Ramaphosa accused of ‘talking nonsense’ over NHI promise

Although President Cyril Ramaphosa promised in parliament last week that checks and balances will be in place to prevent corruption when NHI is implemented, an expert disagrees. He also does not think the president’s “lengthy discussion” with Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi about his statements that NHI will be implemented at all costs will bear any fruit.

In fact, Professor Alex van den Heever, chairperson of Social Security Systems Administration and Management Studies at Wits, does not think much of the president’s promises of checks and balances. “Just look at what is happening at the moment. We have all these people who were identified in state capture.

“We have the Department of Justice refusing to hand over all the material to the National Prosecuting Authority. There is no denying that the Minister of Justice is somebody who is implicated in the scandal with VBS. She should not be in that position because she has a conflict of interest.”

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Nothing was done after Digital Vibes scandal

Van den Heever says if he looks at the checks and balances in our health system, Zweli Mkize (former minister of health during the Covid-19 pandemic) was identified by the SIU as having benefited from the Digital Vibes tender.

“He stepped down as minister of health, but he is currently the chairperson of the portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs. He proposed Ramaphosa as president. He is still out of jail.”

Van den Heever also points out that Dr Anban Pillay, who was the accounting officer in the National Department of Health when Digital Vibes was paid and who is responsible for the tender manipulation, was given a slap on the hand but is still deputy director general at the Department of Health.

“The head of the Department of Health, Sandile Buthelezi, is under investigation for an alleged R500 000 kickback for a hospital refurbishment when the Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg was damaged in an explosion.

“Why is he involved in a provincial tender? That I do not know, but he was involved and he is being investigated today but he is still in his position. He was not removed. He is not being disciplined. He is not being asked questions about this. So, this is a kickback for a tender for a public hospital.”

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Slow government reaction after Deokaran murder

Regarding the Gauteng Department of Health and the murder of Babita Deokaran, Van den Heever says government did not act until News24 wrote about it.

“Therefore, when you talk about the checks and balances being in place in government, why does it take News24 12 months afterwards to get government to act?”

He also points out that the chief financial officer, who was in charge of the department that Deokaran reported, was only suspended after the news article and stayed under suspension for two years before he was allowed to resign without any disciplinary action finalised against him.

“The head of Tembisa Hospital who was responsible for the massive fraud at the hospital which has now expanded to about R3 billion of irregular transactions was obviously problematic. It involved a multiple matrix and syndicates of people who are continuing to do business with the Department of Health.

“We have people who are responsible for R500 billion of potential fraud against the state and state capture and none of them are sitting in jail. Instead, they are sitting in parliament. We have a judge who was impeached. He is sitting on the Judicial Service Commission.”

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Ramaphosa is ‘talking nonsense’

Van den Heever says that is why he believes that Ramaphosa is “talking nonsense” when he refers to checks and balances for National Health Insurance (NHI). “Every regulation and rule that we have in place is undermined when you have political appointments into these strategic positions in government, which means that they can put the brakes on anything.

“They can rig any tender and if you find a cheaper rate in supply chain management, you are on your own. Unlike the state, unlike the president and the deputy president with all their VIP protection, those individuals are the ones with no protection and they are the ones that die.

“So, the president is talking nonsense. There are no checks and balances at any satisfactory level. Included in all of this, we have just seen the Post Office collapse. The billions of rands of state resources used to bail out organisations which were essentially stripped of their assets and capabilities through corruption, such as SAA, Eskom, Transnet and Prasa, were all subject to the same checks and balances Ramaphosa is talking about.”

Van den Heever says now we have assurances from people who have actually provided no action to allow imbalances to happen. He says if the president fired the current minister of justice instantaneously and put somebody who we can trust in that position to get the job done, he would have believed that there could be checks and balances in place.

“There are no checks and balances on any satisfactory level for NHI that can deal with the risk of an organisation that is meant to theoretically at the end of the day have more resources than any other public entity in South Africa.”

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Ramaphosa’s discussion with Motsoaledi

About Ramaphosa’s “lengthy discussion” with Motsoaledi about NHI, Van den Heever says he does not think it will bear any fruit. He says Motsoaledi is not the kind of person who can lead this kind of process because he does not listen.

Van den Heever also does not think much of Ramaphosa’s promises of further discussion on NHI. “It will require very competent leadership at the political level and at the level of the administration.

“I do not expect much from his so-called consultation process. This is a person’s job and it needs a different kind of person. Motsoaledi is not that person.”

He says there will be further discussion about NHI. “The courts are going to deliberate on the legislation and my suspicion would be that the president is probably aware that there are serious concerns about the legislation.

“You need to negotiate or go to court. That will be their trajectory. Proposals for health reform, unfortunately, even those data proposals, require really good leadership and we do not have that to proceed at this point because it is technically complex and there are multiple stakeholders.”

He says stakeholders have to get on board with proposals and even the correct proposals require that government must deal with them efficiently and effectively and build trust with the stakeholders.

“You can continue to rant and rave about NHI, but nothing is being implemented because some vested interests are blocking it. You can rant all you like. The problem is implementable proposals require that you set real adult processes to deal with health reform, which are absolutely necessary. I just do not think it will happen in the next five years.”