President Cyril Ramaphosa will this afternoon sign the controversial National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law.
The ANC government has without doubt failed the people of this country, and diminished the trust of people in this democratic political system. In its desire to sanctify the image of the ANC, this legislation is being passed shortly before the National and Provincial Government Election with the promise of universal healthcare for all.
The blatant truth is that the failures of this government makes the implementation of the NHI impossible. None of the concerns of the health sector have been given due consideration, with public participation merely becoming a tick-box exercise for this government. The ACDP, in its input on the NHI Bill, has said that the NHI will lead to an exodus of health care professionals and cause another brain-drain in the health sector. We maintain our position that government does not have the capacity to be the sole arbiter of health services in South Africa.
This law will be taken to court, and the 7th Administration will be the administration of the courts because the ANC has used its majority in the 6th Administration to push through laws with little to no regard for meaningful public participation processes. Our health infrastructure has been on life support for decades with maladministration and corruption having placed it there. The NHI will not fix what the ANC has broken as a result of years of corruption and poor governance.
The only remedy for the arrogance of the ANC is a resounding rejection at the ballot box on 29 May. South Africans must mobilise to remove the corrupt ANC from power.
While the ACDP agrees that the health sector needs reform, the ANC government is not capable to lead that transformation and the NHI, in its current form, will lead to a collapse of our health sector and negatively impact economic growth.
