Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela will this week interface with communities of the Limpopo about the health, poverty and general issues service delivery issues in their province.
The Public Protector will be in the province as part of her office’s on-going national stakeholder dialogue, which aims to help strengthen government’s ability to deliver on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), paying special attention to matters of health and poverty. Improving health and reducing hunger and poverty are amongst the eight MDGs South Africa committed to achieving by 2015.
The Public Protector has already visited seven provinces. The critical areas under the microscope include 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.
On poverty, the Public Protector looks at whether maladministration has hampered any government programmes that are aimed at alleviating poverty. These include social grants and the processing of applications for important documents such as IDs, among other things.
During her three-day stay in the province, the Public Protector will engage with various stakeholders, including members of provincial legislatures, government, traditional authorities, civil society, political parties, organised women groupings and the general public. She will also conduct unannounced visit at pre-identified healthcare facilities to interact face-to-face with healthcare professionals and patients.
The Public Protector’s first stop in the province will be in Thohoyandou on Tuesday where she will preside over a public hearing on poverty and health matters. The event will be attended by local communities.
The Public Protector will then proceed to Polokwane on Wednesday, where she will interact with academics, chief executives from public hospitals, representatives of provincial executives and those from the health sector NGOs.
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 recognizing 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.
The first event will take place as follows:
Date: Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Time: 10h00
Venue: Town Hall, Thohoyandou
NB – On the above date, the Public Protector will arrive unannounced at a Tshilidzini Hospital, at 07:30. She will interact with both patients and staff about their challenges concerning the provision of quality healthcare services. This detail may not be published prior to the visit.
The second event will take place as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Time: 10h00
Venue: Bolivia Hotel, Polokwane
NB – On the above date, the Public Protector will arrive unannounced at Mankweng Hospital Complex, at 07:30. She will interact with both patients and staff about their challenges concerning the provision of quality healthcare services. This detail may not be published prior to the visit.
All the above events are open to the media. 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 in the province #PPinLim.
For more information contact:
Kgalalelo Masibi
Spokesperson: Public Protector South Africa
Cell: 079 507 0399
Tel: 012 366 7153
Email: kgalalelom@pprotect.org
