Public Protector dialogue comes to Gauteng

Gauteng communities will, from Monday, have an opportunity to interact directly with Public Protector Adv. Thuli Madonsela on service delivery matters, particularly those relating to health care and poverty.

The Public Protector will lend communities an ear as part of her office’s ongoing national stakeholder dialogue and public hearing, which seek to strengthen government’s ability to deliver on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The process puts greater emphasis on health and poverty eradication.

The public hearing aspect of it seeks to enrich the Public Protector’s ongoing systemic investigations on health matters. Critical areas under the Public Protector’s 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. The campaign is also looking at whether there is a direct link between maladministration, poor provision of health services and poverty.

During the dialogue, the Public Protector engages with various stakeholders, including members of provincial legislature, government officials, traditional authorities, civil society, political parties, organised women groupings and the general public to get a sense of the problems they experience.

The Public Protector’s first stop in the province will be in Mogale City on Monday, where she will interface with ordinary members of the public. She will then have a formal meeting with chief executives from public hospitals, academics, provincial executives and representatives of the health sector NGOs in Johannesburg on Tuesday. At the meeting, the Public Protector will share with the provincial executive, complaints she would have received from communities on Monday and ask for a commitment from the executive to attend to the people’s complaints. The Public Protector will conclude the Gauteng leg of her dialogue with an outreach clinic in Orange Farm on Wednesday.

The Public Protector has already visited North West, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, where she was met with complaints ranging from lack of medicine in some facilities, short operating hours, lack of medical equipment, shortage of staff and ill-treatment of patients by medical staff. She recognizes the excellent work done by the Department of Health and through the dialogue, her office seeks to reinforce that work by focusing on trends in maladministration, which have resulted in the systemic investigations she is currently conducting.

While the dialogue’s main focus is on health, members of the public will also have an opportunity to discuss other issues relating to service or conduct failure by organs of state.

The first event will take place as follows:

NB. On this day at 07:30, the Public Protector will conduct an unannounced visit at Leratong Hospital to interact with patients and staff, checking up on the levels of service, among other things. She will conduct a similar visit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in the afternoon, from 3pm. Please note that this detail is not for publication ahead of the visit. The media is however welcome to join the Public Protector on the visit.

The second event will be held as follows:

The outreach event will be held as follows:

The 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

An official #hashtag for the Gauteng leg of the stakeholder consultative dialogue 2013 is #PPinGP

For more information, contact:

Kgalalelo Masibi (Ms)
Spokesperson: Public Protector South Africa
012 366 7153
079 507 0399
kgalalelom@pprotect.org
www.publicprotector.org
0800 11 20 40