Mismanagement and failure to deliver essential health services in Mpumalanga has resulted in the Department of Health being put under curatorship on Thursday.
Mpumalanga Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu announced that this move is a result of a damning report from the auditor general, complaints from communities and the provincial public accounts committee that there is a complete breakdown of health services in the province.
Ndaweni has appointed a task team and political committee to assist Sibongile Manana, MEC for Health, to overhaul her department in the next three to five months.
Manana will be assisted with the decision-making process by Simeon Gininda, MEC for Housing and Land Administration, and Steve Mabona, MEC for Public Works.
Manana has been criticised for trying to evict a rape support organisation from the Rob Ferreira hospital on the grounds that it was providing anti-retroviral drugs to victims of sexual abuse.
The premier’s office was forced to act after a child died in a hospital where the generator failed to kick in, says Joy Letlonkane, director of communications in the premier’s office. She says the decision to place the department under curatorship came after reports of poor management as well as historical problems around medical supplies and the under- utilisation of nurses and doctors.
The Democratic Alliance is blaming Manana for the the mismanagement of the health department and has called for her removal.
Letlonkane says removing Manana is not a progressive way of dealing with problem. “All the department needs is support.”