DA requests reasons for extended delay in release of the SAHRC report into FS Department of Health

24 July 2017

The DA has today written to the chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), Prof Bongani Majola, requesting him to provide us with the reasons for the extended delay in the release of a report of an investigation into the Free State Provincial Department of Health following our complaint.

The DA reported the then MEC for Health, Dr Benny Malakoane, and the Department to the SAHRC for human rights violations as a result of a collapse in the delivery of public healthcare services in the Free State.

In November 2015, the DA received a status update from the SAHRC, stating that it is waiting for final submissions from the Department.

The DA met with the SAHRC’s Acting Provincial Manager, Shirley Mlombo, on 13 July 2017, to discuss our complaint, the investigation and the report, but she was unable to give us reasons for the delay nor give us any indication when the report would be made publicly available.

The DA understands that this SAHRC investigation was quite complex and that the report is far reaching.

In the interim, the former MEC for Health, Dr Benny Malakoane, has been replaced by MEC Butana Komphela, but there has been no remarkable improvement in the delivery of public health care in the Free State. The department is still plagued by staff and medicine shortages, while the exodus of medical specialists continue unabated.

The DA is of the opinion that the people of the Free State deserve to enjoy access to the SAHRC’s report and to scrutinise its findings without any further delay.

Issued by Mariette Pittaway, DA Member of the Free State Provincial Legislature, 24 July 2017