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The Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services has expressed unhappiness with the lack of connectivity and poor internet service at Carolina Town clinic and Silobela Day clinic respectively in the Chief Albert Luthuli Local Municipality in Mpumalanga. 

The Committee visited the two clinics and the Prince Mkolishi Health Centre to inspect internet connectivity. They are three of the 21 clinics and one school provided with subsidised internet, laptops and tablet devices by the Universal Services and Access Agency of South Africa (USSASA).

“We did not have the luxury of time to visit all 21 clinics and one school, but if one clinic out of the three that we visited has no internet connection at all, it worries us that it could be the same story with many others,” said Acting Committee Chairperson Ms Dikeledi Tsotetsi.

The Committee has asked for a thorough investigation and a report from USAASA detailing why Carolina Town Clinic is not connected to the internet and an explanation for the poor service at Silobela Day Care clinic. Ms Tsotetsi said a visit to the three clinics gave Members of the Committee a better picture of the broadband roll-out project.

The Committee will today focus on the post office agencies, as many issues relating to them were highlighted during the Committee’s last oversight visit to Limpopo.

Issued by Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Acting Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services, Ms Dikeledi Tsotetsi