Statement by Jane Cowley MPL – Shadow MEC for Health:
Residents of Qonce may soon be left without reliable access to emergency and essential healthcare as Grey Hospital faces a looming service collapse, placing vulnerable patients, expectant mothers, and the elderly at immediate risk.
For many families, Grey Hospital is the only nearby facility for urgent medical care. Its failure would force patients to travel long distances for treatment or join already overwhelmed tertiary hospitals, delaying care and turning manageable conditions into life-threatening emergencies.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has formally engaged Eastern Cape Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa to demand clarity on the hospital’s operational status, funding gaps, and concrete plans to prevent closure. I have also written to the National Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, requesting urgent intervention, including, if necessary, placing the facility under administration to stabilise services and protect patients.
This crisis is the predictable result of years of mismanagement by the Eastern Cape Department of Health, marked by collapsing infrastructure, chronic staff shortages, and repeated failures to maintain basic hospital operations. The same warning signs have been visible at facilities such as Livingstone Hospital.
Despite repeated assurances that district-level care would be strengthened to ease pressure on tertiary hospitals, the opposite is happening. District hospitals like Grey are critically understaffed and frequently experience shortages of medical and surgical supplies.
Food and laundry services are unreliable, and standards of care have deteriorated sharply. Patients are increasingly bypassing referral pathways and seeking care at tertiary hospitals, further exacerbating congestion across the system.
Unfunded plans, without adequate staffing and resources, are doomed to fail. The ANC-led government’s continued inaction directly undermines residents’ constitutional right to healthcare and reflects a broader pattern of systemic neglect.
The DA will submit formal questions to the Provincial Legislature to hold the government accountable for this crisis, and will press for transparent reporting on budgets, staffing levels, and service continuity at Grey Hospital. These steps are essential to protect patients, support frontline healthcare workers, and restore stability to a facility that thousands depend on.
The people of the Eastern Cape deserve leadership that delivers, and a future built on dignity, access to care, and honest government. The DA remains committed to rebuilding a public health system that puts patients first.
Wooden Man
Which unit describes the intensity of light in South Africa? Nelson Candela
Winded On Friday
Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?