This will be too late to mitigate an expected third wave of Covid-19 infections as winter approaches.

Sole reliance on national government to procure vaccines is unnecessary and unwise as health is a provincial competence. This is why Western Cape Premier Alan Winde is trying to get extra vaccines from different suppliers.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura should also make every effort to get vaccines from around the world wherever they are available.

The benefits of vaccines for saving lives and livelihoods in Gauteng are immense, and the earlier the better.

Money from the provincial budget for extra vaccines would give a massive return in facilitating economic activity. The country as a whole would benefit because of the hefty role that Gauteng plays in the national economy.

The DA will be launching a petition to urge Premier Makhura to make an urgent effort to procure more vaccines for the people of Gauteng.

 

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DA calls on Premier Makhura to take special leave pending the PPE scandal investigations

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is calling on the Gauteng Premier, David Makhura to take urgent special leave pending the outcomes of the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) investigations into the PPE scandal.

The DA is not surprised to learn that Premier Makhura has been implicated in the awarding of the multi-million personal protective equipment (PPEs) tenders by the former Gauteng Health Department chief financial officer, Kabelo Lehloenya.

In her affidavit at the special tribunal, Lehloenya stated that Premier Makhura gave her the names of the companies to appoint to supply and deliver PPEs in the province.

This PPE corruption scandal happened under Makhura’s watch and he didn’t do anything to prevent it.

The DA calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to ask the SIU to urgently investigate these allegations leveled against the Gauteng Premier.

When this PPE scandal resurfaced, the Premier himself reported the matter to the SIU for investigation and the former Health MEC, Bandile Masuku was placed on special leave because he was implicated in the scandal. Now that the Premier has been implicated it is the time for him to take special leave pending the outcomes of the investigations.

No one is above the law and due processes must be followed in all cases regardless of the position held by the person who is implicated.

Should it be found that Premier Makhura is fingered he should be removed as the Premier of Gauteng as it has happened with Bandile Masuku who was removed as the Gauteng MEC for Health

It is a disgrace that while the country is battling with the Covid-19, yet some leaders are using corrupt elements to enrich themselves through the Covid-19 funds.

For many instances Premier Makhura has defended himself against any acts of corruption and if he is a true leader who is serious about fighting corruption in this province, he must do the right thing to take an urgent special leave pending the outcomes of the investigations.

Gauteng is struggling to assist its residents who have suffered economic losses due to the Covid-19 and to procure sufficient PPEs, yet the heads of the province are looting covid-19 funds.

The DA will continue to put pressure on Premier Makhura to take urgent special leave and we will closely monitor the outcomes of this investigations to ensure that those implicated face the consequences of their actions.

 

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Further work stoppages at Kopanong hospital Covid-19 wards

Gauteng Premier David Makhura promised last year that there would be 300 extra beds at the Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging to assist with the Covid-19 epidemic in the Vaal area, but there has been another work stoppage this week that has further delayed this project.

According to local DA Councillor Elize Aucamp, the contractors came back on site on 7 January after not working for a number of weeks, but stopped work again on Tuesday this week.

Photographs of the site can be seen here, here and here.

The project started on 29 June last year using Alternative Building Technology (ABT), and then Health MEC Bandile Masuku said that it would be completed by 31 October 2020. The provincial government later claimed it would be finished by 30 November, but last week Premier Makhura said that legal action was being taken against the contractor after work had “ground to a halt.”

According to a recent presentation to the Gauteng Legislature’s Health Committee, the project is 70% complete and is scheduled to be completed by 31 March this year.

This is yet another failure by the Gauteng Infrastructure Development Department, which has a history of poor implementation of projects, choosing bad contractors which leads to missed deadlines and wasted money.

The tragedy is that hospitals in the Vaal area are struggling with the influx of Covid-19 patients, putting lives at risk.

Note: Clr Elize Aucamp can be contacted at Tel: 082 875 6212

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MEC Hlophe spends millions on virtual events yet fails to deliver Covid-19 relief funding to Gauteng athletes and artists

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng notes with great concern that the Gauteng athletes and artists who applied for financial assistance from the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR) as part of the relief fund have not yet received these funds.

There have been unnecessary delays and excuses with regards to when these funds will be allocated to the rightful beneficiaries.

The applications for relief funding were opened on June 2020 and were closed on 26 June 2020 and the payment process was supposed to have begun in July 2020.

In October last year the department sent SMSs to all Gauteng Relief Fund applicants apologising to the applicants for the delays in processing their applications. The department also stated that the outcome of the Gauteng Relief Fund was in the audit phase.

The SMS also stated that the relief funding was supposed to be released on 30 September 2020 and will now be released by no later than 30 October 2020.

It is now 11 months of the national lockdown and thousands of Gauteng athletes and artists are still awaiting relief funding yet the Gauteng MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR), Mbali Hlophe continues to spend millions on virtual celebratory events.

MEC Hlophe spent R429 985,00 on a Human Rights Day virtual programme and continues to spend on many virtual programmes yet she fails to provide relief funding to financially struggling Gauteng athletes and artists.

The DA calls on Premier David Makhura to initiate an urgent investigation to ascertain why there have been delays in processing these funds.

MEC Hlophe should be held accountable for these delays and should it be found that there is any element of corruption or officials are simply not doing their work then the Premier must hold the MEC accountable.

In addition, an urgent plan must be devised to ensure that these athletes and artists who have applied for relief funding are paid without delay.

Past experience has shown that where there are delays such as these, there is a corrupt element involved.

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Why are there inadequate beds for Covid-19 in Tshwane?

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has suggested that Covid-19 patients at the overcrowded Steve Biko Hospital in Tshwane can be sent to the NASREC field hospital in the south of Johannesburg.

This highlights the dismal failure to complete the new beds for Covid-19 cases in the Tshwane district that Premier David Makhura promised last year.

Instead of new beds at central hospitals like Kalafong and Mamelodi, the plan was to have 300 high care beds at Jubilee Hospital, 300 high care beds at George Mukhari Hospital, and 150 beds at the Bronkhorstspruit Hospital.

The beds at Jubilee and George Mukhari were supposed to be completed by 30 November last year, and those at Bronkhorstspruit by 15 December.

The reality is that only 95 of the 300 beds at Jubilee have the staff and equipment for Covid-19 patients, none of the extra beds at George Mukhari can be used because of staff and equipment shortages, and no beds are ready at Bronkhorstspruit.

This is why emergency tents had to be erected in the parking lot of Steve Biko Hospital.

Across the province 1100 bed spaces constructed using Alternative Building Technology still have to be delivered. This is according to a report by the Gauteng Health Department which also identified staffing as a major bottleneck and a shortage of health furniture.

The Tshwane district has been particularly hard hit by the second wave of Covid-19 infections and accountability is needed for the poor preparation to treat local patients who should not have to be sent to beds in another city.