DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH Who is in control?
THE PROVINCE is being kept in the dark over whether the Department of Health is still in the doldrums after it was placed under administration by the premier in November last year.
This was done following regular expenditure of R1.7 billion during the 2015/16 financial year.
But yesterday no one was able to confirm whether the department was, in fact, under administration, or whether Provincial Treasury was still in control of the budget to oversee the financial management of the department.
The Office of the Premier referred media enquiries back to the Department of Health and Treasury, while the Department of Health was not able to divulge any more information and directed the enquiry to Treasury.
Provincial Treasury did not respond.
To add to the confusion, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) questioned a R35 million tender that was awarded for the installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the Kimberley Hospital.
Nehawu branch secretary, Moleme Moleme, stated that while the department was supposedly still under administration, the security tender was awarded without being advertised.
“There have been countless task teams established to clean up the department and yet corruption continues to flourish. We do not even know if the cameras are working. The unions are also in the dark concerning the administration of the department.”
According to Moleme, 60 employees from Provincial Treasury were deployed to the Department of Health on Tuesday on salary level 5.
“They were supposedly deployed from another department to improve the negative audit outcomes, revenue collection, data processing and data capturing. We want to know how they were appointed as the posts were never advertised and cannot be classified as critical.”
The union has, in the past, argued that contract workers should be employed permanently.
“There are labour implications and the union was not consulted. There was a priority to fill existing vacant and funded posts.”
Staff members at the Department of Health stated that the newly appointed employees must still be trained, although they were already earning more than them.
DA spokesperson for Health, Isak Fritz, also said that conflicting information existed over the current status of the Department of Health.
“Steven Jonkers was appointed as an administrator in March when the department was placed under administration. He was subsequently appointed as HOD for Health as from August 1.”
Fritz said the department had indicated that it was “trying to be placed under administration”, during a portfolio committee meeting.
“They wanted Treasury to gain a first-hand understanding of their financial woes but stated that they had not succeeded.
“Meanwhile, articles in the media stated that the premier had placed the department under administration, however, this was never confirmed in any committee meetings.”
Fritz pointed out that the department remained shrouded in secrecy.
“I have written to Premier Sylvia Lucas, the MEC for Health, Lebogang Motlhaping, as well as the MEC for Finance, Mac Jack, in an effort to gain clarity around the department being placed under administration. We need to know what interventions it entails.
“If the department is indeed under administration, it makes no sense as to why the ANC would deploy one of its cadres, with a dodgy track record in public financial management, to the helm of Health without even advertising the post.”
Spokesperson for the Department of Health, Lebogang Majaha, stated that an urgent meeting was convened by the MEC with Nehawu yesterday afternoon.
“Most of the issues have been resolved. Follow-up meetings will be arranged to address any other outstanding issues.”
He was not able to respond to enquiries regarding the R35 million CCTV tender, or if a new administrator had been appointed to replace Jonkers or the CEO of the Kimberley Hospital, following the resignation of Gordon Moncho.
The department also failed to comment on whether any matters that were uncovered by the forensic investigators and labour relations experts were ever rectified.