Former Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Arthur Mutambara, has challenged African leaders to improve the political and economic conditions in their respective countries to curb the emigration of their citizens.
Mutambara was responding to a viral video in which South Africa’s Limpopo Health MEC, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, chided a Zimbabwean citizen, admitted at a provincial hospital.
Ramathuba made the remarks in a recent video at Bela-Bela Hospital that Zimbabweans are placing a strain on the province’s healthcare system.
She added that Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa does not contribute to Limpopo’s health budget.
The unnamed Zimbabwean woman was scheduled for surgery at a hospital in the province. In response, Mutamba said:
The government of Zimbabwe, the government of Malawi and Botswana must make sure they fixed their health systems in their countries so that there is no need for Zimbabweans to come to South Africa for health care.
National countries must work so that there is no influx into South Africa – looking for jobs looking health care.
Meanwhile, Ramathuba defended her controversial statement arguing that foreign nationals are abusing South Africa’s health system. She said:
I did stand by its content because I need to share that understanding that they are not doing anything to our surgical backlog, people are abusing the system.
When they hear that the MEC is coming to this district with special care, they leave their country, enter SA illegally, and come to our hospitals but doctors who operate them for ethical reasons even though the Constitution will cover the doctors, but they don’t refuse to operate them.
The South African whom we did this budget for is unable to get operated because they’re still flooding even our initiatives. This is an initiative outside our daily work.
More: SABC News