Jane Cowley

Dear MyPE The Enoch Mgijima Municipality owes Eskom over R198 million in debt and has been unable to maintain a payment arrangement entered into with the State-Owned Utility in November last year, as its debt has escalated. Keeping the power on is critical to keeping people in jobs. The Democratic Alliance is fighting tooth and nail to put Enoch Mgijima back on track. As part of this plan, the DA is calling for urgent intervention, with the immediate ringfencing of finances collected … [Read more...] about R198 million municipal electricity debt placing industry at risk in Enoch Mgijima Municipality

Dear MyPE Staff shortages, long queues, broken public ablution facilities and thin, old mattresses are some of the daily challenges facing patients and the public at the Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth. Yesterday, 29 August 2019, I was joined by DA Eastern Cape Provincial Leader, Nqaba Bhanga, MPL, and local DA Nelson Mandela Bay Councillors, Jonathan Lawack and Shirley Sauls, in conducting an oversight inspection at the Livingstone Hospital. It was during this oversight … [Read more...] about Patients and public suffer due to shocking state of Livingstone Hospital

Dear MyPE Senior officials implicated in corruption around the devastating false medico-legal claims lodged against the Department of Health, should not be part of the Premier’s task team to investigate the claims, they should be in jail. Medico-legal claims, in excess of R24-billion, have brought the Department to the brink of collapse, with the Auditor General (AG) raising serious concerns over its financial sustainability. If these officials are included, we will see the great … [Read more...] about Foxes guarding the hen house

Dear MyPE In the areas of Lankgewag and Dennekruin in Molteno, learners have to wade through raw sewage in order to reach their school. More than five years ago, the sewage plant of Molteno was upgraded, but the pumps feeding the plant were not. They are not powerful enough to pump the sewage up to the plant, so sewage flows backwards and bubbles out of the pumps and into the streets. The sewage then flows into the Stormberg-waterspruit which is the only source of fresh water used to … [Read more...] about MEC Nqatha must urgently intervene in Molteno sewage crisis

Dear MyPE The Democratic Alliance welcomes the move of the Eastern Cape MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Xolile Nqatha, to place the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality under administration in terms of section 139 (1) b of the constitution. On the 18th of March this year, the DA marched to the Komani Town Hall where a memorandum was presented to the then Mayor, Nokuzola Tolashe, requesting that a full forensic audit be launched into the affairs of the … [Read more...] about Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality placed under administration

Dear MyPE The Eastern Cape Department of Health is failing the people of this province through a wilful disregard in providing the most basic care, and a complete lack of compassion for the sick, the dying and the family of those affected. On the 11th of June, a Port Elizabeth woman waited for five hours in vain for an ambulance to transport her desperately ill brother to Livingstone Hospital. She eventually resorted to paying a private ambulance service to transfer him, and then was … [Read more...] about Subhuman conditions for cancer patient in Livingstone Hospital

Dear MyPE The situation at the Butterworth Hospital, where many sick and elderly patients wait for a full day, and in some cases even spending the night, for medical attention is testament to the fact that free health care in the Eastern Cape is a myth. I recently conducted an oversight inspection at the hospital and found that many of the patients spend the night in the Outpatients Department (OPD) are not waiting to be attended to at the Butterworth Hospital. Instead, they are waiting … [Read more...] about Transport woes depriving patients of medical care and medication

Dear MyPE The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Eastern Cape has requested the Eastern Cape Department of Health give feedback, within 14 days, on its plans to remedy the slow response time and shortage of ambulances in Motherwell and other outlying areas of Nelson Mandela Bay. In recent weeks patients from Motherwell have died because Emergency Medical Service (EMS) officials decided to relocate ambulances from the Motherwell Community Health Centre and base them at Dora Nginza … [Read more...] about Health Department given 14 days to respond to NMB ambulance shortage

Dear MyPE Patients from Motherwell, in dire need of medical assistance, have died, because Emergency Medical Service officials decided to relocate ambulances from the Motherwell Community Health Centre and base them at Dora Nginza hospital. Today’s oversight to the Motherwell Community Health Centre, where I was accompanied by DA Ngqura Constituency Leader, Yusuf Cassim MPL, DA Federal Chairperson, Athol Trollip, and local NMB Councillors follows after reports from medical practitioners … [Read more...] about Motherwell residents losing their lives under EMS chaos

Dear MyPE As the municipal workers’ strike continues unabated in Makhanda, residents are being forced to live in conditions that are not even fit for animals. While severe water leakages continue to plague the drought-stricken town, sewage has begun bubbling up out of manholes and running through the streets of the town. Municipal sewage pipes lie broken with polluted water running into the yards of private homes, exposing residents to enormous health risks. Private plumbers are … [Read more...] about Makhanda is drowning in sewage

Dear MyPE The Department of Health is placing thousands of jobs on the line by not paying their suppliers on time, with debts in excess of 30 days amounting to close on R1-billion rand by the middle of the financial year. In response to a parliamentary question, Health MEC, Helen Sauls-August confirmed that the Department was in arrears by R929,9-million in September last year. This is money that is owed to suppliers who have delivered services to the Department, and who have incurred … [Read more...] about Health Department places thousands of jobs on the line

Dear MyPE In Riebeek East, just outside Makhanda, four new boreholes are ready to bring much needed water to the drought-stricken town, but the Makana municipality has failed to connect the boreholes or supply a further holding tank for water, despite receiving drought relief funding to do so. This is yet another service delivery failure by the Makana municipality because funds meant for service delivery are being used to pay salaries of a bloated and ineffective administration. I will … [Read more...] about The Failing Makana Municipality

Dear MyPE Human waste running down the streets, RDP houses with no toilets and no water, houses with bucket systems that have not been serviced since before December, filth lying roof high on almost every corner of the town, and potholes that will shred car tyres and damage vehicles. This is what remains of the once beautiful city of Makhanda. I will be writing to the MEC for COGTA, Fikile Xasa once again, to voice my concerns and demand that action be taken to ensure adequate … [Read more...] about The City of Shame

Dear MyPE Hundreds of people in need of critical, life-saving treatment are desperate, as the only functional cardiac catheterisation laboratory in the Eastern Cape is broken beyond repair. The cardiac cath lab, which is housed at the Provincial Hospital in Port Elizabeth, has rendered an essential service to children and adults with heart disease and other heart conditions. It has been manned by the first paediatrician in Africa to qualify as an electro-physiologist that specialises in … [Read more...] about Cardiac Catastrophe Looms