Dear Portfolio Committee on Health,

As a resident of Madibaneng Village in Ward 22 of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality in Sekhukhune District of Limpopo Province, I wish to register a community concern on the Department of Health's deliberate disregard of the plight of the vulnerable people. People have to travel long distances to get health services which at times they are unable to get because of the long queues, some medication not being available, some people not having money for taxis or hire cars to the clinics. What is more concerning is the fact that there are three villages (Manganeng, Phaahla Manoge and Radingwana) which are small in terms of numbers of residents but these villages have clinics while Madibaneng Village which has the highest number of residents and which has in the passed experienced a cholera outbreak with casualties does not have one. Even the mobile clinic is not reliable as some days it does not come while people have walked distances for the services of the mobile clinic. Its failure to arrive forces people to hire cars to these other clinics while those without money have to walk to the nearest clinic which is dangerous as they have to pass though some bushes. Madibaneng village has turned into a joke as people from these smaller villages ask themselves why are we not having a clinic.

Leaders in Parliament, we are begging you to consider this matter and help Madibaneng people to get a clinic which will offset many challenges. What is it that you want us to do to have this health facility which will help people especially women who have to carry their kids on their backs to the clinics? What criteria is government using to allocate these clinics to communities?