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Tune in to the ill health soapie

Nie Cele

In the news for the wrong reasons week in and out, is the bad soap opera that is Gauteng’s Department of Health and Social Services.

Perhaps there’s a curse on it, but it seems officials there can do no right. Even more disturbing is to learn that not one politician has ever raised a concern about goings-on in the department.
But at least Qedani Mahlangu, the MEC running the department, always concurs with allegations whenever shenanigans are pointed out.
Nevertheless things are reaching a head, and maybe two MECs should be assigned to run the ministry before its degeneration demands a name change to Department of Ill Health. What only added to the department’s woes was a state of affairs so bad the Auditor- General issued a disclaimer in his audit report of last year. A sure sign that all is not well.
The department’s latest challenge is that by March it will have overspent R1.75 billion. And this huge figure only leads us to ask how many more covert wrongdoings aren’t in the public domain. The media has done its bit by publicising whatever it can but still no corrective measures are put in place to rectify anything. One inside source tells this newspaper that the department is so riddled with corruption from the cleaner to the head honcho that if the public were to know everything government would be purple in the face. If these allegations are to be believed only one thing can happen. Heads must roll finish and klaar.
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