Public Protector Thuli Madonsela will conclude the community public hearing leg of her office’s National Stakeholder Dialogue in Free State next week. She will then shift focus on the same issues to other stakeholders, including political parties, women interest groups and others.
Since June, the Public Protector has been on a nationwide campaign listening to communities about the problems they faced on health and poverty. She was met with complaints ranging from long queues, shortage of staff, shortage of drugs/medication, unfriendly staff at healthcare facilities and other service delivery issues. The aim of the dialogue is to help strengthen government’s ability to deliver on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations. Improving health and reducing hunger and poverty are among the eight MDGs our country committed to achieve by 2015.
The critical areas under scrutiny are infant mortality, management of healthcare facilities (such as hospitals and clinics), quality of care, resources, procurement, working conditions of staff and other general health issues. During her three-day stay in the Free State, the Public Protector will engage with various stakeholders, including members of provincial legislatures, government, traditional authorities, civil society and the general public. She will also conduct unannounced site-visits to some of the identified healthcare facilities to interact first-hand with healthcare professionals and patients.
Her first stop in the province will be in Trompsburg on Tuesday where she will preside over a public hearing with communities on health problems they are experiencing in their area. She will then proceed to Bloemfontein on Wednesday where she will have a formal stakeholder meeting with chief executives from public hospitals, academics, provincial executives and representatives of the health sector NGOs. On Thursday, the Public Protector will have a meeting with the provincial legislature where she will report to the provincial executives on the complaints she would have received on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The focus of this year’s dialogue is informed by the complaints the Public Protector has been receiving and newspaper reports on the current state of affairs in health facilities such as hospitals and clinics. There have also been sporadic complaints from health caregivers such as doctors. While recognising the excellent work done by the Department of Health, the public hearings seek to reinforce that work by focusing on trends in maladministration, which have resulted in three systemic investigations the Public Protector is currently conducting on infant mortality, procurement and other health-related complaints raised during 2012 Stakeholder Consultative Dialogue.
While the dialogue main focus is on health, members of the public will also have an opportunity to discuss other issues relating to any service or conduct failure by organs of state.
The outreach event will take place as follows:
Date: Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Venue: Mmadikgetla Community hall, Trompsburg
Time: 10h00
The formal stakeholder event will be held as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Venue: Raadsaal, Bloemfontein
Time: 10h00
The meeting with legislature will take place as follows:
Date: Thursday, 5 September 2013
Venue: Raadsaal, Bloemfontein
Time: 10h00
Both events are open to the media and members of the media can confirm attendance with Mr Oupa Segalwe on 072 264 3273 or by mail to oupas@pprotect.org or Mr Salvation Mokgatlhe on 079 031 5589 or by mail to salvationm@pprotect.org.
Official #hashtag for the visit is #PPinFS
For more information, contact:
Kgalalelo Masibi (Ms)
Spokesperson: Public Protector South Africa
Tel: 012 366 7153
Cell: 079 507 0399
E-mail: kgalalelom@pprotect.org
