Gauteng Premier's failure to fire Health MEC shows he doesn't listen and doesn’t care
2 December 2016
The Honourable Premier says in the introduction to the Annual Report: "We are unrelenting in our drive to becoming an activist government - a caring, listening and responsive government".
I am going to focus on one glaring example where the Honourable Premier has ducked a decision that would be natural and easy in any government sensitive about its image and sensitive to public demands for justice and accountability.
We all know that there have been 37 confirmed deaths of psychiatric patients in a very short period after they were sent to unsuitable NGOs after the Health Department's cancellation of the contract with Life Healthcare Esidimeni.
I have called for Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu to resign or be fired, and so have many others.
There has been an attack on me by SACP Provincial Secretary Jacob Mamabolo who doesn't like what he calls my "highly personalized attacks" on MEC Mahlangu.
Let us look at what other people are saying about MEC Mahlangu.
The Sunday Times put the issue well in an editorial on 18 September under the headline "Tragedy a chance for GP ANC to show up", saying as follows:
"It is a scandal that Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu remains in her job despite her department being implicated in the deaths ... here is a tragedy that requires the ANC-led provincial government to 'listen' to the cries of the families who have lost loved ones ... If Premier David Makhura is serious about his government getting its act together, he will immediately remove the Health MEC".
The relatives of the deceased are a lot more blunt.
They have demonstrated outside the head office of the department with posters that declare #QedaniMustFall
The chairperson of the family committee Andrew Peterson has said "the department has got blood on its hand and someone should be held accountable".
The Young Nurses Indaba say that MEC Mahlangu should be charged with medical negligence and step down.
The SA Medical Association has called on the MEC to do the honourable thing and resign following the death of the patients.
Other organizations that want the MEC to go include the Treatment Action Campaign, Section 27, SA Depression and Anxiety Group, SA Mental Health Federation, and the SA Health Workers Congress.
Newspapers that want her to go include The Star, the Times, Citizen, Sowetan, City Press and the Mail and Guardian.
Against all these, who is it that wants her to stay?
It is the Honourable MEC herself and the Premier who keeps her in office, and the SACP which is too scared to stand for election on its own but scavenges the ANC to get high positions.
The fact that I and many others are holding the Health MEC personally accountable is because this is the essence of democracy.
It is very sad that few politicians in our country do the honourable thing and resign when wrongdoing is uncovered.
We did have one example in this province shortly after Nomvula Mokonyane was inaugurated as premier. In 2009, she sacked her MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko over the bungled purchase of a R920 000 Mercedes Benz.
This set a high standard that unfortunately has not been followed since.
It took 50 days for Local Government MEC Humphrey Mmemezi to resign after being caught abusing his government credit card.
Honourable Premier, you removed Sports, Arts, Recreation and Culture MEC Molebatse Bopape where no deaths were involved.
You didn't wait for the outcome of an inquiry before you removed her.
So why have you not acted against the Health MEC where the matter is far more serious because people have died?
I am sorry to say that you have missed what could have been a defining moment of your premiership where you could have showed that your provincial government really does care and really does listen.
You have missed the opportunity to show that the ANC in Gauteng is genuinely different from the ANC that refuses to hold President Jacob Zuma to account, and others who get away with outrageous things.
Honourable Premier, you are diminished by your inactivity in this matter, and it diminishes your office as well.
Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 2 December 2016
