DA WELCOMES NEW GAUTENG HEALTH HEAD

I heartily welcome the appointment of Dr Barney Selebano as the new Head of the Gauteng Health Department.

He is well-qualified and experienced, but faces a daunting task to fix a dysfunctional department.

I am encouraged that Selebano has private sector experience as the former CEO of the Netcare Rand Hospital, and hopefully he will partner with the private health sector in improving health in Gauteng.

I believe that he has integrity as well, which is very important as corruption in the department needs to be dealt with ruthlessly.

Selebano is the fifth department head in six years. Dr Hugh Gosnell left in September last year for unexplained reasons, and previous heads were Sybil Ngcobo who left in 2010 under a cloud, Kamy Chetty who left for unexplained reasons in 2011, and Nomonde Xundu who resigned in 2012.

I hope that Selebano’s appointment bring stability to this department which desperately needs stable and strong leadership.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, June 4 2015