The Inkatha Freedom Party has lambasted the KZN MEC of Health Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo for his failure to attend a Health Portfolio Committee Meeting.
“We are very perturbed because as the Committee Members we were expecting the MEC to attend the meeting to provide us with a report on what progress has been made in implementing the SAHRC recommendations into the status of the KZN Health Department.
Despite the importance of this meeting, MEC Dhlomo did not even bother to instruct the HOD to represent him. This is actually taking us as members of the portfolio committee, for granted. His attitude is of great concern to many people who want to know about what is happening in the KZN Department of Health and how his department is intending to
make improvements on its poor performance, “said IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson on Health, Mrs Ncamisile Nkwanyana MPL.
“The Department of Health has failed to address the oncology crisis and other health issues. This department is on a slippery slope and there are no strategies to turn things around.
Furthermore, the report by the AG that was presented to us as members of the Portfolio Committee painted a gloomy picture about the Department of Health. The report identified a significant number of shortcomings that are indicative of a breakdown in internal controls that the department has failed to correct.
“The AG was unable to determine the full extent of the irregular expenditure stated at R7.24 billion, and effective steps were not taken to prevent irregular expenditure as required by section 38 of the PFMA and Treasury regulations.
The Department also underspent its HIV/Aids conditional grant in contravention of section 71 of DoRA. The Department didn’t have adequate performance management
systems to maintain records to enable reliable reporting achievement as appropriate audit could not be provided in some instances while in other cases the evidence provided didn’t agree to the recorded achievements,” continued Mrs Nkwanyana.
“The KZN Health Department is shambles. We have been questioning the competence and integrity of MEC Dhlomo and about the poor state of services offered by provincial hospitals but the MEC is turning a blind eye and our concerns are falling on deaf ears.
We re-iterate our call that it is high time NOW for the ANC provincial leadership to make a hard decision of whether it save lives of people who are affected by the shortage of oncologists, and broken CT scanners in public hospitals or it prefers to allow Dr Sbongiseni Dhlomo to continue as MEC,”concluded Mrs Nkwanyana.
Issued by:
Mrs Ncamisile Nkwanyana MPL
IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson on Health
078 302 3991