CORRUPTION HAS DECIMATED EASTERN CAPE
THE public healthcare system in the Eastern Cape has been in a dire condition for decades and, as some commentators have pointed out, has finally collapsed under the strain of Covid-19 infections.
Nowhere has the failure of governance been more obvious than in the Eastern Cape, where corruption, mismanagement, indifference and sheer incompetence have ensured that the province has led in Covid-19 infections.
On February 8, Premier Oscar Mabuyane made a long-overdue decision to fire former Eastern Cape Health MEC, Sindiswa Gomba. This came after numerous calls since the start of the pandemic for her to step down, but these calls fell on deaf ears resulting in an increase in corruption within the health sector, and also deaths that could have been avoided. Although the decision is welcomed, we must criticise the extent and impact of the delay in making such a decision.
After refusing to resign without a fight, Gomba has since implicated other politicians for misdemeanours (according to the Sunday Times, February 21), arguing that “she was sent by her party” and is displeased that she was alienated. This is understandable, considering that she was fired for the same incompetence and criminal allegations that the same party usually condones.
The Eastern Cape has, over the years, earned a reputation for blatant corruption that is not only criminal but disgustingly immoral, illustrating the moral decay in the ANC. The ANC in the Eastern Cape has been referred to as a “criminal enterprise masquerading as a political party”, which has forgotten its duty to fight for the dignity of black people. Ironically, Mabuyane is allegedly implicated in the same atrocities (i.e. corruption).
The main challenges facing South Africa include a crisis of leadership, in which corruption, nepotism, and cadre deployment are the hallmarks of political leadership. Systematic state capture has damaged state institutions and abandoned the once-revered concept of Ubuntu. Corruption corruption is the only sector of the Eastern Cape economy that seems to be booming.
Corruption scandals in the province have gone from astonishing to no longer surprising. There was, however, shock and disbelief at documents from OR Tambo Municipality showing an invoice worth millions for a “door-todoor Covid-19 awareness” campaign at a time when it was illegal to leave one’s home under level 5 lockdown. This is how things are done in Eastern Cape.
Massive corruption surrounding the purchase and supply of personal protective equipment has placed front line workers and their immediate families at risk, increasing infections and deaths that could have been prevented.
South Africans have been ruled by unethical leaders for decades. The most vulnerable of our people have endured oppressive policies and leaders who steal from the public. The ruling party seems to have normalised corruption. For them, it is primarily the “politics of the stomach”, and the enrichment of family and friends.
We must professionalise the public sector – a point made by the current president of the ANC during his recycled Sona speech. Appointments should be based on merit, competence, and a commitment to ethical service.
We can only hope that Gomba doesn’t get redeployed as possibly the minister of Social Development, seeing that she is still a member of Parliament and is allegedly planning to expose others within the EC government.