The IFP, as the Official Opposition in the KZN Legislature, is not surprised that the KZN MEC for Health, Nomagugu Simelane, has not fulfilled her pledge to resolve the electricity issues in provincial healthcare facilities.
The IFP’s concerns deepened following reports that residents are struggling to access healthcare services in Danny Dalton Clinic in Ulundi due to lack of electricity. The Clinic has no backup generator.
It is very clear that the situation at Danny Dalton Clinic requires urgent attention. The question is: what happened to Health MEC Simelane’s promise, made in April this year, that she would prioritise healthcare facilities?
There needs to be far greater accountability from KZN Department of Heath when it comes to this and similar facilities. This is supposedly ‘a government that cares’, yet it repeatedly fails to look after the most helpless members of our society.
This is yet more proof that the KZN Health Department is in shambles and in dire need of competent leadership. During the 2023 Budget Policy Statement on 19 April 2023, the MEC stated: “…we have decided to implement various alternative energy sources in our different facilities. In clinics that have not bought generators, we will be sourcing inverters and solar panels. In hospitals, we will be using a hybrid system involving generators, inverters, and solar panels.”
As the IFP, the MEC led us to believe that electricity challenges would be addressed in KZN healthcare facilities.
This comes against the backdrop of the R50.7 billion that has been allocated to the KZN Health Department for the 2023/24 Financial Year. On Thursday, 30 November 2023, a further R1.5 billion was allocated to the same Department during the Adjustment Budget present by the KZN MEC for Finance, Peggy Nkonyeni.
The IFP will pursue this matter through Written Parliamentary Questions. We believe that the MEC must be held accountable for her unfulfilled promises made to the public. We expect the MEC to make good on her commitments regarding the supply of generators, inverters, and solar panels in healthcare facilities, as the country grapples with never-ending loadshedding due to the incompetent ANC-led government and Eskom.
The IFP remains the watchdog of the KZN provincial government. We will continue to fight for the rights of our most vulnerable citizens, who have been neglected and left to fend for themselves by the uncaring KZN ANC-led provincial government.
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Contact
Mrs Ncamisile Nkwanyana MPL
IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson for Health
078 302 3991
