Public Protector stakeholder dialogue heads to Western Cape

Maladministration and its role in poverty and the provision of poor health services will take a center stage when Public Protector Adv. Thuli Madonsela visits the Western Cape next week. The Public Protector will be in the province as of Monday, 22 July 2013. The visit is part of her office’s ongoing stakeholder consultative dialogue, which aims to help strengthen government’s ability to deliver on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) . Improving health and reducing hunger and poverty are among the 8 MDGs South Africa committed to achieve by 2015.

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. During her two-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 an unannounced site-visit to some of the identified healthcare facilities to interact first-hand with healthcare professionals and patients.

The Public Protector’s first stop in the province will be in Cape Town on Monday where she will interface with students of the University of Cape Town (UCT) on “The Role of Students in creating a society of active citizens. She will be part of a panel which will include among others Editor in Chief of City Press newspaper Ms Ferial Haffajee and Deputy Vice Chancellor of UCT, Prof Crain Soudien.

The Public Protector will then proceed to Paarl on Tuesday where she will preside over a public hearing on poverty and health matters. The visit will be concluded with a formal stakeholder meeting to be attended by chief executives from public hospitals, academics, provincial executives and representatives of the health sector NGOs in Cape Town on 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 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 on infant mortality, procurement and other health-related complaints raised during 2012 Stakeholder Consultative Dialogue.

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

The meeting with students will take place as follows:

The outreach event will take place as follows:

The formal stakeholder event will be held as follows:

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 event #publicprotectorstakeholder2013

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