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The Democratic Alliance (DA) wishes Aaron Motsoaledi, the new Minister of Health, well in his new portfolio. Our public healthcare system is disintegrating and millions of South Africans who depend on it are suffering and dying from easily preventable causes. To begin to address these problems we ask that, as soon as possible, he announces his plan for three key issues.

Firstly, the management of hospitals. Hospitals have been one area where the cronyism that President Zuma has promised to eliminate has prevailed. Hospital appointments are frequently made on the basis of connections, not competence, and the result is devastating for hospitals. The review that former minister Barbara Hogan initiated into this question must be continued, and the findings must be acted on decisively.

Secondly, staff shortages and working conditions. South Africa is losing many of the doctors and nurses that it trains to other countries and the private sector because conditions of work are so poor. We need to give urgent attention to improving relations between public health staff and the government and to addressing their legitimate grievances. While it may not be possible to pay staff what they really deserve to be paid, we need to work on creating an environment in which quality people want to work.

Finally, it is important that the management of public hospitals be reconfigured so that hospital managers can do their jobs. It is bizarre that the appointment of a senior specialist at a tertiary hospital should require Cabinet-level approval. The same centralisation applies to many other matters of day-to-day hospital management. Hospitals must be freed from this centralised control. We must put capable managers in charge of hospitals, and allow them to do their jobs.