President Cyril Ramaphosa presented yet another hopeful opening of parliament speech on Thursday. As he has done since 2018, he promised many things. Many, many things. It was vintage Ramaphosa. His words come from the heart and evoke a deep sense of understanding and empathy.
Take healthcare, for example. Ordinary South Africans queue for a whole day to pick up medication from many healthcare facilities such as Steve Biko or Jubilee hospitals in Tshwane, or the totally broken hospitals of the Eastern Cape. So they welcomed Ramaphosa’s words when he promised that in the next five years “everyone in South Africa [will have] equal access to equitable, accessible and affordable high-quality healthcare”.
He told the nation that the “high-quality healthcare” he was talking about would be achieved by implementing the controversial and divisive National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, which he hurriedly signed into law just two weeks before the election despite numerous objections, and by expanding healthcare infrastructure.
Ramaphosa knows that a huge chunk of the country sees the NHI concept as pie in the sky, but he ploughed on with his promises that there will be consensus about it one day: “We will be able to bring stakeholders together, and we will be able to resolve differences and clarify misunderstandings.”
As with many of Ramaphosa’s speeches, the promises of a better, more efficient, more empathetic country rang well. Yet I can’t but feel somewhat deflated. These are just words. They sprang from his speechwriters’ laptops to his mouth effectively, and they got to us and reminded us of the power of oratory and persuasion. Words, words, words. There was no sense of mission, no feeling that “tomorrow this is what we will do”.
Sometimes a leader puts words aside and does something. They give a sign. They make their intentions clearly and boldly. They show. They stop telling. They act, they transform something.
Before delivering his speech, Ramaphosa should have taken the time to listen to just one person in Parliament. That person is the new ActionSA MP Dr Kgosi Letlape. Many followers of health debates in South Africa will know Letlape. He was the first black person to qualify as an ophthalmologist under apartheid. He was the first black person to be elected as president of the World Medical Association, the global representative body for physicians. He has led many health bodies in South Africa including the South African Medical Association and the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
Earlier this month Letlape gave his first speech to parliament. He was brilliant. I am surprised that he did not get wider coverage and that his name is not being sung from the rooftops by every South African. But perhaps that’s the case because he — and many others — have stated this truth before and been ignored. They must not give up. It is a simple, easy thing. But it is an act of great courage.
Letlape told parliament that all public servants, from the president down to the lowest-ranked worker, should get their medical care from the public health sector.
“The members of this house, the members of the NCOP [National Council of Provinces], the MPLs, the judges, we must all obtain our health services from the public sector,” he said.
“I can assure you if all of us get our services from the public sector, the absent professionals, the ghost professionals who are running their private practices, the attitudes of health professionals towards patients, the absence of drugs, the absence of services and lack of equipment, will stop.
“If our lives are on the line, we will ensure the public health system works. What we need to do is fix what we have. The key priority should be to fix the public health system, and we should go there for our services.”
What would stop Ramaphosa and his party, together with their partners in the GNU, from being bold, brave and leading by example here? When last did our leaders surprise us — really surprise us — by doing something truly extraordinary such as standing in solidarity with ordinary people? What could possibly be wrong with Letlape’s argument?
“Healthcare is in crisis in our country,” he said. “And it requires proper leadership from the National Assembly. We need to ensure we pledge solidarity with the people who voted us to power by committing to obtain our health services from the public sector as public office bearers who lead by example. We should be the ones to lead where we want society to go.
“There will be no greater incentive to ensure proper oversight throughout the public health system than by obtaining our personal health services with the people so we truly become a government of the people by the people.”
Letlape has one big supporter: health minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
Ramaphosa can change his legacy by doing this one powerful thing. Or he can keep giving speeches.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.