Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi is unhinged, telling an international audience at Davos that he is fighting a “big war” against large groups opposing universal access to healthcare in SA.
He was referring to the opposition to the National Health Insurance and the three court cases challenging its implementation.
Poor Motsoaledi: he still does not get it.
Opposing the NHI does not mean opposing universal access to affordable healthcare.
What he should have said is South Africans do not trust the ANC-led government to use their money wisely in delivering health services to all its citizens.
He should have said that 85% of the country’s citizens are subjected to filthy, degrading conditions in public health facilities because his government has allowed provincial power barons to control who is appointed to run hospitals.
He should have said that these power brokers make appointments based not on merit or ability, but on who would allow greasy politicians and their connections to get their hands on lucrative government tenders.
He should have said that he or his proxy, Joe Phaahla, have presided over the health ministry since 2009, but neither has done much to regulate the private sector.
He should have said the Health Market Inquiry, held almost a decade ago, made recommendations to rein in the private healthcare sector, but these have not been implemented.
He should have said that his government cannot afford to implement the pie-in-the-sky NHI because it is broke.
It cannot raise taxes, it cannot force those on medical aid to pay over those funds to the state to be presided over by the party that oversaw the looting of the Public Investment Corporation, Eskom, Transnet, Denel, PetroSA and destruction of the SA Revenue Service.
It was revealed in parliament in November that the billion rand unemployment and compensation funds lost hundreds of millions of rand due to “absolutely reckless”, high risk investments in unlisted companies.
But Motsoaledi is blind to the reality of the situation about the NHI.
It is easier for his department and its crew of NHI supporters to play the victim and shut their eyes to all else in their pursuit of an unworkable plan.
Meanwhile, the health system is shattered.
Motsoaledi focuses all his energy on the NHI, particularly now in his second term. However, state health facilities have slid into decay and despair while the private health sector has boomed, and remains unregulated.
Motsoaledi’s inability to see past his own bias is the real war that he is fighting.
In his mind, the more South Africans are exposed to the pricing of private healthcare providers, the more his mad plan will gain traction.
This has left citizens forking out thousands for medical aid to afford pricey private healthcare or giving birth — or dying — on the filthy floors of public health facilities.
Motsoaledi’s inability to see past his own bias is the real war that he is fighting.
Pushing forward with NHI will harm business confidence, erode state finances and end the government of national unity and the ANC’s grip on power nationally and in KwaZulu-Natal.
Both the DA and the IFP oppose the funding — increasing taxes — of implementing the legislation. The two parties pulling out should open the way for Zuma’s MK party, which many sleeper Zuma loyalists in the ANC would relish.
However, this would spell disaster for SA and for President Cyril Ramaphosa.
This is not a bad thing: Motsoaledi cannot be blamed for his misguided actions , the responsibility lies solely with Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa signed an unworkable piece of legislation into law on the eve of the election, thinking it would win him votes. It may have had the opposite effect. Workers from police to nurses, cleaners and municipal workers are all on medical aid. Many have first-hand insight into the workings of the state. It is unlikely that they would trust the same state with their own health and that of their families.
It was Ramaphosa too who reappointed the stubborn Motsoaledi back into the health portfolio last year. Ramaphosa speaks with a forked tongue on the NHI — avidly committed to it in the ANC, but open to compromise among business, opposition parties and civil society who support universal access to healthcare but oppose the NHI.
He is an NHI chameleon.
As such Motsoaledi’s stance will continue, uncertainty over the legislation will continue to hamper investment and South Africans will limp along with a wretched public health system and an expensive, largely inaccessible but quality private health system, until he steps out of power in 2029 or sooner. It is clear that only a new government, or a court ruling, will halt Motsoaledi’s maniacal obsession.
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