Yesterday the Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Health, Siviwe Gwarube MP and DA Mpumalanga Spokesperson on Health Jane Sithole MPL visited the Witbank General Hospital where water supply is still a major crisis.
We call on the Premier, Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, to summon the Executive Mayor, Cllr Linah Malatjie and Municipal Manager, Mr Sizwe Mayisela to account for this mess.
Yesterday’s oversight formed part of the DA’s national tour across all nine provinces to assess the readiness of the provincial health systems to deal with the Covid-19 global pandemic.
On arrival at the hospital we were impressed with the innovations put in place to assist with providing better health care in the municipality. We also commend the hard work by the staff members who are the front line workers at the hospital.
However, it was concerning to note that the hospital is still dealing with the issue of inconsistent water supply from the municipality.
Emalahleni municipality can go for weeks without water and this has a severe impact when it comes to the hygiene upkeep of the hospital. For a tertiary hospital as big as Witbank Hospital, functioning without water could be fatal.
The JoJo tanks at the hospital often run dry because the municipality is failing to ensure consistent water supply to the hospital.
This is catastrophic and cannot be allowed to continue, it has been going on for far too long.
We urge Mayor Malatji and Municipal Manager Sizwe Mayisela to take accountability and start acting in the best interest of the people of EMalahleni.
We also call on Health MEC, Sasekani Manzini to table a thorough report to the Provincial Legislature Portfolio committee on health on how her department is going to monitor the provision of water at Witbank Hospital.
The DA will be following this up very closely.