DA to report Mboweni to Ethics Committee following Tygerberg Hospital remarks

However, the minister says the party is overreacting. 'That is the reality. You might not like it,' he says.

Tito Mboweni, South African Minister of Finance, delivers his 2019 Mid-Term Budget Statement in the South African Parliament in Cape Town, on October 30, 2019. Picture: RODGER BOSCH / AFP

Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip Natasha Mazzone says the party will report Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to the Ethics Committee following comments he made about the Tygerberg Hospital in the Western Cape.

In his medium-term budget policy speech on Wednesday, Mboweni outlined infrastructure and structural reforms which he said were at the centre of the recovery plan. The plan would include renovations at hospitals, including the Tygerberg Hospital, which Mboweni said still had a black and white section, structurally.

He said in part: “The budget facility for infrastructure will support new projects including through blended finance in partnership with the private sector. This includes hospitals, hospital projects in KwaZulu-Natal and in the Western Cape, like the Tygerberg Hospital. By the way, this Tygerberg Hospital thing, it still has a black and white section. There is a section where blacks used to go and there is a section where whites used to go. Structurally it is still there, so the thing has to be removed and a completely new hospital constructed there. It’s unbelievable.”

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But Mazzone said this is a “blatant and damaging lie”, and would lay a charge with the Ethics Committee. Mazzone has called on Mboweni to apologise.

“It is a slap in the face to all the hardworking doctors, nurses and staffers who work at the hospital and daily put their lives on the line to protect us in the Western Cape from the Covid crisis. Minister Mboweni should be ashamed of himself. A Member of Parliament may not mislead the House or the people.”

“For this reason, I will be laying a charge with the Ethics Committee against Minister Mboweni. I will be expecting a full apology to the Premier of the Western Cape, to the MEC for Health in the Western Cape, but most importantly, to those at the Tygerberg Hospital. Under our watch, no one gets away with lies,” she said in a video shared on the party’s social media pages.

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Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo has also slammed Mboweni following his speech.

“This is an outright lie and Minister Mboweni should be made to apologise for misleading the House. This fake news has one objective in mind: to detract from the ugly truth that the National government is going to pour another R10.5 billion into the bailout of SAA ,” she said.

#MTBPS2020 this is my response to @tito_mboweni as @WCHealthMEC about Tygeberg hospital @WestCapeHealth @WesternCapeGov . pic.twitter.com/s98j2cJJej

— Dr French Mbombo (MPL) (@nomafrench) October 28, 2020

In response, Mboweni said the DA was “overreacting”.

“Please do not over-react. There are still two structures there at Tygeberg Hospital. One was for blacks and the other for whites. They exist. What does not exist any longer is the segregation of patients. That is the reality. You might not like it,” he said.

So, what’s got to do with DA and patients segregation you imply in regard to structures that were built during apartheid , noting DA took off from ANC in WC 2009. Also , central hospitals are a national competency but you neglected them & provinces now footing billl

— Dr French Mbombo (MPL) (@nomafrench) October 28, 2020