Johannesburg - The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) has expressed displeasure at the slow pace of service delivery in the Free State.
An NCOP delegation, which was on a week-long service delivery oversight visit to the province, found that the Free State was not implementing its 2010 recommendations fast enough, it said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
The delegation, led by Free State whip in the NCOP Mbuyiselo Jacobs, found that housing problems in the Maqhekung settlement in Qwaqwa were still not resolved.
This, despite the area being identified during a “taking Parliament to the people” initiative was held in the Thabo Mofutsanyana district three years ago.
Jacobs said houses were supposed to have been provided with running water and sanitation.
“It is worrying that the same houses we visited more than two years back are still experiencing the same challenges,” he said.
“We hope the MEC responsible for human settlements in this province will be able to explain this in our meeting with the provincial government [on Thursday].”
The NCOP delegation also said it was not happy with the status quo at the Maluti Dairy farm.
The farm was supposed to have been revived and revamped so that it could continue to operate. However, the situation was worse than the last time the NCOP visited, it said.
Some progress was found at the Bluegumbush Clinic, where the NCOP had recommended the introduction of flexi-hours to ensure availability of nursing staff at all times, the hiring retired nurses to deal with skill shortages, and the upgrading of the clinic to accommodate large numbers of patients.
The clinic was able to address most of the recommendations, the NCOP said.
There had also been some progress at the Manapo Hospital.
The NCOP would meet the Free State government in Bloemfontein on Thursday morning to discuss the “unsatisfactory progress”.
Sapa