Statement on the Unprofessional Conduct of the Health MEC of Limpopo

24 August 2022

In a stunning display of hubris, the MEC for Health in Limpopo, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, has been filmed berating an obviously terrified young woman admitted to a Bela Bela hospital for being Zimbabwean and not deserving of obligatory care.

This is deeply offensive on many levels, not least in her conduct as a health professional sworn to uphold her oath. The MEC appears to also wrongly believe that her oath of political office trumps her ethical undertaking.

In the video, the degrading and humiliating verbal assault on the patient was cheered on by her entourage. If there were any health workers among them, they stand to be equally condemned and disciplined for abetting such unprofessional conduct.

The MEC’s reprehensible utterances are now filtering through to other facilities, where there are reports of undocumented foreigners being denied urgent care, which is unconstitutional and contradicts ethical norms. Unlike politicians, health professionals may not make a discriminatory distinction based on a person’s origin, circumstances or behaviour.

All this in August, Women’s Month, when a woman politician turns on and abrogates the dignity of another woman in an imperious display of political arrogance. 

The MEC’s disdain for the harrowing journey that most poor migrants, especially women, make in a desperate search for healthcare is simply appalling. The reason there are undocumented foreigners entering the country to seek healthcare is easy to understand. Collapsed public health facilities in Zimbabwe and an utterly dysfunctional immigration infrastructure in SA make the influx of migrants a certainty.

The MEC also conveniently ignores the uncomfortable truth that up to half of the health budget is stolen or otherwise misappropriated on her watch.

There is much, therefore, for the government to account for and fix before scapegoating migrants for its shortcomings. The Limpopo Health MEC has brought the medical profession into disrepute and scandalised millions for whom national life is rooted in human rights. Both the Health Professions Council of SA and the SA Human Rights Commission must take an urgent and pointed interest in this matter.

The MEC’s failure to resign or to be shown the door after this disgraceful conduct will mark the government’s tolerance of prejudice and its embrace of populism.

Issued by Progressive Health Forum, 24 August 2022