POLL | Should MEC Phophi Ramathuba be given the boot?

There is mounting pressure on Phophi Ramathuba to step down after her controversial comments about immigrants.

The Limpopo health MEC got tongues wagging when she told a patient migrants are to blame for her department's stretched budget and that the patient's  country, not SA, should take responsibility for her health.

She added that Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa did not contribute to Limpopo's health budget.

“You are supposed to be with Mnangagwa. You are killing my health system. When you guys are sick you just say, 'Let's cross the Limpopo River, there's a MEC there who's running a charity department'.”

Political parties and civil society organisations have called for Ramathuba to be booted amid outrage about her comments.

The EFF called her a “reckless populist”.

“The Afrophobic attack on a bedridden patient is cruel and malicious, and has no justifications. It is a slippery slope because health rights are human rights, and an attempt to rationalise the denial of the provision of healthcare on the basis of someone’s nationality will lead to gross human rights violations.

“The EFF calls for the immediate removal of the cynical, arrogant and morally bankrupt MEC of health in Limpopo, Phophi Ramathuba, for her inhumane comments towards a sickly patient in a hospital in Bela Bela,” spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said.

The DA in Limpopo wrote to the SA Human Rights Commission about the matter. 

While some have joined the calls for her to be axed, others say she has done well in her portfolio and should stay.

Ramathuba told TimesLIVE her comments were taken out of context.

“On a daily basis we have an influx of foreign nationals choking the health system in Limpopo. The situation is getting worse. As a province, we have a backlog of surgical operations, so I started a programme called rural health matter[s] to reduce the backlog. It's not xenophobic.

“We started this programme when we had a breather during Covid-19 and we have done more than 4,000 operations.

“I started doing inspections, only to find that the vast majority of people on the list are foreign nationals and the operations they come here for are not even emergencies.”

She said the patient she approached was not there for an emergency.

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