Union wants Motsoaledi out
THE country’s biggest nurses’ union has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa not to retain Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi in his Cabinet after the May polls.
Yesterday, Denosa president Simon Hlungwani said the health system had collapsed under Motsoaledi’s watch and the minister had failed to prepare the country for the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI).
Speaking at Denosa’s national conference in Durban, Hlungwani said the health system was in a crisis.
“We want people who are proactive and who plan beforehand,” he said.
On failing to prepare the country for the implementation of the NHI, Hlungwani said: “The current minister has reached the pinnacle of his career, and there is nothing more he can offer the department of health.”
However, he said, Cosatu still sees Motsoaledi as a good and capable comrade, “but (one) who should be deployed elsewhere”.
“After the elections, we want a different minister, and that is what this conference is going to deliberate.
“We have not invited the minister as we just don’t want him any more, and I can confirm that even with the MEC in KZN, a similar stance had been taken by the province, as they have had enough of him,” he said.
Hlungwani accused KZN health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo of not sharing information with health employees and the public about the extent of oncology problems in the province.
“We are calling for an investigation on how many people died during that saga of not having cancer treatment, because some doctors are saying there were 460 (deaths).
“Now tell me, who in his conscious mind can bring such a person back when something like that could happen under his leadership?” he said.
Motsoaledi’s spokesperson, Popo Maja, said allegations that the minister had collapsed the health system were “outrageous”.
“In as far as we are aware, there is nothing supporting that. The minister has been the champion of the NHI,” said Maja.
ANC KZN spokesperson Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said the relevant authorities would assess Dhlomo’s performance.
Simelane-Zulu said before deploying its leaders, the deployment committee and party’s provincial leaders would first assess them.
When asked if the ANC was happy with Dhlomo’s performance, she said: “Once the assessment is done, the ANC will take a decision.” FORMER DA mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay municipality Athol Trollip has successfully sued a former party member who accused him of racism and of murdering ANC members in Port Elizabeth during apartheid.
Trollip obtained an order in the High Court in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) on Tuesday, which allowed him to claim R250000 from Siyabulela Mali after he made defamatory remarks about him on Facebook and in various newspapers in 2016 and 2017.
Mali was initially a DA member, but defected to the ANC after a fall-out with Trollip.
Mali wrote on Facebook that Trollip was treating his farmworkers badly and paid them R80 a month.
The court found Mali was wrong when he made the claims that Trollip was part of the security forces who were responsible for the murder of the Pebco Three. The three were anti-apartheid activists who were abducted and subsequently murdered in 1985 by members of the South African Security.
The court found that Mali, despite averring in his plea that the publication was true, failed to provide any “cogent proof that Trollip was indeed a cruel and brutal person”. GUGU Ncube, the daughter of prominent Zimbabwean politician Welshman Ncube, was arrested outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria yesterday after staging a nude protest.
She said she was protesting naked because “nudity is a sign of my dignity that l have been stripped of”.
“I have nothing more to protect.” “All l want is for President (Cyril) Ramaphosa to take note of the abuse I am suffering at the hands of the University of South Africa and the South African police.
“I want the Unisa management to show the country, Thuma Foundation, Commission for Gender Equality and other interested parties, my resignation letter they claim I tendered.
“This is my demand,” Ncube said.