Society must say no to callous government

There is an oft-repeated saying that how a society treats its most vulnerable – people, but also it could include animals – is an accurate assessment of that society’s humanity.

That is why we, as a society, need to take a close look at what the ANC comrades are doing to our most vulnerable citizens… and ask ourselves, at the ballot box, if we are happy about these things.

Thousands of the most vulnerable people in Gauteng are about to be tossed out on to the street, as the nonprofit organisations (NPOs), which have been caring for them, are being forced to close because the ANC-led Gauteng government has either deliberately, or incompetently, choked off their funding.

Gauteng’s nonprofit sector is on the brink of collapse, according to dozens of organisations, crippled by severe funding challenges that have forced many to shut down, retrench staff or downscale operations.

Lisa Vetten, chair of the Gauteng care crisis committee, says the department of social development is to blame. The nonprofit sector has been trying to talking to the department since June last year… and has got nowhere.

ALSO READ: Gauteng’s vulnerable left in limbo as nonprofits fight for survival

At least 30 000 beneficiaries in the disability sector alone are at risk of losing services.

Are we looking at a repeat of the Life Esidimeni tragedy when 144 people died because the Gauteng health authorities changed their policy and forced them to move to other service providers?

What is worrying is that the funding crisis may be related – yet again – to corruption.

Premier Panyaza Lesufi has been quick to promise that new funding will be found. But is that just another one of his vote-grabbing empty promises?

If these uncaring people are voted in again, then we cannot – as a society – say we didn’t know.

ALSO READ: Thousands of people abandoned as the Gauteng Social Development Department implodes