The DA is demanding that Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko account for at least eight ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leaders appointed to boards of Gauteng’s public hospitals, saying this adds to “a long list of reasons for why the MEC should be fired”.
In a statement on the Politicsweb site, DA Gauteng shadow MEC for health Jack Bloom wrote that the appointees include Ziyanda Ncuru, a Gauteng youth league deputy secretary who reportedly boasted: “Sana eGoli zi big days, young people zi board members. Zisikelwe iyoung lions.” (Young lions have received their share.)
Other ANC appointees include Masabata Ramollo, a member of the ANC provincial executive committee (PEC), Jennifer Latifi, Gauteng Youth League deputy chair; Thabo Matome Twayise, a PEC member appointed to the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital; Khumo Thandeka, from the Johannesburg region; Vuyisile Plaatjie, a PEC member placed at the Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital and apparently employed in the Office of Premier Panyaza Lesufi; Ashley Mabasa, a PEC member; and Onkgopotse Thompson-Peete, Tshwane regional secretary for the ANCYL.
The board members will receive an estimated R10 000 for every meeting they attend, and Bloom wrote that these “outrageous gravy train appointments will not help our struggling public hospitals”.
He added that hospital boards need a mix of people with real expertise and local community ties, and that this “cronyism looks like what Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabana did when trying to appoint ANC cadres to Seta boards”.
The DA would be asking questions in the Gauteng legislature about these appointments, and ask that the Health MEC appear before the legislature's Health Oversight Committee on this matter, he wrote.
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