MEC can’t simply resign after 94 deaths

THE news of the Gauteng health department’s failure to carry out its duties is no great surprise. Politicians do not go into politics for you and me, but to earn huge salaries.

The just-resigned Gauteng MEC for health earned R1.9-million a year — that is, R158 300 a month, far more than most of us earn a year!

How can somebody who has no medical qualification get that sort of salary?

Surely it is time for politicians, who all earn a lot, to be held personally liable when their departments cost others their very lives?

Nobody should be paid a huge salary by the taxpayers, and then, when it all goes wrong, just be allowed to resign. — Tom Lambe, Oakdene HOW could MECs of this quality even be hired? There may be many deaths in other public hospitals due to negligence.

Life is precious and should be respected. — Baba Saloojee, Rustenburg

Good luck, Gerrie Nel

ALLOW me to wish one of our best criminal prosecutors, Gerrie Nel, good luck in his new adventure. The formation of a private investigating unit will give us hope in the fight against maladministration and corruption in local government.

This unit will gain credibility if it does its work without any political influence.

I urge it to investigate the financial crises of all the municipalities that owe Eskom billions.

Nel and his team must not fall into the trap of focusing only on national matters, because this unit is much needed at local level.

Indeed, the people who bear the brunt of poverty and disservice are in rural and township areas.

Some of us are starting to celebrate, because we know that politicians who used their positions to frustrate investigations are in trouble.

Last but not least, this unit must investigate private companies that fail to obey the law. — Gaddafi Mokoteli, Katlehong

Blame rich doctors, clinics

ALTHOUGH medical schemes are certainly partly to blame for out-ofcontrol medical costs, the biggest blame lies at the door of clinic groups posting huge profits and rich medical specialists and doctors.

If the government was able to curtail pharmaceutical costs it can also address excessive costs in these industries. — Anne Sommers, Somerset West

Wi-Fi dies under DA

WE have a problem with Tshwane’s free Wi-Fi. One minute it works, the next it does not.

We rely heavily on it for lots of things, including looking for work. Data is expensive and we are unemployed.

It used to be very consistent before the DA took over, but since then it has been failing.

I am not trying to be political, but this is how it is. — Otsile Matlhase, Ga-Rankuwa

Nkandla money queries

HOW much money has been recovered from the contractors who feasted on the Nkandla upgrade?

And were qualified professionals — architects, quantity surveyors and civil engineers — employed on the project? If so, were they party to the inflated costs and fees? — B Rowland, Howick

Bring back apprentices

THE interview with Pali Lehohla (Q&A, January 30), in which he denied that matric standards were low, revealed a lot about the statistician-general.

He is not aware that most of those who make it to university would have passed matric through some intricate marking system.

The government must encourage companies to recruit apprentices. Otherwise money is being wasted. — E Makhate, Pietermaritzburg

‘Fake news’ about Molefe

IT was apparent from the article “From Saxonwold shebeen to MP” (January 29), that you either did not know the context in which former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe cited the Saxonwold shebeen story, or you are good at twisting stories — both of which are key ingredients of the “fake news” phenomenon.

Mr Molefe never said he had visited the Saxonwold shebeen. He was merely repeating a colleague’s story. On learning of the public protector’s report that Mr Molefe had been in Saxonwold 19 times between August and November 2015, the colleague said this was nothing compared to his frequent trips to the area.

The colleague said he went to Saxonwold every weekend. Asked by Mr Molefe what he was doing there, the colleague said he was at a shebeen.

It was in this context that Mr Molefe said the public protector did not give his exact location in Saxonwold, so Mr Molefe could have been anywhere in that area, including a shebeen.

Implied in Mr Molefe’s message is that being in Saxonwold does not necessarily mean that one is visiting the Guptas.

As if this was not enough, the Sunday Times wrote that “Molefe disputed [former public protector Thuli] Madonsela’s findings”.

Madonsela did not make any findings. She made “observations”, and recommended that a commission of inquiry be established to get to the bottom of the matter.

It’s worrying that you got information that is common knowledge to journalists and observers following this matter wrong. If you can’t get the obvious right, one wonders if the alleged plan to move Mr Molefe to parliament is just one of those fake news items that we’ve become accustomed to. — Khulu Phasiwe, national spokesman: Eskom