Parliament must shoulder health crisis blame

On the face of it and this is probably for most days in the life of a politician, Madala Mhlanga’s rhetoric on Wednesday was a good and powerful speech and impeccably delivered.
The Mhlangatane MP spoke with sincerity and passion about how the country’s healthcare system had collapsed under their watchful eyes as politicians, raising the critical issues that he believes have contributed to this collapse.

He spoke with confidence and authority, telling the nation what it already knows that in his opinion, there was a deliberate ploy to collapse the health system in this country. He even pointed the finger of accusation towards the direction of the leader of government business, which to me, was quite cheap.
It was all stunning and believable though. However, it was pure political grandstanding and MP Mhlanga has a few years under his belt as a politician, so this was to be expected of him.

Speaking on a day that should go down as Parliament’s ‘darkest day’, MP Mhlanga made it clear he was speaking his mind, stating how he was saddened that parliament had been made a mockery and accused the ministry of health of failing to act, despite several reports and glaring injustices at the ministry pointing to the calamity.

“I can see the frustration, but we will talk forever and nothing will be done,” he said, referring to the motion of the day being moved by Ngudzeni MP Charles Ndlovu who wanted the minister of health to report to the House why there was a dire shortage of medicines in our hospitals and clinics.
“If this motion could be amended and then look at the policies that govern the operations of Parliament. We do not have the power and we could only do so much as committees,” he continued.
The MP – who also doubles as deputy speaker – then moved for the kill. He called for parliament to be given more power to deal with such issues, charging that Parliament should amend the Privileges Act of 1967 to give them more power as MPs to do as they please.

This is what it comes down to; MP Mhlanga’s rhetoric about the deliberate ploy to collapse the health sector wasn’t telling it like it is, or an honest assessment of the crisis. It was, in my view, more than that. It was another carefully targeted statement to encapsulating MPs from the blame and responsibility in this crisis.
It was aimed at getting everyone into thinking these MPs care about the collapse of the health sector, when in fact they have done nothing but look for opportunities to benefit from the collapse.

MP Mhlanga’s comments on Wednesday must be understood in the context of his position as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, which has been happily taking external trips for benchmarking that have not provided this country with anything worth their mouth-watering allowances.
The committee has just returned from a gravy trip to India, which was partly sponsored by those people who are directly culpable for the collapse of the health sector.

The PAC has become an untouchable entity, abusing its autonomy and its closeness to the office of the auditor general. And that in my books, is what has collapsed the health sector. They have to look within for answers as to why there are no drugs and medicines in hospitals, because all they care about is what is in it for them. That is what MPs must deal with, first, if they want to solve this crisis and stop misleading the public.

This is why MP Mhlanga’s words ring very hollow to those of us who know the truth, because we refuse to be blinded by such political grandstanding.
Since they came in, Parliament has done nothing but fail to solve the crisis. They have happily accepted a dangerous narrative that has served only those who pay the piper. They have happily spread the same dangerous narrative that the whole health crisis is down to a simple weaponised-over report, which begs the question of why this same report has not been tabled after so long.

The same PAC that Madala Mhlanga heads is happy to look the other way when Funduzi is pocketing millions after millions, for the same work that isn’t making its way to being debated into parliament. Yet, he wants to point fingers!
The same PAC wants us to believe that it is receiving threats and being attacked for ‘speaking the truth’ but has not spoken about the corruption right in front of their eyes – when they are happy to take meaningless trips to finding no truth and solution towards solving this health crisis.

Now, because the public is gullible, MP Mhlanga is making allegations of a deliberate plot to collapse the health system, when they have been cosying up while we have been trying to warn them we see what they are doing.
In fact, the same MP Mhlanga went on radio and attacked us for telling the truth and yet now he is screaming about being attacked. MP Mhlanga and his PAC have been happy to attack our newspaper for daring to tell the truth, have been happy to scandalise us because we know what they are doing – and what’s even more scandalous, have been scandalising one supplier so that the public accepts Funduzi Forensic Services’ shambolic report.

The truth has been staring the PAC in the face since MP Mhlanga and his cronies walked into the PAC. The truth has been there for anyone who wants it and we have been saying this for three years!
The truth will always set us free too and we know with time it will come out. MP Mhlanga must know that one day, perhaps after his glorified term – long after we are all gone – the truth will come out. The solution to the health crisis is not – by the way – throwing money down the Lusushwana River to Sidvokodvo, as he now wants us to believe.

We have said it all along too, but you guys will only listen to divisive people who are happy to parade themselves as angels. The reality is that throwing money down that river will not suddenly fill government hospitals and clinics with medicines. It is not the solution, pure and simple! In fact, the solution is to undo what the cabal did when this whole thing started – of course, admitting that this was the beginning of the crisis would be a start. The health crisis was a man-made crisis. It began when the procurement structure was dismantled, by suspending those whose jobs were to procure and ensure there was medicines whenever they were to be replenished.

The other truth is that the PAC can never be procurement officers, so their gravy trips to benchmark and identify suppliers go against the spirit of procurement and supply. They should never have gone to India because that is not how any government supply chain works (and we hear they did nothing in that country but play cards in hotels).

They should not be getting in contact with any suppliers because that is floodgates for corruption. In any case, at the very core of this crisis is the lie that has been spread so many times – from the removal of the good man that is Dr Simon Zwane to the dismantling of officers at the Central Medical Stores. All these things have led to our hospitals running dry and corrupt individuals benefiting from the crisis.
The very fact that someone out there now sits and waits for a call to supply any medicine is the reason why people are dying in our hospitals.

If Parliament is interested in solving the health crisis, then they must spare us the rhetoric from the people who have done nothing but be cheerleaders while our hospitals collapse.
MP Mhlanga has the nerve to even remind us he is one of those who are calling for funding that private hospital right on the day that public officers have marched to him for help!
The least the MP could do is face the mirror and accept that he has lost the fire to do the right thing. Nurses have been petitioning Cabinet and Parliament for a reason, because they have grown tired of the lies.

The least MPs can do is accept that the narrative they have been fed all along has been exposed as not the reality on the ground. Now, they must realise things are about to boil over if they do not change their ways.
There is no other reason that nurses can decide to march except that they are frustrated, angry and tired of being told a solution lies in that very report. But, to come back to MP Mhlanga’s claim of a deliberate move to collapse the health system. He is spot-on.

It’s just that, coming from him, it is an insult to the people who have to walk into a hospital and be told that they cannot be assisted. What he and his colleagues should be doing is apologising to the nation for doing nothing to solve this crisis, instead of giving us such hollow words. We are getting fed-up.