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Sambatha embarks on EVDS outreach program as the province reach perilous phase

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  • Picture: North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha
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By OBAKENG MAJE

North West is one of four provinces that have reached a perilous phase on COVID-19 infections. The country continues to experience a surge of COVID-19 infections and the most hard-hit provinces are Gauteng with 5902 new cases reported in a day, Western Cape with 987 new cases, while Free State has experienced 418 new cases.

North West has reported 515 new COVID-19 cases thus far. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province is 81603 with 70244 people having recovered from the coronavirus, with 86.1% recovery rate and 2082 deaths.

North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha who is expected to visit Tshepong Hospital and Vaal in Klerksdorp on a sites visit, said now the province has a total of 9277 active cases.

“We will continue with a drive to enable thousands of rural communities to access the EVDS in order for them to access the vaccine. This door-to-door campaign will assist with registration for vaccination of persons aged between 60 and above, and will be targeting rural areas of the province.

“The door-to-door campaign assisted registration gained momentum last week with visits to Maquassi Hills, Moses Kotane, Ramotshere Moilwa, and Kagisano Molopo local municipalities. Our phase 2 vaccination outreach meant to extend accessibility to vaccines by mobilising people in a form of a door-to-door campaign, loud hailing and visiting places where more people converge was very helpful in bringing more attention to the vaccination programs,” he said. 

Sambatha further said, the door-to-door outreach campaign yielded positive results, which saw 1076 vaccinations administered. He added that the assisted registration teams are targeting persons with limited access to the system due to lack of required gadgets and network connectivity to the internet.

“The department is currently administering vaccination at fifteen active static sites across the province located in its facilities as well as augmented by the mobile outreach teams.

“On Tuesday, we will be visiting Moretele, while on Wednesday, we will be in Taung. We will wrap up our campaign in Mahikeng on Thursday. As the province continues to experience a serious surge of COVID-19 cases, all strict COVID-19 prevention protocols will be adhered to during these door-to-door campaigns,” said Sambatha.

Meanwhile, the TB ambassador, Thabo Pelesane also encourages the public to adhere to rules and regulations of COVID-19 to save lives.

“In 2008, a hospital bed was booked for me to permanently remove my right lung, but by the grace of God, the operation was cancelled and I was sent home with both lungs intact.

“I lived to tell the tale of survival and to inspire hope to others, most were not as fortunate as me. In 2014, I accepted a responsibility to serve for free as a TB Ambassador and a survivor,” said Pelesane.  

He said he appeared on national TB posters and many billboards countrywide. Pelesane added that in 2019, he was invited to share his inspirational story with men in India on TB stigma.

“Today, we are dealing with a pandemic called COVID-19 that many take for granted, yet, it has been proven to be equally deadly as TB. At the beginning of lockdown, we noticed rising statistics until we realised that our friends, families, neighbours, and colleagues are dying from this pandemic.  

“In 2020, our kids were safe and in 2021 they are becoming COVID-19 targets. Please, be safe and let us comply with all regulations and take care of ourselves and those we love because COVID-19 is deadly.

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Shocking: Unpaid invoices worth millions uncovered at North West medical depot

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MEC Sambatha

By BAKANG MOKOTO

North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha said ‘heads will roll’ after unpaid invoices worth millions uncovered at the Mmabatho Medical depot on Wednesday. Sambatha said the unpaid invoices belong to more than fifty companies and date back from 2014.

“The medical depot could not pay companies as invoices were missing. As a result, companies stopped supplying medication which has affected stock level at the medical depot. A decision was then made to raid the offices and block workers from accessing the depot. The search uncovered a number of unpaid invoices and the search continues.

“One unpaid invoice worth over R16 million was found at the medical depot drawer. The department can confirm that all the invoices will be verified before payment being processed,” Sambatha said.

He added that the non-payment of suppliers affected his department because they were unable to get enough supply of medicine from the same companies. Sambatha said there were people who were employed by the government to process those invoices, but they failed dismay to perform their duties.

“This technically leads to unavailability of medicine in the medical depot. The raid now provides the management of the department to work out a plan on how to catch up with the payment of suppliers. This will lead to improved availability of medicine which will then be delivered to clinics and hospitals where they are needed the most.

“It breaks my heart to know that there are people in the department who decided to withhold payment of medicine, which should be assisting our parents, family members, and communities at large. It is treasonous and the situation has to be corrected,” he said.

Sambatha further said when the administration team arrived at the department back in 2018, the stock level of essential medicine was at 64% and it was improved to around 85% through intervention. However, he said the level started dropping at the beginning of the year and some companies stopped delivering medicine in March 2020 citing non-payment.

“The stock levels did not change despite money being made available in April 2020. The department then got technical assistance to speed up payment of suppliers. Through that intervention, it has come to the attention of the department that a number of invoices are missing.

“We have also noted that whenever a decision is made to correct the situation at the medical depot, an anonymous letter always surfaces. We will know the identity of the author and address the matter at an appropriate platform,” he said.

Meanwhile, four managers at the medical depot and the provincial office in Mahikeng respectively have since been put on precautionary suspension following alleged mismanagement involving expired medication, depot, and staff. He said a plan to improve delivery timelines and turnaround is in place.

“It involves direct deliveries of medication to hospitals while the medical depot will now deliver directly to clinics,” said Sambatha.

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R103m paid before work done

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They paid a firm of consulting engineers R103m before it did any work and awarded it the contract without it going to tender.

This week was the turn of North West public works department officials to face a late-night grilling in the provincial legislature from a portfolio committee. Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) demanded to know why they went “all the way to Mpumalanga” in March last year to find a company to manage an “emergency” project to repair flood-damaged roads across the province.

The multimillion-rand contract was handed to a Mpumalanga-based company to oversee the project at more than 30 sites in three months. The company’s directors were unavailable for comment yesterday.

In the meeting, which began on Wednesday evening and ended after 01:00 on Friday morning, MPLs asked how officials could justify the R103m prepayment. They couldn’t do so and were allowed time to find a letter justifying it.

This follows a marathon meeting last week at which MPLs demanded answers from the province’s health department about how Gupta-linked company Mediosa received a R180m three-year contract – and a R30m upfront payment – for a mobile clinic service without it going to tender.

During the meeting, public works officials said the contract wasn’t put out to tender because it was an “emergency”. The committee heard that before working in North West, the Mpumalanga-based firm had worked on water projects for the Mbombela municipality.

Committee member Boitumelo Moiloa questioned why the company received the upfront payment “on the eve of financial year end last year”. She asked if the department thought: “We will take this money, dump it somewhere (for it to appear) as if it was put to use.”

Another member Wendy Matsemela said there was “no difference” between this contract and the one awarded to Mediosa.

MPL Alfred Motsi told the meeting the company, little known in North West, could have been earmarked for the project by someone influential.

He said the premier’s letter was signed on March 7, the company’s letter of acceptance on March 14 and, 10 days later, it was paid R103m. “Someone somewhere knew about this company.”

“We requested a report on the company last year October and it’s only coming now, at the end of February, meaning it was being doctored,” Motsi said.

In a letter to then transport minister Dipuo Peters titled “Request to redirect funds for addressing flood-damaged road infrastructure”, North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo explains the urgent need to prioritise damaged roads and to have other projects deferred to the following financial year.

“An amount of R103m has been put aside for this exercise. This amount is what could be salvaged while the actual quantification of the full extent for the flood damage is undertaken,” Mahumapelo wrote.

“It is on this basis that we request your approval to deviate from the approved 2016/17 project list, for the purpose of addressing flood- damaged roads and bridges infrastructure.”

Public works department head Pakiso Mothupi said they didn’t have the “human capital” and were dependent on external companies to manage the project.

During the committee’s questioning, a department official said the same company was given another R11m contract to repair a road leading to the Oberon holiday resort near Hartbeespoort Dam, which hadn’t been budgeted for.

Seven days later, on March 14 last year, the company formally accepted its appointment as implementation agent for the massive road rehabilitation project, to be undertaken over three months ending in June. According to Mothupi’s report, the project was “completed successfully”.

Sources in the department told City Press that a senior official “signed twice for one chief director who deliberately stayed away from the office because he didn’t want to be part of what would later become a scandal”. The department is expected to appear before the portfolio committee this week.

Source: http://www.citypress.co.za

North West Public Works department ‘adopt’ Mokgareng school

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DSC_6288

BY OBAKENG MAJE
MOKGARENG- THE North West Department of Public Works visited Mokgareng Secondary School in Mokgareng village, near Taung.

The visit was in line with ‘Adopt a school’ programme and those who graced the event was North West Public Works MEC Madoda Sambatha and Greater Taung Local Municipality officials.

Sambatha said the aim of visiting the school was his department’s plan to give back to the communities especially in remote areas.

“We believe that a solid education is one of the most important ways a community can move forward. Which is why we invest in South Africa’s future by focusing on supporting education.

“One way we do this is by making resources available to various schools that need to be equipped to make a difference to the community the government serves,” he said.

According to Sambatha, they will make sure the school is well-resourced and infrastructure will be available to make learning environment very conducive.

“We are here in celebration of the life of our late father, Dr Nelson Mandela. This is an overall provincial celebration. We are adopting each school per region, now Mokgareng Secondary school is the one being chosen in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati,” Sambatha said.

Public Works MEC said his department will also bring career exhibition to the school and encourage pupils to choose relevant careers where they can be able to be hired within the department.

“We will monitor all pupils and encourage them to choose career path that will benefit their communities. We are lacking skills within the department and that will lift burden off from the department as     shoulders,” he said.

North West Education and Sport Development Circuit Manager in Pudimoe cluster, Lazurus Loojwane said they welcome the initiative brought forward by Public Works.

“This programme will develop the level of education and makes learning atmosphere conducive. There are top-performing learners from under-resourced schools and most of the time they do not get the chance to pursue tertiary studies.

“They miss the opportunity to embark on rewarding and challenging careers and the country fails to benefit from the talent of some of its most brilliant young minds,” Loojwane said.

One of the pupils at Mokgareng Secondary School, Kelebogile Dipone who is in Grade 11 said they highly-appreciate the adoption initiative, and also for their school being chosen.

“It is so rejuvenating  that government have earmarked our school to benefit from this initiative. The department won’t regret investing a significant amount in helping our school to become centre of excellence. This will increasing the number of learners passing because we all will work hard so that we can get scholarship to further our studies,” Dipone said.

The department also handed over food parcels to elderly people in the area, and one of the beneficiaries Annie Seshupo (91) said she appreciate the food parcels and what the government has done.
-TDN
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