The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns Panyaza Lesufi and his ANC allies for exploiting the Tembisa Hospital SIU report for cheap political gain. The report reveals that around R2 billion was stolen, turning patients into victims and tragically contributing to the death of Babita Deokoran.
The Gauteng government’s tone-deaf response to this, was to host a prayer service in Tembisa, under the banner of a “Prayer Day for Tembisa Hospital”.
The immediate moral question is this: how can you pray – or even pretend to pray – for a hospital that your own cadres helped plunder, pillage, and where whistleblowers were targeted and killed
Stooping to this level is a new low – even for the ANC.
This is not only an affront to every single patient turned victim at the hands of their greed, but makes a mockery of the central tenets of religion.
Simply put, the thought of it is disgusting.
Once this “Prayer Day” became public knowledge, it elicited a strong and entirely justified negative response as people have long seen through the ANC, the same way they saw through this desperately vapid political stunt. Shocklingy, now that they’ve “postponed” their Prayer Day, the existence of the event is being spun as fake news – another lie while residents suffer.
Tembisa Hospital, Tembisa’s residents, and the victims of this R2 billion graft do not need the very same criminals responsible for their suffering to pretend to pray for them. They need action, and they need the truth.
The only way to determine who truly belongs behind bars is through a full investigation and thorough lifestyle audits of all implicated individuals – regardless of whether they still hold office.
That should not be difficult, Lesufi has admitted that lifestyle audits were conducted on the Head of the Gauteng Department of Health. Now, he must make them public.
We commend those, who alongside the DA, saw this for the farce that it was.