Capture Date: Tue, 13/04/2010 - 16:13
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By Kemantha Govender
Durban - KwaZulu-Natal was once again under the microscope as assessments for the province's readiness to host seven matches during the 2010 FIFA World Cup continued.
The Parliamentary Health and Home Affairs Portfolio Committees recently visited eThekwini as part of a tour to all host cities to look into the state of readiness by various departments, including the Department of Health.
The department presented its general plan to the sub-committees led by the Chairperson of the Health Portfolio Committee, Dr Bevan Goqwana.
The KZN Health Department was given the thumbs up. "From the presentations we heard, the level of integration and cooperation within the government levels and the advancement of the preparations; we are sincerely satisfied," said Goqwana.
The main areas of focus during the visit were the province's capacity to deal with major disasters in hospitals, transportation of patients and hospital infrastructure upgrades.
Attention was also paid to plans for integration of port health service with home affairs.
Integrated plans for dealing with human and child trafficking, as well as prostitution were also looked into.
Plans for identification of body storage sites in the case of mass deaths were scrutinized.
"As part of our oversight role, we will ensure that funding is provided for infrastructure improvements that are still outstanding," said Goqwana.
All host cities except Cape Town have been assessed. The committee will hear presentations in the Western Cape on Wednesday.
Reports will thereafter be compiled and another visit to all the host cities will take place for final inspections. No date has been confirmed yet. - BuaNews
Motlanthe goes to EC on antipoverty campaign
Pretoria - Government's anti-poverty programme will see Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe on a visit to several community projects in the Eastern Cape this week.
Motlanthe will assess the progress that has been made in the province, after the campaign was introduced there in 2008. At that time, a number of commitments were made to communities and households.
At Lubala Village near Mthatha on Friday, Motlanthe will conduct door- to- door campaigns and visits to community-based projects aimed at alleviating poverty.
The War on Poverty Campaign was commissioned by the Presidency with former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka as its champion. It is a nationwide on-going government campaign which seeks to reduce poverty among the country's poor. - BuaNews