Honourable Speaker, Mr Kenny Mmoiemang;
Honourable Deputy Speaker, Ms Juanita Beukes;
Honourable Premier, Ms Sylvia Lucas;
Honourable Members of the Executive Council;
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health, Hon. Dr Dithebe;
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature; I
nvited guests;
Managers from the department;
Ladies and gentlemen
It is an honour and a privilege to present to this Honourable House, the 2015/16 Vote 10 Budget Policy Statement of the Department of Health for your consideration and approval.
The National Development Plan merely reflects the exhortations from the real congress of the people in 1955, when people from all kinds demanded society that place human dignity above all and adopted the freedom charter.
The President of the Country rightfully declared the year 2015, as a year to celebrate the Freedom Charter and Unity in Action to advance Economic Freedom.
It is in this context that, we as custodians of Health in the province continue to be guided by what the Freedom Charter dictates that- ‘free medical care and hospitalisation shall be provided to all, with special care for mothers and young children’.
This remains our ultimate dream as South Africans, as we strive towards providing quality health care to our people.
It was the ANC that said South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and today it’s still the ANC that wants blacks and white and foreigners residing in South Africa to reside in harmony and peace.
Honourable Speaker, the elements of cultural change understandably brings fear, uncertainty and apprehension. However, no organisation or structure, public or private, survives over the long term if it can’t reinvent itself.
Successful change is based on re-defining and re-interpreting existing norms and values, and developing commitments to new ones. Ordinarily, culture doesn’t change quickly, and certainly not overnight, but it becomes even more difficult where there is resistance.
In many ways our department has lost its direction and a culture of self-interest, laziness, corruption, nepotism, maladministration and confusion has set in. This culture has resulted in a situation where productivity declines, morale deteriorates, valued employees leave the department, and projects pass their deadline and go over budget.
There is increased absenteeism, general lack of enthusiasm, growing levels of conflict amongst team leaders, and obvious unhappiness. Morale and motivation can fall when people are unclear about what they should be doing or what their manager’s expectations of them are. This lack of direction is disorienting and disheartening.
In my assessment of the situation, after proper diagnosis of the problems, I have come to realise that poor communication is one of the root causes of low morale and disunity amongst team leaders.
I have requested that all the necessary management structures and committees be activated and be fully functional. I am still of the view that the prognosis for this department is promising and it will fully recover if all the plans we have, are properly implemented.
Finances
Budget 2015/16
Honourable Speaker, Treasury has allocated R4 billion to the department this year, increasing to R4.3 billion over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework. The anticipated growth in expenditure over this period is 5.2 per cent.
It is important to report that Treasury has managed to protect the department from the budget cuts faced by most other departments. An amount of R69 million was awarded to maintain the baseline and growth. However, the department will have to realise savings internally to fund the Improvement in Conditions of Service not provided for in the budget.
