Failure to test more people tantamount to premeditated murder - EC premier Mabuyane

Failure to test as many people as possible for Covid-19 because they wanted to have low numbers of positive cases would be “tantamount to premeditated murder”, premier Oscar Mabuyane told the Eastern Cape legislature yesterday.

Mabuyane was addressing a virtual legislature sitting that deliberated on reports after portfolio committees had public participation meetings late in 2019 and early this year.

He said they had screened more than 500,000 people and tested almost 14,000, with 630 confirmed positive for the virus, while 46 people had recovered by Wednesday night because they had embarked on a mass screening and testing campaign.

Mabuyane said testing positive for Covid-19 was “not a death sentence”.

“These numbers are not consistent with the narrative out there that we are failing in the war against this invisible enemy,” he said.

“We have been proactive and if testing as many people as possible means our positive cases will continue going up, so be it.

“Failure to test people because you fear positive cases will be high is tantamount to premeditated murder. We value human life, hence we will continue testing people so that those who test positive will get the medical treatment they need.”

Mabuyane described the coronavirus as a “moving target”.

Defending embattled health MEC Sindiswa Gomba as calls for her removal have been mounting since her andidikwe  [fed-up] comments during a virtual press briefing with health minister Zweli Mkhize on Tuesday night, Mabuyane said Gomba and her team had been leading from the front and not “from the comfort of their own homes”.

The easing of the national lockdown from level 5 to 4 from Friday would be done under strict conditions, which included high law enforcement visibility, he said.

He also announced that former health MEC Dr Monwabisi Goqwana and former superintendent-general Dr Siva Pillay had been roped in to provide clinical services in OR Tambo, Nelson Mandela Bay and Sarah Bartmaan.

Mabuyane also told MPLs that the provincial government supported finance minister Tito Mboweni’s call for employees to be biased towards South Africans when filling unskilled labour positions.

“Our allegiance is to South Africans. Our skilled brothers and sisters from the continent will continue competing for scarce skills positions,” he said.

In the National Assembly earlier this year the IFP said it would sponsor a bill that, if signed into law, would compel restaurants and construction companies among others to employ South Africans over their African counterparts in unskilled jobs.

The premier also announced that R88m from the UIF had been made available to help businesses in the province pay salaries and stay afloat.

He told MPLs he had instructed the provincial treasury to investigate allegations of fraudulent activities in the food parcels programme and tender fraud allegations made on social media

ANC MPL Mxolisi Dimaza criticised the health department for failing to fill critical vacancies.

After an education report on special needs schools was presented, UDM MPL Mcebisi Filtane wanted to know from education MEC Fundile Gade what the department’s exit strategy was for pupils with disabilities.

After two minutes of trying to get a response from Gade, speaker Helen Sauls-August gave up, saying the MEC might be experiencing technical difficulties.

“This is a bit of an embarrassment to the house,” she said.

When Gade's connection was restored about 20 minutes later, he said they had partnered with the department of social development, TVET colleges and other stakeholders who were equipped with the skills they needed.

When economic development portfolio committee chair Pumelele Ndamase submitted his committee’s report after they had visited sites in Nelson Mandela Bay and Sarah Baartman regions, DA MPL Yusuf Cassim said he had noted with concern that there was only one wind farm in the “former Transkei or Ciskei”.

He wanted to know how finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko would intervene.

Mvoko said he would work with municipalities to ascertain if there were any investors who wanted to be assisted with wind farms, saying he was not aware of any.

Unlike the normally chaotic sittings which have led to physical fighting over the EFF’s red overalls, the virtual sitting was orderly, with MPLs agreeing on reports, while there were minimal points of order.

FF+ MPL Theo Coetzee seemingly missed his colleagues as he requested that speakers switch on their videos when speaking.