Eastern Cape Oversight visit Report

Meeting report

Opening remarks

The Chairperson welcomed the members to meeting and noted that the Committee would consider and adopt its Eastern Cape Oversight visit Report and outstanding minutes. He said he would rush through some of the things because some members had requested to be excused early to attend other matters. He asked if there were any members from the Department present in the meeting.

Mr Johannes Kgatla, Parliamentary Liaison Officer, Department of Health, said the Department was usually not invited to participate in meetings for adoption of reports.

The Chairperson thanked Mr Kgatla for reminding him and read the rules of virtual meetings.

Mr T Munyai (ANC) wanted to know why the Department was not invited and how they would know of the issues they needed to attend to.

The Chairperson asked the Committee Secretary to explain.

Ms Vuyokazi Majalamba, Committee Secretary, explained that the Committee did not invite the Department or the provinces when it adopts reports as they are published in the ATC and go to the House, where the Ministry and the MECs of the provinces will access them.

Committee’s Eastern Cape Oversight visit Report

The Chairperson read through the report for consideration by the members.

Mr Munyai said it must also be noted that some of the infrastructure that was inherited by the hospitals was from the Apartheid era and that the legislature and members of Parliament should not wallow in distress at the enormity of the challenges and must face the challenges through policy interventions and request the Ministry of Health’s intervention working closely with the MEC of health in the Eastern Cape. Challenges are not resolved by throwing paint politics in the public gallery as some may do. Giving the report to the Ministry after its adoption will help in immediate intervention on all issues raised in the report rather than waiting for political debate in the National Assembly while the status quo remains. The way the Portfolio Committee works going forward must be changed.

The MEC should be assisted to apply for the Treasury Infrastructure Fund and the Neighbourhood Fund to develop and renew the hospitals and the neighbourhoods that are close to the hospitals. The proposals made for interventions were not about section 139 interventions because opportunists would run for easy solutions because they do not know that there is no easy road to freedom. He recommended that the Committee should spend its next Nelson Mandela Commemoration Day cleaning the Livingstone Hospital out of their own pockets because that would encourage all the people of the area. He said Dr Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro must be congratulated for the Doctor’s Exchange Programme because the Cubans showed this country how little funds can do because whilst they were waiting for digitisation, the Cuban Doctors used computer compact disks to store the data of cardiology patients, including children and adults. The research must be shared with the Committee so that the Ministry could begin to act as soon as possible.

He said people must be encouraged when they perform well because the conditions they worked under were very challenging as reflected in the report. The task of Members of Parliament was not to physically intervene but to do oversight hold the Ministry accountable and ensure that there are interventions to resolve issues. Regular reports by the Ministry and the MECs of provinces on the progress relating to the work being done to turn around the situation in the Hospitals are crucial. The Committee’s visit to the Eastern Cape was also encouraged by the outcome of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigations, so the Committee must ensure that it scrutinises the medico-legal claims because the infrastructure in the hospitals was the basis for huge medico-legal claims and if the situation is not turned around, it could have dire consequences.

There must also be an appreciation of the issue of the national question to consider the talent of the diverse community of Gqeberha, including the Coloured and White communities. It was also unacceptable to have one CEO operating in two hospitals. He said the interventions must start as soon as the report was adopted and not wait for the ATC and there must be a mechanism to have the Ministry start acting immediately. He said the situation in the hospitals did not look good and it was good that the Committee went there and saw the situation on its own because the oversight visit was an eye-opener.  

Dr S Thembekwayo (EFF) said the report was a true reflection of what the Committee saw in the Eastern Cape Hospitals as they were all psychologically disturbed by what they saw in some instances during the visit. The Committee had asked what the purpose of constructing new buildings while the buildings that existed were still strong irrespective of the era when they were built. The Committee recommended that the buildings should rather be improved, especially the dilapidated ones. The Committee had also given the hospitals three months to revert to it to report on the progress of the upgrades they were making and that there should be constant communication with the Committee.

Mr P van Staden (FF+) was impressed with the report as it was a true reflection of what happened during the visit. He agreed with Dr Thembekwayo’s remarks about the infrastructure of the buildings.

Ms A Gela (ANC) agreed that the report reflected what happened during the oversight and agreed with Mr Munyai that there must be a way to fast-track the Department and Ministry’s response on the appointment of CEOs in all the hospitals and the issue of the organogram to appoint clinical and non-clinical staff so that work could be done. She appreciated the work done by the newly appointed MEC of Health in the Eastern Cape since her appointment and was looking forward to more interventions that she would introduce.

Mr N Xaba (ANC) also felt the report was a true reflection of what happened during the visit and supported Mr Munyai’s suggestion about Mandela Day. He was touched by the incident of Nomatola Faleni who was 10 days late for giving birth, and after the Committee’s visit, her matter was attended to and he received the news that she finally had her child. He agreed that good work must be commended and supported the report.

Ms M Clarke (DA) said the report was a true reflection of what they observed and supported the addition of the recommendations from Dr Thembekwayo and the hospital buildings. She said it was a real eye-opener going to the hospitals and realising the things happening in state healthcare and felt the Committee could do a lot more visits as many of the state hospitals were not in a good state. Although there were pockets of excellence in the Eastern Cape, which must be acknowledged, the Committee need to do more oversight and keep the executive accountable for what was happening in the state healthcare facilities. She supported the report. 

The Chairperson read through the recommendations that were raised in the report, including the additions made by members during the meeting.

Dr Thembekwayo thanked the Committee Secretariat for compiling the report as they did not sleep during the visit while capturing the details of what happened. She added that a lot of people complained that they had a lot of visits from people coming from various entities of the Department of Health, including the National DoH, but they never returned to give feedback or to monitor whatever intervention they proposed, so the Committee promised them that they would do things differently. She said the EFF supported the report with the amendments that were made.

Mr Munyai said the building of new infrastructure should not be left out of the report because it would be short-sighted of the Committee to not consider the migration mobility from other areas of the Eastern Cape to Gqeberha. He said there was a marginalisation of Doctors of coloured and white descent in the Gqeberha area and they should not be overlooked for jobs when they have the skills and education. He also supported the report with those minor amendments.

Ms Gela also appreciated the Committee Support Staff for the report and Mr Kgatla from the Department, who was also part of the delegation that visited the Eastern Cape. She also appreciated the Chairperson for his leadership throughout the years.

Mr Xaba shared the same sentiments as Ms Gela and expressed his support for the report.

Mr E Siwela (ANC) also shared the same sentiments and expressed his support for the report.

Ms Clarke also shared the same sentiments.

The Chairperson supported Mr Munyai’s recommendation of the employment of the people from the nearby region and added it to the recommendations and asked for a mover and seconder for the adoption of the report.

Ms Gela moved for the adoption of the report and was seconded by Mr Xaba.

The report was adopted with minor amendments and additional recommendations.

Consideration and adoption of minutes.

The Committee adopted the minutes dated 19 October 2022, 26 October 2022, 02 November 2022, 09 November 2022, 16 November 2022, 17 November 2022, 22 November 2022, and 30 November 2022 with no amendments.

Concluding remarks

The Chairperson allowed the members and the Committee Support Staff to share their messages for the December holidays with each other. He thanked all the members and support staff for their hard work during the year and wished them good rest, health, and safety for the holidays.

The meeting was adjourned.