If SA is the winner, where are all of its prized doctors?

‘SA is the winner as local doctors stay put” (March 22) refers. South Africa can do with good news stories and it is encouraging to read about the motivations of some of the South African doctors who have decided to stay instead of moving abroad.

Yet the article provides no evidence to back up that indeed we are “winning”.

The first concern is one of numbers: the article reports that 194 doctors graduated at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2000, yet only 111 (57%) have been traced, of whom 89 (45% of total graduates) practise in South Africa. That begs the question: where are the other 83 doctors (43%)? It is likely that a good number are abroad.

According to the UK’s General Medical Council, the UK alone had 5 695 South African doctors in 2012. That is the equivalent of five times the total of annual medical graduates of all eight medical schools in South Africa.

The second concern is the definition of “winning”. While the article shows that at least 45% of the total graduates of 2000 still practise in South Africa, it does not tell us where they practise.

The International Office of Migration’s research on mobility of health professionals (2012) found that only 25% of all doctors in South Africa work in the public sector. A fraction thereof work in the rural public sector — yet rural people make up 43.6% of the total population. Are we really “winning” if the majority of doctors in the country serve a minority of urban patients in the private sector?

Universities have a duty to produce the healthcare workforce that the country needs. This starts by selecting the right students, who are keen to work for underserved populations. And it ends by knowing exactly where these students end up, by tracking them over time. With an estimated government-subsidised cost of R717 035 per individual doctor’s education, we all deserve to know if we are getting value for money. — Marije Versteeg-Mojanaga, director, Rural Health Advocacy Project

We’re responsible for acting

BARNEY Mthombothi’s mocking article “SA rebels without a cause give Rhodes the last laugh” (March 29) reflects a proximate participant who takes sides while projecting himself as an objective bystander.

We all bear the responsibility to act, even against the injustices we cannot see, the pain we cannot witness. If we know and we fail to act, we are also responsible. — Madiba Thabethe, Etwatwa, Gauteng

Remember past, don’t fear it

I AM grateful to Barney Mthombothi for stressing that if we destroy our past, personal and collective, we are denying the very history that makes us who we are, and more than that, we are denying those who fought for our progress the evidence of their fight and it will all disappear into the collective amnesia.

We have to remember but not be ruled by it, to remember but not to be afraid of what was, to remember in order not to repeat the atrocities in one form or another. Destruction of history is one of the atrocities. — Ora Nell, by e-mail

Only certain families evicted

“COPS face boot from barracks of shame” (March 29) refers. My husband has been with the South African Police Service for more than 20 years. He has devoted his life to the police.

In December we were given eviction notices, giving us one month to get out.

We have been told via the grapevine that the rental for our flat has been set at about R8 000 a month. We are in no way in a position to afford that.

As for the statement that the letters were given specifically to members who lived in buildings in urgent need of repair, it is false.

Our building is definitely not in a state of disrepair, or in need of urgent maintenance. If that was the case, why were only certain families in the building given notice?

What are we supposed to live on and feed our kids? How are we supposed to come up with a deposit in such a short period when most places require two months’ rental as deposit up front?

We have tried every avenue available to us. At this stage, the future looks very bleak for us. — Distressed, by e-mail

Cleaning up the barracks

THE George Goch barracks are too dirty. We pay for services that we don’t receive from Jeppe SAPS. Where is the budget of the barracks? We clean the place even though we pay for the services; they don’t come and clean. What a shame for police management to threaten us with disciplinary steps. — J Chauke, by SMS

Opened the door for others

WITH reference to “Mystery of SA’s unsung ‘Maserati of football’ ” (March 29), David Abraao Julius and Gerry Francis were two coloured South Africans who made good at Sporting and Leeds, respectively. Francis was the first black player for Leeds. He opened the door for other blacks. — Stephen, Northriding

Sounds nothing like jazz

HOORAY for Gabi Mbele in “Jazz it ain’t — but it’s a lot of fun” (March 29)! She is the only one who seems to agree with me that the Cape Town International Jazz Festival is NOT a jazz festival.

Why the powers-that-be don’t change the name is a mystery, but it sure confuses the public about what is jazz and what isn’t. — Don Albert, by e-mail

Magistrates’ lot not happy one

“JUDGES come clean on riches as new rules face challenge” (March 29) refers.

I am a regional magistrate. The issue of judges receiving a salary for life has been a thorn in the side of the magistracy for quite some time now, as have the other remuneration and conditions of service policies.

Overall, a regional magistrate receives about 30% of a judge’s salary, but only until the age of retirement, whereafter a retired magistrate will receive approximately 20% of a retired judge’s “pension”.

Regional magistrates have concurrent criminal jurisdiction with the high court (up to life imprisonment on certain counts of murder and rape) and can try all criminal cases except treason. They have concurrent jurisdiction in all divorce and family matters, and a stepped-up monetary jurisdiction in civil matters.

More than 90% of trial cases in serious criminal matters and 70% of trial cases in civil matters are being tried in the regional courts, not the high court. The case load in the high court is much lower than in the regional courts and the only real difference is that the high court has review or appeal jurisdiction.

The unfairness of this should be apparent and the Independent Remuneration Commission and the Presidency will have to look into it to ensure constant professional service delivery from the lower courts at the coalface of justice. No wonder some judges have such handsome portfolios to declare. — Anonymous, by e-mail

Guilty of raising ‘good girls’

MARGIE Orford’s “Courage of Hewitt’s victims will help many women” (March 29) refers. It is our duty as mothers of daughters to make them respect male authority less, and listen more to their own inner voice.

I have raised three “bolshie” females. I am proud they can stand up for themselves, and feel confident they would not allow themselves to be compromised, sexually or in other ways.

We mothers will not be around when the drug dealer, the sexual predator or the abuser arrives at their door, but we can empower them to say no and fight back.

Remember, the hard choices do not always make us popular — giving your daughters the feeling they need to always be “popular” (read “compliant”) and yield to peer pressure is poor parenting.

We are guilty of raising “good girls” who don’t challenge the status quo sufficiently. Not me — proud of my independent-thinking, strong-willed, difficult daughters. — Toni Spiller Burton, by SMS

A heart to match Leon’s mind

A CLASSIC Tony Leon piece, “Lessons from a leader who banned chewing gum” (March 29) — erudite and incisive.

Privileged, learned folk like Leon abound. One wishes they could take the great leap to swell the numbers of the humane and human by divesting themselves of bigotry and superiority.

To answer his “politically incorrect question”, Africa produced a succession of Lees in colonial and apartheid South Africa on the sjambok-scarred and broken backs of the indigenous Africans, and that is how white privilege was [entrenched], and continues to sustain its status.

Frankly, a lot of us who would be clothed in the blue colour of the DA are always reminded of our place under the sun by people like Leon. Sadly, Helen Zille appears to be a less sarcastic version of Leon. Meanwhile, the current self-serving political elite in charge continue to plunder. — Despondent, East London