POLITICAL NEWS - In response to our parliamentary questions, the Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, outlines steps taken by the provincial government to support private sector partners as workplace vaccination sites.
A number of these challenges faced by the private sector came as a result of national bureaucratic red tape, cumbersome regulations, and a lack of will to work with the sector.
From the beginning, it has been our position that the whole of government and society must be leveraged if we are to beat Covid-19, and that includes achieving population immunity through mass vaccination. But this, in turn, cannot be realised without partnering with the private sector.
Businesses and large corporates across the country holds the necessary resources and footprint to reach residents as quickly as possible.
Businesses are trying to do the right thing in the fight against the pandemic by registering as workplace vaccination sites.
Sadly, they were met with exhaustive challenges from the start, including:
- Unclear criteria for application;
- Time-consuming, laborious processes which could be streamlined;
- Lack of feedback and troubleshooting support mechanisms; and
- Insufficient explanations of relevant legislation and regulations.
As a result of these difficulties, we welcome the interventions of the Western Cape departments of Health and Economic Development and Tourism, as well as Wesgro, to support the private sector.
Case-by-case, this provincial administration not only lends support to the challenges faced by businesses in navigating the system, but have also developed a relationship with Business for South Africa (B4SA) to address issues that need to be further escalated.
Through the efforts of the WCG, B4SA now further offers technical workshops to aid businesses seeking to register and a smoother process for provision of important details to be uploaded to the national database of service providers.
It remains critical to note that the supply of vaccines to the private sector is the mandate of the national Department of Health and supported by B4SA. Whilst it is highly regrettable that national government yet again left another gaping hole in the broader vaccination rollout, this DA-led province ultimately lives up to its values of transparency, cooperation across sectors, and working with businesses – not against them – in the Covid-19 battle.
'We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news'
