No sign of ‘Batho Pele’

LAST week I took my son to the Duncan Village community health centre for a medical health check as required by the provincial government before he undergoes ukweluka.

What surprised me was that although everyone goes to the same reception area for administrative processing, when you ask about your procedure, the civil servants on the help desk know nothing.

I was told to wait in the queue with everyone else visiting the centre for different purposes.

At the end of this, I was told to bring a copy of his birth certificate but after three hours in the queue, when they finally opened a folder, the admin officer told me that they need his ID, not his birth certificate. I came back on the following day with the required documents, and had to spend another two-and-a-half hours in the queue.

At the end of that, I was told that the person responsible for that procedure was not in.

I called the provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo to lodge a complaint.

He referred me to the district health director, who simply referred me to another person.

In my experience, the principle of Batho Pele does not exist in that department. They did not care about the people they were serving.

Many people are losing hope in our system and the poor and vulnerable people are the most affected ones.

Beware the wisdom of the masses, people are voting with their feet. — Mpumzi, via e-mail