By Hassen Lorgat
The article written by Ntombi Nkosi and published September 26 for paying R3.9m to absent Cuban doctors, once again gives oxygen to the anti-Cuban racism of DA shadow Minister of health Jack Bloom.
The allegations follow a reply to his question to the Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko that R3.9 million was paid to seven Cuban doctors who had left South Africa to go back to Cuba. The allegation is that whilst their contacts ended on May 14, 2021, they continued to receive salaries without working until May 2022.
Apparently their contracts were extended whilst they had left the country and according to my research no such funds were forwarded to Cuba.
This material irregularity must be addressed with the authorities and Bloom's propagandistic insults at all things Cuba have a long track record which cannot and must not go unchallenged.
Whilst this article states that the Cuban government has been contacted to return the funds, this is wrong and panders to the DA. Any good investigation or research must ask whether these funds had indeed been deposited into the individuals’ bank accounts that they used whilst working here. This will involve the banks who will assist us to determine who received the ill-gotten monies. This is at issue and one does not have to ascribe racist notions to the recipients of such are. It is a crime, finish and klaar, and the police, the NPA and others must join in to get to the bottom of it.
We all agree that the buck stops with the Provincial Treasury and National Department of Health who are tasked with managing the funds of the province with the highest professional standards.
The questions of capacity and systems are needed to measure what efforts are made to serve our people. This point was made recently when the Auditor General of South Africa met with the Gauteng legislature. On the agenda was the province’s reporting capacity of the municipalities in the province. In the governments media release they confirmed that the audit outcomes reveal significant financial mismanagement, with an increase in unauthorised, irregular, and fruitless expenditure across municipalities, amounting to R9.879 billion in irregular expenditure, R5.154 billion in unauthorised expenditure, and R1.381 billion in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. This mismanagement is directly linked to inadequate financial controls and oversight.
All these funds must be accounted for and the amount of Rooi Gevaar must be entertained. If the new DA or the GNU-DA wants to stand for clean government it must tackle the R1.382 bn which was fruitless and wasteful including what happened to the R2.7 million. What is undeniable is that the problem is not in Havana, but Gauteng.
Using the Cuban doctors doing service here as a stick to whip their ANC partner is childish. I agree with Dr Kgosi Letape, now with Action SA, that they must not be blamed for working here as they have plugged the gap and worked in rural areas where local doctors are not prepared to go and serve.
Hassen Lorgat
* The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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