COSATU welcomes government's tough stand against provincial maladministration

The Congress of South African Trade Unions welcomes the Cabinet intervention to take over five departments in Limpopo, Health in Gauteng and others in the Free State.

We have in the past called for thoroughgoing investigations into some Limpopo departments and we would be happy for any bail-out to be linked to arrests and the dismissal of the culprits behind the mess.

We are marching in Limpopo against corruption, and must emphasise that our march has nothing to do with ANC factional battles linked to the ANC conference. We have marched there in the past we will continue to march in the future as long we believe there is reason to march against corruption.

We insist there must be political responsibility. We call for the arrest of the MEC responsible for the crisis that Gauteng residents have to live with, though we believe that the current MEC of Health inherited this mess from the previous MEC, Brian Hlongwa.

The Gauteng Department of Health has moved from being one of the best in the country to the current crisis - flea-ridden premises, overloaded staff and unpaid doctors, and a failure to pay service providers in time, leading to chronic shortage of medicines and other essentials.

COSATU is determined to put a stop to corruption, maladministration and the misuse of public funds and will support the government's welcome strong steps to stop the rot.

Statement issued by Patrick Craven, COSATU national spokesperson, December 6 2011

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter