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‘Response to personal attack on the MEC by Daily Maverick’

‘Response to personal attack on the MEC by Daily Maverick’
Limpopo MEC for Health Phophi Ramathuba. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Sandile Ndlovu)

The Limpopo Department of Health has responded to an article in Daily Maverick. We publish their response in full, unedited and unbowdlerised.

The Limpopo Department of Health has noted the malicious and personal attack on Dr Phophi Ramathuba, the MEC of Health in the province. The personal attacks are disguised as Corona Virus/ Lockdown analysis headlined “PHOPHI RAMATHUBA, A HEALTH MEC OUT OF TOUCH AND OUT OF PLACE” published on the 15th of April 2020. Nowhere in the article does the journalist attempts to give a picture or the status of the pandemic in the province. We are not informed of the excellent work done by the health care professionals in the province under the political leadership of the MEC to curb the spread of the virus. The MEC was on the forefront as part of the leadership of this province calling for the lockdown in the country. We have noted a disturbing trend in Daily Maverick’s reporting when it comes to the department of Health and the MEC. It always appears that Daily Maverick (DM) isn’t objective nor does it report on the department of health fairly. This fact is proven by this recent cobbling together of various issues that we have previously dealt with under the guise of a feature article. The intentions are very clear, Daily Maverick is used by business interest groups and some opposition parties to run sensationalist stories without due regards of facts or the truth. The question we ask ourselves is, has Daily Maverick adopted a political posture or is itself a political mouthpiece? Below we deal with specific issues that the article raises and hope that they will be published unaltered:

  1. Through its title, the author of this article is at pains trying to paint unsuccessfully a negative picture of the MEC.  If anything, it is the Daily Maverick that is out of touch with reality.  If the Daily Maverick was in touch and had the interest of people at heart, it would be conversant with the fact that Limpopo Province if over 90% rural and would therefore appreciate that as the rationale behind the decisions we make. Daily Maverick would by now be aware that over 50% of this population is poor and dependant on grants for survival also dependant on the public health care and we have to protect them at all times.  Daily Maverick would by now note that majority of our people are vulnerable by either being poor, sick with a number of comorbidities and are old.

Daily Maverick would have understood that the MEC’s pushback approach in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is not only to protect the few rich and privileged individuals whom you write on behalf of but to also protect the majority of these poor and vulnerable people in our rural areas. Daily Maverick would have noticed that all the decisions which the MEC and the department took are based on the material conditions on the ground such as the capacity of the public health care system to accommodate a widespread pandemic.  The MEC is on record, firmly indicating that considering the rurality of Limpopo Province and the limited resources, the only way as a department we can win the battle against COVID-19 is on the street not in our hospital wards and ICU because even first world countries with advanced health systems are struggling. We can only win by focusing on screening, testing, tracing, quarantining and isolation.  This is the pushback strategy which the MEC and the department have been emphasising in order to ensure that the virus is dealt with before there could be a need for admissions. She knows her limitations in terms of specialized Physicians and ICU nurses to deal with this pandemic in case it spread.

  1. The aeromedical tender: As has been indicated many times before, the MEC as the political head doesn’t adjudicate tenders, that is the responsibility of the HoD as the accounting officer and her team. The MEC does get to be briefed on such important matters and in this case she fully supported the decision of the officials. The tender was awarded to a successful bidder who was a black business person. The MEC is unapologetic that the department she is leading is empowering people from the previously disadvantaged communities as long as they possess the requisite skills and can deliver on the requirements of the tender. We are aware that Daily Maverick took an unprecedented step of running articles brutally attacking the successful bidders and the MEC despite facts provided. It appears that directly or indirectly, through these attacks, the Daily Maverick represents the interest of the losing bidders who happened to be white against a successful bidder who was black. To date we haven’t been provided with facts to prove that the departmental committees had erred in their decision making.

The Provincial Treasury has through the request by the same MEC investigated the entire process and couldn’t find any wrongdoing by any official. If Daily Maverick has facts that can prove that the MEC or the department had erred in judgement, we challenge them to approach the court with such evidence and we will follow the ruling on the court on the matter. The MEC has respect for the Daily Maverick and good work it has done in the past, but on account of its recent reporting, it is difficult not to buy into widely held view that it is starting to behave like a proxy of some business interests which are viewed as anti-black. We would like to hope that this view is incorrect and invite Daily Maverick to report fairly and objectively.

  1. The Closure of Ndlovu Care Centre: We note that Daily Maverick cites the closure of this centre as a failure by the MEC. Again the accusation against Daily Maverick that it is a proxy of some business people surfaces here. Despite the department’s numerous attempt to clarify that it did not order the closure of the centre, the Daily Maverick continues out of its own conviction regurgitating the same lies.  Just for the record, the department would like to once again indicate that it took a decision to decant all chronic patients who were stable on ARVs and any other chronic medication as per national guidelines that they must be registered under CCMDD program where they can collect medication at the clinic closer to their home. Department also resolved to give all NGOs notice that their contracts won’t be renewed because the Department was going to appoint all our Community Healthcare Workers through PERSAL in order for the Department to regulate their payments to be the minimum wage. Ndlovu Care Group did assist the government when it did not have enough capacity to care for all our chronic patients and were duly advised that their contract will not be renewed when it comes to an end.   This was done considering that government had then developed enough capacity to take care of these patients. It must be noted that Ndlovu Care Group supported by Section 27 did take the department to court and the court ruled in favour of the Department but Daily Maverick still runs with a matter pronounced by the courts, insisting that we were wrong. Through this process, the department is saving millions of rands which were initially paid to private entities but have now been redirected to pay about 10 000 Community Health Care Workers a minimum wage of R3500 a month.

These are the same Community Health Care Workers whom today as a department we can proudly deploy to all our villages to do the massive screening of COVID 19 without incurring any extra costs – which we do not have. Of course the Daily Maverick will not publish these kind of gains because the beneficiaries are poor and down-trodden and not elites whom the publication has been apparently established to act as a proxy for.

It was not only Ndlovu care group that was affected, so many NGOs were affected but Daily Maverick will never write about the other NGO’s probably because they are owned and run by black people.

  1. The two white Doctors who were quarantined at the Modimolle facility. Daily Maverick seems to be incensed by the fact that we acted lawfully to protect the community within which these doctors resided. We don’t intend in this response to detail the behaviour of these doctors. They are our colleagues; however, they should have known better than ordinary citizens on the effects of not adhering to the rules of self-isolation. It was the Head of Department and not the MEC who approached the high court after numerous attempts to convince these doctors to self-isolate failed. Prior to these two doctors taken into the isolation site, there were nine other people, mainly professionals and highly qualified individuals who had been taken to the site after testing positive.  Why is the Daily Maverick not saying anything about them? Is it because they were black and their lives and well- being don’t matter?
  2. On the interview request: The MEC clearly indicated as I communicated to the journalist, that she was inundated with the huge task of launching the Mass Household screening and testing for Covid-19 as pronounced by the President of the Republic, President Matamela Ramaphosa. She indicated her willingness to do the interview as soon as she could accommodate 30 minutes of an interview in her schedule. The MEC has never failed to honour an interview request even on issues that were clearly negative. She has always been willing to do interview with anyone. We challenge the Daily Maverick to name the journalist they claim the MEC has avoided.

It appears to us that the Daily Maverick had a pre-determined objective and date on which to execute such agenda in this request for an interview to project the MEC in the negative light. The MEC accepts that she is a politician and a public figure, therefore is open to criticism but the facts of the matters on which she is criticised must be reflected fairly.

  1. The MEC has never shied away from responding to the Democratic Alliance as per the allegations.  In fact the DA must not be economic with the truth, they must also share with DM our responses which are clear on how as government we will continue to account to the legislature through our portfolio committee which we have been giving regular feedback.  The Premier on the other hand does arrange regular meetings with Political parties where Health MEC gives update. The next meeting is on Friday the 17th April.
  2. On the non- existing HIV/AIDS tweet mentioned: In a desperate attempt to cement their innuendo about the MEC the article deliberately attributes a tweet about HIV/AIDS to the person of the MEC, which in fact the MEC never said.  The MEC lamented that while HIV/AIDS is affecting majority of black people, the money to deal with it remains in the hands of few white people. She said that while quoting resolutions of SANAC Civil Society which she believes in those words because they are facts. It is clear that all the decisions that the Daily Maverick utilises as basis for its attacks and persecutions against the MEC were decisions taken to benefit and uplift the status of the poor and the downtrodden.  These are the decisions which the MEC has been appointed to take and she shall not apologize for doing what is right.
  3. On Covid-19: here is the real situation in Limpopo as of Wednesday 15 April 2020:  We have to date registered a total number of 25 cases, zero deaths, one hospitalisation, 18 full recoveries, 384 successfully traced and quarantined, 29 contacts not yet found, 12376 people screened despite launching late as we awaited PPE. We had 7 health professionals who tested positive and all of them have now recovered and are out of isolation. None of them were infected at workplace

IN SUMMARY THIS HAS BEEN OUR APPROACH TOWARDS FIGHTING COVID 19 IN THE PROVINCE AND THE MEC HAS BEEN THE CENTER OF THIS BATTLE BEING IN TOUCH WITH REALITY ON THE GROUND:

  • Since the declaration of COVID outbreak by World Health Organisation, our MEC led the team of executive and clinicians to come up with a Response team towards fighting COVID 19 as early as late January. Our first stage which included preparation and establishing our testing capacity was made easy because NICD was doing all the tests at that time hence our focus was on state of readiness and awareness on preventative healthcare. We visited our two major border posts to assess the state of readiness in terms of screening all those who will be entering our country despite the fact that port health is a national mandate, our MEC made it her own problem and working with NDOH we were able to equip all our port health.
  • MEC visited Chinese malls before SA could even register a single case on awareness campaign when there was a lot of discrimination against the Chinese people.
  • Limpopo hosted Wuhan repatriates when it was not fashionable and Daily Maverick will never write about this work.
  • Pietersburg Hospital has been identified to be the treatment centre in case we have many cases, while Modimolle tropical hospital has been identified as an isolation facility. This is a hospital that was initially build for TB but due to decentralisation of TB management the facility is currently underutilized and its build with ensuit to fit isolation.
  • Stage 2 was when our first case was diagnosed. We then started to immediately focus on messages of social distancing and washing of hands. We met with South African Council of Churches and visited many churches to start engaging them on avoiding gatherings as early as March. We were proactive on Screening all those who came back to the province just before the lockdown.
  • Since the lockdown pronouncement was made by the President our Provincial Command Council led by our Premier has been criss-crossing the province to monitor compliance by the members of the public.
  • The MEC together with her counterpart in Transport and Safety have been working closely with Taxi association to even fumigate public transport.
  • We can proudly report that our PPE stock is adequate enough to can help us to fight this pandemic.
  • We are currently on stage 4 of the pandemic where we are finding cases. We have launched a massive household screening and testing campaign wherein 10 000 cadres are deployed by the province to conduct screening in the next 10 days. 800 000 households with an average of 5 to 7 people which will give us around 76% of population will be screened.

That will give us a clear indication of the burden of disease in the province.  Those who after screening will require testing will be tested on site by a tracer team comprising of 589 Professional Nurses and 5 mobile NHLS testing units.

  • Our next stage which is five will include getting more beds especially field beds depending on the outcome of our massive screening and testing.

We know the disaster ahead of us is inevitable, but our MEC is clear that history will judge her as one of those leaders who was decisive in a quest to protect majority of her own people who are poor and vulnerable, who would not survive if the virus was to attack them. Those are in the villages and in our informal settlement. Those are her constituency. It will be good if the author can also mention that the MEC is a leader of the South African Communist party where she has been serving as the provincial treasury long before elected as ANC PEC. It will also assist to trace her activism back to her student life where she served in number of student representative councils. In simple language she was not parachuted as your article seeks to suggest.

We look forward to a collaborative effort with Daily Maverick in pursuit of informing the people of Limpopo and the country about the efforts of the department and the government at large.  Daily Maverick and all other media outlets are important in the dissemination of the true state of affairs and not to tailor negative narratives to fit a particular narrow agenda to the detriment of the broader majority. We remain open to constructive criticism based on the true tenants of journalism which are truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability, as these are pillars of newsworthy information which is fit for dissemination to the public.

Regards,

Neil Shikwambana 

Departmental Spokesperson 

Gallery

"Information pertaining to Covid-19, vaccines, how to control the spread of the virus and potential treatments is ever-changing. Under the South African Disaster Management Act Regulation 11(5)(c) it is prohibited to publish information through any medium with the intention to deceive people on government measures to address COVID-19. We are therefore disabling the comment section on this article in order to protect both the commenting member and ourselves from potential liability. Should you have additional information that you think we should know, please email [email protected]"

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