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I am disappointed that Gauteng Legislature Acting Speaker Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane has turned down my request for an urgent debate today on the need to appoint a new Health MEC as soon as possible.

In my motion I noted that Bandile Masuku was placed on special leave on 30 July 2020 and dismissed as MEC for Health on 9 October 2020. Jacob Mamabolo was appointed as Acting Health MEC while still performing as MEC for Roads and Transport.

My motivation for this debate is that it is vitally important to have a new Health MEC as soon as possible to take critical decisions with undivided attention concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and a myriad of health challenges and backlogs.

Another factor is that there are many high-level positions at the department that need to be filled urgently, including Head of Department, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Director: Supply Chain and Asset Management.

I wanted to call on Premier David Masuku to appoint a new Health MEC by the end of this week, but the Acting Speaker’s decision has protected him from accounting to the Legislature in this matter.

According to Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane, she did not deem the matter as urgent as there is no timeline for the appointment of a permanent MEC and the present Acting MEC is doing well in the job.

This is a partisan argument instead of an objective decision to allow the debate so that the Premier can make his own case for delaying the appointment.

It is unclear why Makhura has not yet appointed a new Health MEC even though his own political party has called for this post to be filled urgently. I hope it is not because he wishes to reinstate Bandile Masuku as Health MEC if he is ultimately cleared of corruption in connection with the PPE contracts. It is already clear that Masuku failed in not preventing this corruption in the first place.

Makhura needs to tell us when he intends to fill the Health MEC position which should not be held hostage to internal ANC divisions on this critical matter

Issued by DA