Minister Mkhize should publish provincial plans to deal with Covid-19 rising cases
22 October 2020
Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbite by SiviweGwarube MP.
The Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, has raised the alarm on a resurgence of new Covid-19 cases in South Africa. He has stated that the country has seen a 10% increase of cases over the last 14 days. While this is still far from the Department of Health’s definition of a resurgence which would amount to a 20% increase of active cases, it is critical that the country is assured of each province’s readiness to deal with a spike in cases.
This is why the Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for an urgent tabling of all 9 provincial contingency plans to mount a credible response to this. The reality is that South Africa can ill-afford to impose job-killing restrictions again. We need to be assured that the provinces will be able to deal with an increase in active cases and hospital admissions.
We are also acutely aware that provinces such as the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Free State battled with managing active Covid-19 cases over the past several months. This was due to poor governance; rampant corruption and inadequate infrastructure. We cannot have a repeat of people fighting each other for oxygen tanks and losing their lives where it is completely avoidable like we saw in the Eastern Cape.