President Cyril Ramaphosa has thrown his weight behind the EFF’s bid to stop all state organs from issuing tenders to procure services such as cleaning, gardening, security and the supply of non-essential items.
The EFF and Ramaphosa on Thursday also found common ground on the red berets’ long-standing proposal for community clinics to remain open 24 hours.
The issue of 24-hour medical clinics has been on the EFF’s political agenda since its formation in 2013.
Responding to questions in parliament from EFF leader Julius Malema on the progress regarding the rollout of the National Health Insurance (NHI), Ramaphosa came out in support of the EFF’s proposed insourcing bill.
Ramaphosa had earlier said that while he backed Malema’s 24-hour clinics campaign, government did not have financial resources to hire the required medical and related personnel.
But Malema begged to differ, telling the president that government had the money, but it was misdirected to corrupt tenders on needlessly outsourced services.
“President, there’s no fiscal problem. The Auditor-General of South Africa says R406bn is being spent on corruption and other irregular spending.
“If you redirect that money, you will give us the best healthcare facilities. There is a shortage of human capital. Our brothers and sisters are roaming the streets, unemployed doctors are marching and therefore when we say we have a fiscal problem to pay them, it does not make sense.
What we did do incorrectly .... is that we outsourced the supply of personal protective equipment and that resulted in major challenges of corruption in our country.
— President Cyril Ramaphosa
“One of the things we have put on the table is the bill on insourcing to deal with this problem. I hope the president will support us to pass a bill on insourcing of all government workers who are temporary workers,” said Malema.
The EFF presented the insourcing bill to the portfolio committee on public service and administration last week. It aims to prevent all state organs from issuing tenders on services such as gardening, cleaning, security and maintenance.
The president said given the experiences of the largely outsourced procurement of services during the Covid-19 lockdown, which was characterised by large-scale looting of public funds, it no longer made sense to issue tenders on basic government services.
“The problem of outsourcing, which I think many of us in this parliament have realised, is a major problem that we need to reverse and arrest.
“We have tended to outsource so many functions in the hospital that should belong in government,” said Ramaphosa.
“I have even asked the minister of health if we have to buy tablets … Panado … why do we need to got someone else to buy it for us, when we know who produces Panado. Why can’t we go directly to that entity or firm to provide us with Panado. The minister answered and said that this is complex ...
“I would like to say that we need to outsource what government cannot do itself. Many functions we can do ourselves, cheaply and cost effectively. That is precisely what we now need to do. I have declared war on outsourcing. Let us insource as much as we possibly can in government.”
Ramaphosa said outsourcing would boost government capacity to deliver services by attracting skilled and qualified workers.
He said insourcing was now a growing trend among governments around the world.
“There’s a book written by Prof Mariana Mazzucato who reports that the US and the UK outsourced their functions during Covid and they lost a lot of money, and yet if they had insourced, like much of what we did here, they would not have (lost money)
“What we did do incorrectly .... is that we outsourced the supply of personal protective equipment and that resulted in major challenges of corruption.
“And yet we insourced the vaccines, and that we handled very well because only government acquired vaccines and distributed them ... through the various hospitals and clinics. So there’s a great argument to be made for insourcing.
“We do need to give respect to our people by giving them decent jobs. Outsourcing does not result in decent jobs, therefore insourcing is the best way to go,” said Malema, to loud applause from the EFF.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.