The ANC have delivered very little other than mayhem, destruction, corruption and mismanagement in their first 15 years in power. In most government departments and at most levels of government, we have seen a marked drop in standards.
Crime is up, education is down, passports and documents issued by the Department of Home Affairs are nothing but tools used by criminals, the once-empowered are now disempowered, the previously disempowered remains disempowered because of their incompetence and inexperience, the list goes on. One of the most critical measurements of the welfare of a country must be the life expectancy of its people.
In South Africa, because of misdirected, incompetence and lack of political leadership, the life expectancy of South Africans has dropped from 64 in 1994 to 51-53 in 2008. This is a boon for government since it diminishes the urgency to deliver on promises. After all, what will you do with the things the government promised when you are dead?
The credit for this gloomy state of affairs can be laid at the feet of a succession of Ministers of Health, unprepared to do anything other than lining pockets of cronies and promoting worthless party political interests. The misdirected priorities of party deployees was aptly illustrated when a senior health official recently, waxed lyrically about the pride new hospitals names brought the historically disadvantaged, thus justifying the cost incurred in this vital element of health service delivery to the sick and poor.
Whilst running the publicity campaign to introduce the new names and printing of stationary, they found, to their consternation, the newly named hospitals had no linen and could not pay Nestle for infant milk formula.
The public health nightmare started with Nkosana Zuma, the ex-wife of the president, who because of a big dose of short person syndrome worked too hard at making a lasting historical impression and ended up making one boo-boo after the other. Her achievements as minister, read like a cheap spoof on Churchill's - A Study in greatness. We will remember her as the wannabe "Musical Drama Producer", whose biggest claim to fame, in the fight against HIV/Aids, was "Sarafina 2" a flop of gargantuan proportions that enriched Mbongeni Ngema, whilst failing to carry the message intended, proven by recent surveys indicating misconceptions about the disease. Her war against "Big Pharma" was the typical action of a power-mongerer, suffering from Short-person-syndrome. Her only contribution to the health of the nation was the banning of smoking from public places, a task easily achieved by megalomaniac, supported by public sentiment, taking on a vilified enemy.
Denial
Zuma, after being replaced by Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, was rewarded with the plum position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, where she went on, with her nasty demeanour, to turn South Africa into a pariah state by openly siding and supporting some of the biggest abusers of human rights in the world, Myanmar, Kosovo, and Zimbabwe.
Under Zuma's watch, the South African embassy handed protection-seeking opponents of Mugabe, to Mugabe's police, who took them away and handed them over to twenty-year old "war veterans" who beat them to within an inch of their death. Any expectation that she would be held accountable, for her performance, by the other Zuma disappeared when she was given the opposition of Minister of Home Affairs.
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang wasted no time, upon her ascendancy to the Throne at the Department of Health, to show her colours. Her legacy will remain for many years. She continued the war with "Big Pharma" but added a new dimension when she recruited quacks, like Mathias Rath, as allies.
The world and, South Africa in particular, will remember her for her immense contribution, ably assisted by the internet-trained Aids-specialist Mbeki, to national health, by denying the existence of the HIV/Aids pandemic. Her obsession with quacks, witchdoctors and traditional cures consisting of garlic, oil and beetroot turned her into the laughing stock of the world, as she killed 400 000 people.
On top of the HIV/Aids disaster, she presided over hospitals where standards showed a rapid decline in standards, born out by a rapid rise in infant deaths. In her time, backed by Mbeki, she did not tolerate resistance. Anybody seen as a threat was rapidly removed, clearly illustrated by the swift dispatch of her deputy, Madlala-Routledge, to the political wilderness.
Instead of holding her accountable for her deeds, she was rewarded with another, more protected cabinet position, when her accomplice Mbeki, was forced from office. Apartheid, a crime against humanity, killed 30 000 people, Manto, Mbeki and their accomplices, led the campaign that killed 400 000 and for that she was rewarded with another cabinet position and more recently she was appointed Special AU Ambassador to champion the cause of woman and children.
Little time for Hogan
The country was overjoyed, and for weeks, the media sang the praises of Barbara Hogan, Msimang's replacement in the Department of Health. She was not given too long in the portfolio, and before she could prove herself, she was moved to another portfolio. However, before her departure she presided over the outbreak, and poorly managed Cholera epidemic, but did commit herself to the rollout an effective HIV/Aids policy.
Before she could bring real change, but not before she set off a grandiose scheme to restructure health funding, she was dispatched to another cabinet position as Minister of Public Enterprise.
Her replacement, Aaron Motsoaledi, wasted no time in tackling the new ANC health policy, and with great fanfare announced the proposed plan, which is nothing more and nothing less than an attempt to hijack and nationalise the only functioning part of the South African health care system still functioning, private health. The skills, driven out of the public health system, because of deteriorating service and ghastly conditions, will be forced back into public health with the resultant exodus of skills from the country.
In fifteen years, the ANC and the cadres they deployed in the public health sector, was responsible for the death of 400 000 people, suffering from HIV/Aids. They shortened the life of the average South African by 14 years and infant mortality rose from 38 per 1 000 births to 44 per 1 000, and the country rank number 140 out of 223 countries. Doctors and other professionals are leaving in droves, the standards of nursing have dropped and hospitals have turned into cesspits, this despite increased expenditure on public health care, and because of the growing middle, class private health care reduced the burden on state health.
However, instead of using the money wisely, it was spent on expensive and complex equipment requiring skills that was not readily available, facilities that could not be staffed, name changes, kickbacks, high salaries for incompetents and fixing facilities, inevitably damaged by the South African worker's apatite for government sponsored strikes.
Brave man
The new minister in a recent interview referred to the incompetence of the people managing the Department of Health. He said; "not much has been done to address South Africa's crumbling health system in the past 15 years". He added, "I found a system that allowed provinces to do as they pleased, resulting in dysfunctional health institutions. In South Africa, you find a teacher running a hospital".
This brave man will now, as part of an ambitious and outrageous plan, hi-jack private health care and create a health insurance organisation, which in size, will be bigger than Sanlam and Standard Bank combined. This gigantic organisation will be established in a very short time. The planning, launch and execution of the grand nationalisation plan will be done under the able political leadership of the dapper Motsoaledi, ably assisted by the incompetent staff he inherited.
They, no doubt, will be assisted by failures, refugees, and outcasts from other state enterprises such as The Landbank, Eskom, SAA and Transnet and large contracts will be awarded to "consultants", hired through labour brokers, to assist, guide and coach the transformation team. In the next three years, this team of super-heroes will change the South African health landscape. At the end of the process, we will have a lunar landscape with the people dying of filth and disease in cesspits called hospitals. Motsoaledi will be honoured, and justly rewarded with a new portfolio, Minister in the Presidency.
Get published on MyNews24 by sending your letter, story or column to us.
Send us your news photos
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
- News24
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.