“Corruption, lack of commitment to fight COVID in the Eastern Cape could lead to massive loss of life”

Associate Professor of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), Mcebisi Ndletyana, has warned that corruption and a lack of commitment to the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in the Eastern Cape could lead to massive loss of life.

His warning comes after an expose by local and international media in which appalling conditions were found at some health facilities including Livingston Hospital in Port Elizabeth.

The Eastern Cape is also embroiled in a R10 million controversial scooter project.

Ndletyana says there is a culture of not delivering basic services in the province.

“You expect those people to perform brilliantly when all along they’ve been mediocre. They won’t, chickens have come home to roost. We are getting exactly what we deserve because we haven’t been insisting on excellence on everyday values even when things are normal.”

“Mediocrity has become a culture, it’s self-sustaining. When you are calling on these people to do what they are meant to do, it’s difficult, some of them don’t even want go to work,” explains Ndletyana.

Meanwhile, as the number of COVID-19 cases rises in the Eastern Cape, opposition parties are calling for the province to be placed under administration.

The province has been criticised for its handling of the often deadly virus.

In the video below, Opposition parties call for Eastern Cape to be placed under administration