NASREC Field Hospital cost R150 000 per patient

The Democratic Alliance notes the announcement last week by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi that the NASREC field hospital will be closed at the end of February as it is no longer needed.

According to Mokgethi, the field hospital only treated 287 intermediate level patients since it was opened despite a contract for 1000 beds that was signed in July last year.

This is separate from the 500-bed section at NASREC that saw 1254 Covid-19 patients who were there for isolation, and 117 people who were in quarantine but did not necessarily have the virus. These people could all have been given much cheaper hotel accommodation.

The overall cost of the NASREC beds is about R250 million, so this means that each person there effectively cost the provincial government R150 000 as they paid R380 per bed a day even when it was empty, and R390 per patient per day when occupied. It was even more expensive for the few actual patients who needed oxygen.

This has been an enormous waste of money and I suspect that there was corruption and gross overcharging. It is worrying that the

Auditor-General found that “the department did not invite as many suppliers as possible and there was no prior approval from the relevant treasury for the emergency procurement of the NASREC Field Hospital as required by treasury regulation.”

It is also suspicious that the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development has refused to make public the contract with NASREC my application to them using the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

The NASREC facility could have been closed even earlier if the extra beds at existing hospitals had been completed by November last year as promised by Premier David Makhura.

The premier cannot claim ignorance of the low utilisation of the NASREC field hospital as this is where his Provincial Command Council meets regularly.

It is yet another failure by Makhura which justifies our motion of no confidence in him as he is not fit to govern.

Alarming increase in Gauteng crime stats

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is concerned about the alarming increase in the Gauteng crime statistics for the 2020/21 financial year.

According to the crime statistics, there has been an overwhelming increase in various crimes across the province compared to the previous financial year. 

Cash in transit robberies have increased by 106,7% from 15 cases in the 2019/20 financial year to 31 cases in 2020/21 financial year, while sexual offences detected as a result of police action have also increased by 40,5% from 220 cases in the 2019/20 financial year to 309 cases in the 2020/21 financial year.

Truck hijacking has increased by 31,8% from 173 cases in the previous year to 228 cases in the 2020/21 financial year. Contact sexual offences have also seen a rise of 23,3% from 73 cases in the 2019/20 financial year to 90 cases in the 2020/21 financial year.

Furthermore, there has been an increase in the following crimes in Gauteng; murder has risen by 7,5%, with sexual offences increased by 6,0%, and attempted murder by 3,8%, while assault with intention to inflict grievous bodily harm increased by 4,4%.

There has also been a shocking increase in the number of sexual offences compared to the previous financial year; sexual assault has increased by 9,6%, attempted sexual offences increased by 7,2% while rape has increased by 4,6%.

Commercial crime has increased by 7,9%, stock-theft by 1,9% and arson by 1,7% compared to the previous financial year.

These various crime statistics are worrying and clearly indicate that Gauteng lacks adequate policing putting the lives of residents at serious risk.

It is deeply concerning that sexual cases have increased which demonstrates that government’s current interventions are not yielding positive results in terms of fighting and preventing sexually-related crimes. 

Most notable, the sexual offences detected as a result of police action has also increased, yet the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is battling to investigate and finalise police brutality cases as only 5 out of 147 of them have been resolved. This also means that it will take years for the IPID to finalise these sexual offences.

Our police are ill-equipped, untrained, and under-resourced to adequately ensure that law and order is maintained in our communities. 1407 police vehicles were out of service in Gauteng last year, while only 4374 vehicles remained operational.

The DA will be tabling questions to the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to determine what measures are being put in place to effectively fight crime in the province.

 

DA calls on Speaker to allow secret ballot for motion of no confidence in Makhura

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the decision by the Gauteng Provincial Legislature Programming Committee to schedule the DA’s motion of no confidence (MONC) in Premier, David Makhura, for Tuesday, 2nd March 2021.

This follows an initial attempt by the ANC to refuse the scheduling, which clearly exposed them for protecting Makhura from accountability.

We are pleased that the ANC finally came to their senses and allowed constitutional democracy to be exercised by the Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs).

The DA however, calls on the Speaker of the Legislature, Ntombi Lentheng Mekgwe to allow for a secret ballot in this very critical motion.

It is concerning that ANC MPLs might not feel safe enough to vote with their conscience if they are not protected by anonymity.

The DA believes there are many ANC MPLs who are not pleased with Makhura’s performance as Premier, and would like to vote in the best interest of the residents of Gauteng, as opposed to voting in the best interest of their party. The ANC only has 37 out of 73 seats in the Legislature, while the combined opposition stands at 36.  The 37th seat of the ANC belongs to the Speaker who only has a tie-breaking vote. If just one ANC MPL sides with the opposition, the motion will succeed.

In the spirit of accountable democracy, the DA’s request for a secret ballot should be unconditionally granted.

The time is now for MPLs across party lines to come together and act in the best interest for the people of the province. David Makhura has shown no remorse for his administration’s failures and scandals, and has proven beyond doubt, that he is no longer fit to govern.

 

ANC coalition budget plunges Joburg further into debt

Today the DA voted against an ANC coalition budget that will increase financial pressure on residents and decrease delivery on basics like fixing roads and keeping the power on.

It is a reality in Johannesburg and indeed the entire country, that residents are struggling financially. The lockdowns in response to the current pandemic have left us in an economic depression, with unemployment at record highs. Residents are struggling to pay for their rates and services. We are in grave danger of making this City unaffordable for residents to live in and for businesses to operate successfully.

This can be seen in the R272 million decrease in projected revenue. The right response would be to tighten our belts and reduce expenses, or use our available funds to provide relief to residents and businesses. Instead we see the City increasing its expenses by R301 million, which will wipe out any surplus the City might have by the end of the year. Any surplus would be vital to preventing further increases in rates, and electricity and water tariffs.

Important items like R9 million for upgrading the Hurst Hill Substation which would have prevented electricity and water outages, and R200 million to buy new fire engines (the City only has 2) have now been left out in order to pay for additional staff costs. These costs include paying staff to sit at home while old people stand in long queues at Customer Service Centres.

The DA will only support budgets which show a true commitment to providing residents with the services that they deserve, and which reflect an administration which is truly committed to rooting out the corruption that robs residents of their very lives.

I will not be silenced on Gauteng corruption and misgovernance

This morning I was maliciously removed while speaking on the debate of the Premier’s State of the Province Address (SOPA) at a virtual sitting of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

During my speech I was cut off and informed on my computer screen that “Someone removed you from the meeting.”

I rejoined the meeting virtually and tried to continue but I was removed several times and could not finish my speech.

I raised this with Speaker Ntombi Mekgwe and she said it would be investigated.

It is clear that someone did not want me to finish my speech exposing Premier David Makhura’s lack of accountability for corruption and misgovernance in the Gauteng Health Department.

Makhura has failed to stop massive corruption multiple times. He made the wrong appointments and failed to do the oversight that would have prevented the scandals in which lives were lost and money was stolen.

I will not be silenced in exposing how Makhura is not fit to govern.

The speech  can be accessed here,

Premier Makhura’s SOPA wish list will not move Gauteng forward

Madam Speaker,

Good Morning.

Honourable Members,

Let me start by congratulating all the learners who sat for the 2020 end of year examinations, and especially to the Matric learners. To all teachers who rejected the call to postpone the future of our children, we salute you, well done! 

We are joining you in celebrating the outstanding performance of our learners, schools, districts, and the province during this difficult period of the national lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Honourable Premier, when Covid-19 first hit the country, it created so many uncertainties, however, South Africans gave all their trust to politicians who are the leaders in government to guide them and manage the pandemic. 

When the national lockdown was implemented in March last year, people had hoped that government was doing its absolute best to contain the virus and putting the nation’s interest first.  Little did they know that politicians were taking advantage of this pandemic to enrich themselves.

Honourable Premier, when you said there is no corruption in Gauteng, we almost believed you. Remember the first corruption allegations when Mr. Hamilton Mtshali bought luxurious vehicles which went viral on social media? 

There were also claims that you were blessed with one of the best Jeep cars from Hamilton as a reward for offering him a big Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) tender. You then corrected it and that was when the PPE tender scandals started to be exposed throughout the country. 

Some politicians could not resist the temptation but continued to break the trust. It was difficult for the opposition politicians to conduct robust oversight and to hold the executive to account because of the lockdown regulations. 

Many of these regulations did not even make sense or based on science, but South Africans were informed that it was part of government’s commitment to save lives. 

Many people failed to bid farewell to their beloved ones. Interprovincial travel was prohibited. 

Many have lost income as their companies could not conduct business as a result of the lockdown regulations. Many jobs were lost while some tenderpreneurs were busy at work. They were focused on looting the public coffers.

Real entrepreneurs lost out because they do not have the so-called good network with government. Unfortunately, the tenderprenuers are not creating employment opportunities but they are winning huge tenders. 

It is appalling to learn that the learning and teaching technology deployed in our schools in this province does not match the 4th industrial revolution needs. The Gauteng Broadband Network (GBN) is not ready to connect anyone in this province. 

Schools were closed as there were many organizations and parents advocating against the opening of schools during the pandemic. We are proud that the decision to continue with learning and teaching under difficult circumstances was taken. 

We have managed to navigate, and even though while some of us supported this decision, others saw an opportunity to loot from the Gauteng Department of Education and other departments.

The Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi told the members of the Education Portfolio Committee in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) and the residents of this province that he will give each school R15 000 to disinfect all schools and that they had also received free disinfect services from Bidvest to ensure that all schools are safe and sanitized.

Little did we know that R431 million was up for grabs and many schools did not benefit from this money. 

During my recent oversight inspections to different schools across the province, these schools were shocked to learn about R431 million that has been spent on sanitizing schools while they only received R15 000, and some were rendered the free services by Bidvest.

Corruption denies our poor people opportunities. As a province we will never win a fight against corruption until there are consequences. 

Enough with more investigations and hiding of the reports like many forensic audits which are kept inside the locked office shelves. 

Who is taking responsibility and who is being held accountable for all these corruption cases?

Certain officials will tell us that the term of office is five years and there will be a change of leadership. Are we witnessing officials revolting against the current administration knowing that it is your last term? 

We have seen ongoing irregular expenditures worth billions of rand. Every year, the Auditor-General will make findings, but still remains the government’s challenge to date. 

On the other hand, our provincial department consistently underspends on its allocated budget yet there are no consequences while communities are denied quality services they deserve. 

As we speak now, there are so many learners who are sitting at home who have not been allocated schools. 

The department has failed to effectively use the online admission system to plan for more intake in high demanding areas. 

The ANC-led Gauteng administration claims that they prioritize poor people and the working class while the children of those parents are sitting at home unplaced as they cannot afford independent schools. 

This is clearly widening the inequality and poverty gap in this province. There is no definite answer as of when these unplaced learners will be allocated schools. 

I have sent so many emails to MEC Lesufi yet there is no solution as to why these children are being subjected to such traumatic situations. 

These learners are losing contact lessons and are now forced to join those who have dropped out of the system.

While provincial government has returned billions of rand to the Treasury due to under expenditure, many schools across the province are in dire need of adequate infrastructure including eradicating asbestos schools.

For example, Diepsloot Secondary Schools does not have a fence, the school has been vandalized and valuable equipment stolen during the school holidays. This school has again achieved 100% pass rate and you promised to build a brick and mortar school but to date there are still using mobile classrooms.

Many schools have been burgled and vandalized several times, yet there are no measures being put in place to secure and safeguard the schools. There is no effective school safety strategy.

Government has failed to build new schools in areas where there are new developments as well as to eradicate asbestos schools, yet they continue to underspend on infrastructure budget with billions of rand. 

While we congratulate the Class of 2020, learner drop out still remains the biggest challenge facing the province. Gauteng enrolled 157 253 Grade 1 learners in 2009. In 2020, 92 285 wrote the Grade 12 matric examination. 

The percentage of learners who started grade 1 in 2009 and wrote the final exams in 2020 and passed is 58.68%.  This is worrying and there is a need for an urgent intervention to address learner dropouts in the province.

The introduction of schools of specialization is a great initiative, however the pace in which these schools are being built or transformed is slow.

The same day when the State of the Province Address (SOPA) was delivered, Stats SA also released unemployment statistics. Education must respond to the unemployment challenge; however, the main focus is on tenderpreneurs instead of entrepreneurs. 

Commitment to publish evaluation reports of all grades was made last year. When will this start? We are tired of empty promises. Honourable Premier, your SOPA failed to deal with unplaced learners. 

The department is failing to help parents to place learners for the inwards grades, yet these children are of school going age. It is the responsibility of the department to ensure that these children attend school. It also the right of these children to access basic education.

In all these years, you have exposed yourself as a Premier who never took accountability for the provincial government as a whole only your office, but your party always talk about collective leadership. 

The constitutional role of the provincial government has not been upheld, corruption has taken the centre stage because you have never actively set the example for your cabinet and senior officials to follow, which makes it even more obvious that you are not fit to continue governing this province.

Dealing with the Gauteng Pandemic

Ndza khensa mutshami wa xitulu, 

Honourable Members, 

People of Gauteng, 

Fellow South Africans.

We are debating the Gauteng State of the Province address at a time when our country is battling the Covid-19 pandemic. I send my condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones to this deadly virus. I thank all the healthcare workers who have been on the frontline fighting this pandemic, hi khensile. 

On Tuesday, the Premier delivered what was supposed to be the state of the Gauteng Province. It was an opportunity for the Premier to unpack the true state of Gauteng, its challenges, and how best we can emerge from the dire situation in which we find ourselves. The premier used over 8500 words to say very little, if anything at all. Ecclesiastes chapter 6, verse 11 reads “The more the words, the less the meaning and how does that profit anyone?”. The people of Gauteng have not profited in any way from the many words that you said on Tuesday, Sir. 

At the same time that the Premier was speaking, Statistics South Africa released the 2020 fourth quarter Labour Force Survey. The latest quartely Labour Force Survey indicates that over 7 million people in South Africa are unemployed with Gauteng accounting for 2,3 million. Gauteng has the second highest unemployment rate after the Eastern Cape. What we are observing is the urbanization of unemployment and poverty. More people are poor and unemployed in Gauteng than they were in 2014 when you took charge as the premier of this province. 

This was the seventh state of the province address you delivered, and as I sat here listening to you, I asked myself, what would be the best way to measure your new list of promises, the seventh set of promises? For the last seven years, you have done well to deliver promises or wishes to the people of Gauteng. The best way to judge a man and a Premier is not on what they say they will do, but on what they are known to have done. Hi Xitsonga hi ri mintirho ya vulavula. And for you Sir, your empty promises speak for themselves. Johan Wolfgang von Goethe says “Knowing is not enough, we must apply, willing is not enough, we must act.” You Sir, have failed to apply that which you know and your actions have not followed your wishes. 

This is your second term as a Premier of Gauteng; it is supposed to be a term wherein you accelerate building a capable Gauteng that offers an effective response to the challenges of inequality, unemployment and poverty that the people of Gauteng face, but you have been a disappointment. Watching you deliver your address on Tuesday, I could tell that you were preoccupied with matters other than the business of being the Premier of Gauteng. 

The boldness you displayed in your first term has been replaced with a lot of inaction. You are leading like you are dancing on eggshells; scared to take decisions that would upset some constituencies in your own organization. By so doing, you have succeeded in disappointing the people of Gauteng by your inaction. 

I know you will dismiss my conclusion as a normal reaction of an opposition Member, but you and I know that even your own comrades are talking about life after Makhura; not in 2024, but sooner than that. Even your own comrades believe that you are no longer fit to lead Gauteng, and not just the ANC. The Makariki faction, which you know very well is busy mobilizing for your ouster. Talk has it that you will not finish the second term. The popular hashtag in Gauteng is #MakhuraNotFitToGovern. 

If I were in your shoes, I would lead like it is my last day, for I don’t know when the Makariki faction will strike. I would do good by the people of Gauteng.

Mr. Premier, you are a likeable man who talks the good talk but can’t walk the talk. What Gauteng needs is a Premier that walks more than he/she talks. More doing and less talking. Seven years later, your legacy in Gauteng is rising unemployment, Life Esidimeni, Covid-19 corruption, a collapsed Gauteng Enterprise Propeller,  and a failing healthcare system.  

There was a time that people used to believe you were different, but we now know that even staff members in your own office have the bravado to engage in corrupt practices that robs the people of Gauteng of important services. The fish rots from the head, and in Gauteng, corruption starts at the Premier’s office. You even went to court to confirm that indeed staff members in your own office facilitated corruption. 

With rising unemployment in Gauteng, these are the urgent tasks that you and your government should be focusing on: 

1.      Urgently lobbying of the Minister of Labour and Employment to make it less problematic for companies or firms to hire the millions of unemployed people of Gauteng. Gauteng should be a special employment zone where it is easy to hire the people of Gauteng. To hire more people in the special economic zones, we need a flexible labour framework. When we talk of SEZ, we must be talking of Special Employment Zones. The Premier should be at the forefront of this lobby and leading the fight to Parliament for the benefit of the people of Gauteng.  

2.      The Gauteng Growth Development Agency (GGDA) together with the national Department of Trade and Industry and Competition, should be leading efforts to open export channels of goods produced in Gauteng. The GGDA and the Department of Economic Development should be looking at taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area.  

 

For the economy to grow, we need capital investment, improved technology, entrepreneurship, labour, and producing goods and services that the rest of the world wants to consume. We know we have available labour; we need to get the labour skilled. The best way to gain a skill is to be employed, hence our SEZs should be Special Employment Zones with flexible labour laws. 

 

3.      Urgently stabilize the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) so it is able to assist entrepreneurs that are starting and running business in Gauteng and ensure the R250 million partnership fund that is in the hands of GEP is distributed to assist small businesses in order to kickstart the Gauteng economy. 

I understand why you did not touch on these matters as your mind is on what the Makariki Faction will do; whether or not they will allow you to finish your term, you chose to hide behind a lot of words to say very little. Even the response to your fellow members in attendance was very, very muted. One could surmise that your heart is not in it anymore, just like your favorite football team. You are just waiting for your last day to come. 

Having observed and lived under your leadership in the last seven years, I have come to the conclusion that you Sir, and your administration, are not fit to govern Gauteng. 

Ndza khensa. 

Premier Makhura’s dream of making Gauteng a vibrant province is ‘gone too soon’

Madam Speaker,

Honourable Members,

Good Morning.

Let me start by congratulating all the learners who sat for the 2020 end of year examinations, and especially to the Matric learners. To all teachers who rejected the call to postpone the future of our children, we salute you, well done! 

We are joining you in celebrating the outstanding performance of our learners, schools, districts, and the province during this difficult period of the national lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Honourable Premier, when Covid-19 first hit the country, it created so many uncertainties, however, South Africans gave all their trust to politicians who are the leaders in government to guide them and manage the pandemic. 

When the national lockdown was implemented in March last year, people had hoped that government was doing its absolute best to contain the virus and putting the nation’s interest first.  Little did they know that politicians were taking advantage of this pandemic to enrich themselves.

Honourable Premier, when you said there is no corruption in Gauteng, we almost believed you. Remember the first corruption allegations when Mr. Hamilton Mtshali bought luxurious vehicles which went viral on social media? 

There were also claims that you were blessed with one of the best Jeep cars from Hamilton as a reward for offering him a big Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) tender. You then corrected it and that was when the PPE tender scandals started to be exposed throughout the country. 

Some politicians could not resist the temptation but continued to break the trust. It was difficult for the opposition politicians to conduct robust oversight and to hold the executive to account because of the lockdown regulations. 

Many of these regulations did not even make sense or based on science, but South Africans were informed that it was part of government’s commitment to save lives. 

Many people failed to bid farewell to their beloved ones. Interprovincial travel was prohibited. 

Many have lost income as their companies could not conduct business as a result of the lockdown regulations. Many jobs were lost while some tenderpreneurs were busy at work. They were focused on looting the public coffers.

Real entrepreneurs lost out because they do not have the so-called good network with government. Unfortunately, the tenderprenuers are not creating employment opportunities but they are winning huge tenders. 

It is appalling to learn that the learning and teaching technology deployed in our schools in this province does not match the 4th industrial revolution needs. The Gauteng Broadband Network (GBN) is not ready to connect anyone in this province. 

Schools were closed as there were many organizations and parents advocating against the opening of schools during the pandemic. We are proud that the decision to continue with learning and teaching under difficult circumstances was taken. 

We have managed to navigate, and even though while some of us supported this decision, others saw an opportunity to loot from the Gauteng Department of Education and other departments.

The Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi told the members of the Education Portfolio Committee in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) and the residents of this province that he will give each school R15 000 to disinfect all schools and that they had also received free disinfect services from Bidvest to ensure that all schools are safe and sanitized.

Little did we know that R431 million was up for grabs and many schools did not benefit from this money. 

During my recent oversight inspections to different schools across the province, these schools were shocked to learn about R431 million that has been spent on sanitizing schools while they only received R15 000, and some were rendered the free services by Bidvest.

Corruption denies our poor people opportunities. As a province we will never win a fight against corruption until there are consequences. 

Enough with more investigations and hiding of the reports like many forensic audits which are kept inside the locked office shelves. 

Who is taking responsibility and who is being held accountable for all these corruption cases?

Certain officials will tell us that the term of office is five years and there will be a change of leadership. Are we witnessing officials revolting against the current administration knowing that it is your last term? 

We have seen ongoing irregular expenditures worth billions of rand. Every year, the Auditor-General will make findings, but still remains the government’s challenge to date. 

On the other hand, our provincial department consistently underspends on its allocated budget yet there are no consequences while communities are denied quality services they deserve. 

As we speak now, there are so many learners who are sitting at home who have not been allocated schools. 

The department has failed to effectively use the online admission system to plan for more intake in high demanding areas. 

The ANC-led Gauteng administration claims that they prioritize poor people and the working class while the children of those parents are sitting at home unplaced as they cannot afford independent schools. 

This is clearly widening the inequality and poverty gap in this province. There is no definite answer as of when these unplaced learners will be allocated schools. 

I have sent so many emails to MEC Lesufi yet there is no solution as to why these children are being subjected to such traumatic situations. 

These learners are losing contact lessons and are now forced to join those who have dropped out of the system.

While provincial government has returned billions of rand to the Treasury due to under expenditure, many schools across the province are in dire need of adequate infrastructure including eradicating asbestos schools.

For example, Diepsloot Secondary Schools does not have a fence, the school has been vandalized and valuable equipment stolen during the school holidays. This school has again achieved 100% pass rate and you promised to build a brick and mortar school but to date there are still using mobile classrooms.

Many schools have been burgled and vandalized several times, yet there are no measures being put in place to secure and safeguard the schools. There is no effective school safety strategy.

Government has failed to build new schools in areas where there are new developments as well as to eradicate asbestos schools, yet they continue to underspend on infrastructure budget with billions of rand. 

While we congratulate the Class of 2020, learner drop out still remains the biggest challenge facing the province. Gauteng enrolled 157 253 Grade 1 learners in 2009. In 2020, 92 285 wrote the Grade 12 matric examination. 

The percentage of learners who started grade 1 in 2009 and wrote the final exams in 2020 and passed is 58.68%.  This is worrying and there is a need for an urgent intervention to address learner dropouts in the province.

The introduction of schools of specialization is a great initiative, however the pace in which these schools are being built or transformed is slow.

The same day when the State of the Province Address (SOPA) was delivered, Stats SA also released unemployment statistics. Education must respond to the unemployment challenge; however, the main focus is on tenderpreneurs instead of entrepreneurs. 

Commitment to publish evaluation reports of all grades was made last year. When will this start? We are tired of empty promises. Honourable Premier, your SOPA failed to deal with unplaced learners. 

The department is failing to help parents to place learners for the inwards grades, yet these children are of school going age. It is the responsibility of the department to ensure that these children attend school. It also the right of these children to access basic education.

In all these years, you have exposed yourself as a Premier who never took accountability for the provincial government as a whole only your office, but your party always talk about collective leadership. 

The constitutional role of the provincial government has not been upheld, corruption has taken the centre stage because you have never actively set the example for your cabinet and senior officials to follow, which makes it even more obvious that you are not fit to continue governing this province.

Premier Makhura must account for empty promises to fight corruption and fix the Health Department

Madam Speaker, my speech today will take the perspective of the hypothetical Man from Mars.

What would a completely alien visitor make of this provincial government?

Our Man from Mars listened intently to the Honourable Premier when he gave his inaugural speech in June 2014.

The Man from Mars was impressed by the frank way in which the Honourable Premier spoke about the anger of the people in this province on various issues, and what he was going to do about it.

The Man from Mars was a little puzzled that the Honourable Premier mentioned “radical change” no less than 29 times.

He wondered why so much needed to be changed when the same political party had been in charge since 1994.

The Man from Mars heard the Honourable Premier devote a lot of time to the plight of people in long hospital queues, and what would be done to fight corruption. He heard the Honourable Premier pledge that “fraud and corruption are prevented and detected early in the value chain to prevent losses.” He also heard that there would be an “urgent turnaround” in the Gauteng Health Department.

Madam Speaker, people from Mars have long memories and understand things very literally. They think that what is said reflects reality, and that if someone says they will do something, then they will do it.

The Man from Mars also remembers that the Honourable Premier said in his SOPA address six years ago that good progress was being made in the Health Turnaround Strategy, and the Department would return to normality in May 2015. He also heard that the e-health programme would get rid of paper files and reduce queues, and that they would “commence with the building of new hospitals in Soshanguve and Lilian Ngoyi.”

The Man from Mars wonders why that has not happened six years later. He has looked into a human language dictionary to find out what accountability means. He sees the following:

“Accountability is a willingness to accept responsibility for your actions.”

The Man from Mars has looked at our laws and discovered that a provincial premier appoints MECs and heads of departments.

He has noted that the Honourable Premier appointed Qedani Mahlangu as Health MEC and Barney Selebano as health head, and they both left after the Life Esidimeni tragedy in which 144 mental health patients died.

Gwen Ramokgopa was the next Health MEC, with Mkhululi Lukhele as head of health. A high-level intervention team was appointed in November 2017 to fix the deep-rooted problems in the department. Surely this time things would improve?

But when the Covid-19 crisis hit, the managerial deficiencies were still there, and the corruption networks sprang into action. While health workers risked their lives with inadequate and sub-quality PPE, nefarious people decided to enrich themselves. And so, two more of the Honourable Premier’s appointees left in disgrace – Bandile Masuku and Professor Lukhele.

The corruption and irregularities included the R2 billion spent on urgently needed infrastructure to create new beds.

The Honourable Premier boasts that 4265 new functional beds were added after April last year, but many of the beds were not completed on time and they are in the wrong places. This is why Steve Biko Hospital was overwhelmed with tents in the parking lot.

300 beds were supposed to be completed at Jubilee Hospital, 300 at George Mukhari Hospital and 150 at Bronkhorstspruit Hospital last year. But only 95 beds could be used at Jubilee, there was not staff for the George Mukhari wards, and the Bronkhorstspruit wards are still not ready.

The big question is why extra beds were not built at central hospitals like Kalafong and Mamelodi?

And where is that Soshanguve hospital that was promised seven years ago?

The 300 beds promised for Kopanong hospital are not ready either. The extra 500 beds at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital should have made the expensive NASREC field hospital unnecessary, but they are not being used for Covid-19 patients. And the SIU is investigating the R500 million spent on the AngloGold Ashanti hospital which looks like it will be a white elephant.

The latest Auditor-General’s (AG) report shows the usual financial mismanagement, including R3 billion in irregular expenditure last year. This brings the accumulated irregular expenditure to an astounding R19 billion. The AG also found that the appointment process for the NASREC facility was irregular.

Madam Speaker, I have brought in the perspective of the imaginary Man from Mars because the Honourable Premier seems to inhabit his own planet where every year, he makes the same promises to fight corruption and fix the health department, and he is never accountable for why this never happens.

The Honourable Premier keeps making poor appointments of MECs and heads of department, and the scandals continue. In December he announced yet another high-level intervention team to fix the Gauteng Health Department.

Seven years ago, I said in this House that his challenge would be the 3 Cs – Cronyism, Cadre Deployment and Corruption.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has now said that the ANC is “accused number one” when it comes to corruption.

It is actually that obvious.

It is a systemic problem with the party in power. 

Last month, the Dutch government resigned over a child welfare fraud scandal. No lives were lost, and nobody stole any money. You can contrast it with the Esidimeni tragedy, the Bank of Lisbon fire, the PPE contracts scandal, the misspending on the AngloGold hospital – I could go on and on. 

Honourable Premier, the same reason that you reluctantly forced out Honourable Member Bandile Masuku as Health MEC applies to you as well. You have failed to stop massive corruption multiple times. You made the wrong appointments, you did not monitor closely enough, you failed to do the oversight that would have prevented all these scandals.

You do not say radical in your speeches anymore because your administration is still very much what you railed about when you first became Premier. In fact, your own term of office has more failures and scandals than your predecessor had, and she was really bad. You also have the same empty promises.

This is obvious to any objective observer, as well as the proverbial Man from Mars.

In this province, Honourable Premier, YOU are accused number one when it comes to misgovernance.

And YOU are the one who is not fit to govern.

DA hard at work in Ward 23

Over the past two weeks I have been putting pressure on City officials to come and fix a number of issues which have been plaguing residents of Ward 23 which includes Bassonia, Glenanda, Mulbarton, Liefde and Vrede, Ris Park, Mayfield Park, and Glenvista. These were mainly concerned with the state of several roads in the area, as well as issues of road safety. There is still much to do in terms of fire safety and securing our local power grid.

On Friday, 12 February I took the local Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) depot manager to see the state of roads in the area, and by Monday contractors were at work fixing potholes and resurfacing crumbling areas of tar. By the end of the week they had completed work on Swartberg Street and The Broads Road on the corner of Farnham Drive. Many roads are still in urgent need of repair and resurfacing.

In one case on Shelford Road and Hastings in Mulbarton, where Joburg Water had left a hole open for two months, we managed to get Joburg Water to do a gravel and sand fill, with the final tarring to come from the JRA in due course.

JRA acknowledged the petition by residents for speedbumps in Liefde and Vrede, but they are not suitable for these kinds of road, so they will be looking into alternatives like speed cameras. We did succeed in getting warning signs installed along Comaro Street to compel trucks and other heavy vehicles to slow down on the steep incline and switch to a lower gear.

On an oversight visit to the Kibler Park Fire Station, the Station Commander confirmed that they have no fire engines, only a special bakkie for veldfires, and that they have to rely on a fire engine from the Joburg CBD and Lawley in cases of serious fires. I will be joining the DA in lobbying for R200 million to be spent on new fire engines in today’s adjustment budget debate in Council.

Despite the R70 million upgrade at Mulbarton Substation, residents are still experiencing power outages. These are largely blamed on cable faults, but residents are encouraged to turn off their major appliances during an outage so that the grid doesn’t trip due to the heavy demand when the power is restored. The DA started the process of upgrading our aging power grid from 2016 and will continue to make sure that budgets are spent on vital upgrades, along with preventing cable theft. The entire value chain needs to be upgraded

I encourage all residents of Ward 23 to contact me on 082 572 8925 or vance@iafrica.com to help escalate your issues, until the by-elections where you will have the opportunity to elect a new, dedicated DA Councillor.