Some things happen for a reason and that is precisely why there has been drastic action against, for instance, the Department of Health, which has been placed under curatorship.
My biggest concern here is, that the curator in this instance, is a man who has already been tasked with the departments of finance, economic development and tourism, three different fields which need close attention and meaningful action if there is to be any change.
As we speak, tourism is experiencing a severe setback. Just last week, I personally received a call from a tourist guide from the Western Cape. He was calling from the gates of the Three Rondavels. He was transporting German tourists, whom he had driven all the way from Cape Town, through other provinces, to find the gates locked.
He was so devastated, as he explained his disappointment that he couldn’t show them God’s Window and the Potholes. I gave him the number for Mpumalanga Tourist and Parks Agency (MTPA) who are in charge of the establishments. I don’t know what subsequently happened, but we’re really losing business as a province.
I appeal to the powers that be, that even if the new MEC is capacitated to the point that he can handle all these problems (like an octopus), this defeats reality. Health is another vast department with numerous problems and needs full-time attention. I can’t see any progress being realised in either of them in terms of implementation.
Health personnel, who are the main culprits in the problems that have accrued in the department, need to be read the riot act – either they conform to the standards or they ship out.
No amount of pressure, not even from the Public Protector or the country focusing its attention on the provincial health department, made them change their attitude. To them it is the norm to be dysfunctional and ineffective.
The MEC has the necessary skills and experience in government at national level, specifically, but he needs to be supported by the entire team to bring about drastic change in the health sector. However, as that unwinds, so also should economic development and tourism industry wake up from the doldrums.
New nominations for the boards of the MTPA and MEGA have been advertised and we hope credible candidates will be nominated because it has been proved that in the past few years, the boards have constituted incapable personnel.
Tourism, for instance, needs passionate and knowledgeable staff, not political appointees who contribute nothing to the growth of the province, but just keep on raking in thousands of rand for being board members, showing no results at all.
Serious thought has to go into approving the final line-up of candidates, because they need capable men and women on the boards to map a positive way forward to economic stability and increase the flow of tourists to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of our natural heritage.
It is God-created, nobody can change it, all we have to do, is put our house in order, then God permitting, this will open up the markets, but only if the right people are appointed.
