More bloodshed in Myanmar
Private doctors and civilians have been exploiting gaps in the public health system to get vaccinated
More deaths. More arrests. And more charges against democratic leader Aung San Suu
Kyi. Embattled Myanmar entered its second month of a brutal military coup after Suu
Kyi was detained on 1 February. Since then, major protests against the military coup have highlighted the military’s ongoing violence and autocratic sentiments. Eighteen people were killed on Sunday, in the bloodiest day at that point; this was quickly surpassed when 38 people died during protests on Wednesday, according to reports from the UN. Additional charges were added to the ousted Suu Kyi’s charge sheet this week, similar in nature to previous bizarre charges, including the possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies. The military coup followed the 2020 elections, which the democratic party won convincingly, although the opposition claims widespread voter fraud led to the win. —
Doctors and specialists in the private sector are abusing the national electronic vaccine data system (EVDS) to secure Covid-19 inoculations for their wives and employees who don’t come into contact with patients. Members of the public also exploit the loopholes.
The abuse is taking place at the Universitas Academic Hospital in the Mangaung metro and in Gauteng’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
Word of inadequate on-site verification and instructions on how to fraudulently register is spreading rapidly through private SMSES.
The Mail & Guardian has seen an SMS written in Afrikaans by a scammer claiming he was vaccinated last week and providing details of how to manipulate the system.
“We were injected this morning. Please keep it quiet. Register on the link, full names and use Universitas hospital as options. When you get the SMS, you go to the following link,” the message reads.
It then gives the link of the South
African Medical Research Council and states what the voucher number should look like. “... is pending approval. You will be notified of the outcome by SMS.”
Another SMS confirms that the scammer has been successfully “enrolled into the J&J Sisonke vaccine programme. We look forward to welcoming you at Universitas hospital. Your voucher number is AV... This voucher, along with your ID document/passport, is required at the vaccination site. For public sector HCW’S [healthcare workers], please contact the vaccine site directly. The vaccination roster for private HCW’S [sic] is through the hospital or GP organisations.”
Free State health department spokesperson Mondli Mvambi confirmed fraudulent vaccinations had been given at Universitas hospital. “[But] our hands are tied on this one because they are using the national EVDS system ... we cannot turn them away, because they have vouchers.”
Ian Sanne, the head of the Sisonke Johnson & Johnson vaccine programme, said four cases of prima facie fraud involving the EVDS system had been uncovered. He
said investigations were still under way.
A source involved in vaccinations at an academic hospital said it was easy to get doctors’ practice numbers, adding that, some doctors had expressed outrage when the authenticity of people accompanying them was questioned.
“They simply say the person is employed by them and is patient-facing, which is really difficult to verify. One doctor’s wife told us she was a real estate agent who works at his practice at weekends,” a well-placed M & G source said.
Baragwanath spokesperson Nkosinathi Mazibuko said doctors cheating the system were the biggest problem. “With our own staff, we can verify that they work for us, and we request each section to give us a list of names in advance.”
Mazibuko said that since Monday, private doctors were being redirected to the Netcare Milpark Private Hospital to get a vaccination. He added that some health workers had chosen not to be inoculated.
The systemic abuse has been described as “outright fraud” and “simply immoral” by top scientists and senior hospital operators. Prof Glenda Gray, head of the medical research council and leader of the vaccine rollout, said those who scammed the system should be dealt with. “It’s dishonest — fraud, actually. We’ll get the police to investigate.
“People are supposed to bring their IDS and the health professions council practice number with them. We’re tightening up and verification will be based on a couple of things, like ID, MP [medical practice] number, persal [public sector employees] number and letters from their institution to ensure no one takes advantage.”
Dr Angelique Coetzee, the chair of the South African Medical Association, said the controversy was turning into a blame game. She revealed that, “we negotiated for 10 000 GPS and, so far, half of them have taken it up. We know that the system [EVDS] is causing the problem. No system is foolproof, and there will always be doctors and other people misusing the system.”
One exhausted doctor, who was supervising up to 600 vaccinations a day, said: “You can’t rule out poor verification on-site, so we’ve changed entirely to a paper-based system.
“I hate to think of what abuse will happen when we get to phase two with teachers and police officers,” adding that verifying people’s comorbidities “will prove very difficult”.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has allegedly cast doubt on the party’s longstanding aim to bring the ANC’S share of the votes to below 50% in the next elections, as he tries to negate a backlash over remarks that he would eventually be ready to work with the ruling party.
Three senior party members in parliament said the party leader made this statement this week at a shadow cabinet meeting while attempting to explain his interview in the Sunday Times last week.
Steenhuisen is said to have received backlash from some within his inner circle after his statement to the Sunday paper that he would work with ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa.
The paper reported that Steenhuisen said while he would work with Ramaphosa, he would not work with his deputy, David Mabuza. Steenhuisen has denied making this statement. He has also denied saying that the DA would fail to bring the ANC below 50%, saying, “Quite the opposite, actually. I said that we have a very realistic chance to do so. What I did say is that it is unrealistic to think that the DA on its own can get 51%.”
Steenhuisen was attempting to explain that hence the working relationship he had spelled out in the Sunday Times interview was only a remote prospect, potentially realisable further down the line.
Sources said it appeared that Steenhuisen became nervous after the newspaper headline gained traction on Twitter and he feared it might make a portion of DA voters nervous. He was not pushed by the party to file the complaint with the press ombudsman, but appeared to have done so in a knee-jerk attempt at damage control.
Many MPS feel the interview was nothing to frighten the horses, and said it has not sparked a deep crisis within the top ranks of the party. But they feel the ombudsman complaint was not wise, as he had a weak case and risked losing. “I don’t think he has a strong case, and I don’t think it was wise,” said one MP, who added he failed to see the damage inflicted by the interview.
“When I read the interview, there was nothing in there that I found shocking or out of line with what we have been saying since around 2007, that there would be a realignment of South African politics… I think people perhaps do not fully understand what is meant by a working relationship.”
Backlash for the boy in blue
However, the party insiders say Steenhuisen — who has been the DA leader since November last year — was “shook” when he received backlash internally.
During a shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday, two sources say Steenhuisen said the DA needed to be “practical and realistic” about its expectations in the 2024 elections.
The parliamentary leaders said some supporters were concerned that Steenhuisen had alienated and confused the party’s coalition partners from the smaller parties.
“You have to remember that the DA has upset the smaller parties by saying that voting for them is a wasted vote. Some of his own allies were concerned about what this does to our messaging,” the insider said.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa, who is in a coalition with the blue party in Nelson Mandela Bay, said it is encouraging that the DA knows that they cannot run the country alone.
His statement also signals the DA is aware that coalitions are here to stay, Holomisa said.
“For them to say they will not work with [the Economic Freedom Fighters] is just spur of the moment. At local government, you don’t have to worry about ideology. Local government is about delivering services. I don’t take Steenhuisen’s statements and panic. Instead, we should be saying we are glad that the DA can work with black parties,” Holomisa told the Mail & Guardian.
Even though Steenhuisen has gone on full-frontal damage control, explaining that the Sunday paper had misquoted him, high-ranking party leaders told M&G that the damage has been done.
When asked about his remarks of not being able to bring the ANC below 50%, he said he had made it clear that the only way to bring about the realignment of politics, establish a rational centre and a new majority to oppose radical socialism is to bring the ANC to under 50%.
However, one source with deep knowledge of the DA’S strategy trajectory was perplexed at the current fallout, saying that Steenhuisen had said
“pretty much what Helen [Zille] was saying back 2008.”
The DA strategist explained that the thinking at the time was that should the ANC fall below a majority or if there was a split, the DA would be prepared to work with likeminded people in the ANC.
The slippery slide of the blues
The DA has battled to regain its traditional voters after a decline in its numbers during the 2019 elections. The party’s poor election result was coupled with its factional battles that
ultimately saw former leader Mmusi Maimane’s resignation and the reemergence of Zille as federal council chair.
“We can’t talk about being an alternative government and then say that we want to work with the ANC. There is no different ANC,” one party leader said. To single out Ramaphosa is putting us in the middle of ANC battles. People feel betrayed, and they think it will hurt us with our voters too. Helen coming out with her own explanation also gives the notion that she is the de facto leader. This also confuses voters.” The insiders explained that Steenhuisen’s dilemma, with which Maimane also contended, was when Cyril Ramaphosa became president, whether to lump him together with the ANC or almost elevate him to slightly above the party.
“Maimane chose the former, and he got backlash from the country, donors and party. It was a mess. It’s clear now that while Ramaphosa is palatable, he is not any different from his comrades,” the party insider said.
“John didn’t realise that the time is different. This is his first take of an internal pushback, and it has got him shook because he doesn’t know how to react to dissenting voices.”
Scramble for votes and funding
The DA’S troubles continue to escalate as the party scrambles to attract voters, the insiders say.
According to one party leader who sits in its federal executive, the party is even scrambling to gain existing voters’ confidence.
This has been highlighted by the party’s letter to its staff that a fresh round of retrenchments was underway. The M&G understands that the party is also planning to sell its Bruma headquarters at less than market value.
However, the chief executive of the party, Simon Dickinson, said if the party should sell Nkululeko House, then this would be at a marketrelated price and not below.
“The impact of Covid-19 has shown the party that Zoom and flexible home working is an effective way of working. We simply do not require as much property space as we did before the crisis and are therefore exploring various property options in the market,” he said.
Dickinson said the party was financially stable and has already raised a significant portion of its election budget, and was continuing to grow its donor base.
However, one party leader said the party was in “deep financial trouble”, adding that Nkululeko House’s sale was a sign that the DA “does not have the money for the elections”.
“The donors are not buying into the combination of John Steenhuisen and Helen Zille. Now people are starting to worry that they were sold an idea that was not true,” the party insider said.
Some party leaders are concerned that Steenhuisen has not found his voice.
“There are people who say for someone in his position, given that [Steenhuisen] had the better half of a year as interim leader, people are very concerned that we come off as very whiny. People have not felt that the public has come in behind us. There is no inspiration coming from him,” the party leader said.