BackAs the country approaches what authorities describe as a difficult period in the fight against the spread of COVID-19, Public Protector Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s office has over the last four months seen a rapid surge in the number of complaints of conduct and service failure relating to the pandemic.
Service failure allegations account for a lion’s share of the grievances, with as many as 450 people having approached the office to complain about what they deem unreasonable grounds for declining their applications for the R350-a-month special social relief of distress grant. The grant was announced in April as aid for the unemployed who did not already receive any other social grant or Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits.
In most cases, the complainants either allege that they were not provided with reasons as to why their applications were unsuccessful or that the applications were declined on the basis that the applicants were found to be recipients of some form of income or that they qualified for UIF, which they disputed.
The Public Protector has also embarked on an own-initiative investigation into allegations of maladministration, improper conduct and the misappropriation of public funds by the Eastern Cape Department of Health in relation to the medical scooters project.
In addition to these, the office is dealing several other COVID-19 related service delivery complaints including the provision of water and sanitation, repatriation of expats, waste management, distribution of food parcels, access to housing, access to health, customary initiations and cultural practices and precautionary measures to mitigate employee health and safety risks.
A Steering Committee consisting of 10 Senior Investigators, who are led by an Executive Manager, has been set up to focus on COVID-19 related matters.
The Public Protector plans to meet with the Minister of Social Development to bring to her attention the special social relief of distress grant grievances, with a view to finding a speedy resolution to the complaints received. The meeting will be the latest in a series of COVID-19 related engagements with, among others, the Ministers of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation; Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Basic Education as well as the Auditor-General (AG) and the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
During these meetings, the Ministers were encouraged to be responsive to service delivery related complaints and expedite the delivery of services while the engagements with the AG and the SIU were for the purpose of developing mechanisms to investigate COVID-19 cases in a collaborative manner.
Source: The Public Protector of South Africa
