EFF CONDEMNS HUMILIATION OF NURSING STAFF BY LIMPOPO HEALTH MEC
PHOPHI RAMATHUBA.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Limpopo condemns with utmost
contempt, the humiliation and embarrassment of nursing staff by the populist
Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba.
Ramathuba’s viral video is shameful and cringe, as the MEC was recorded while
embarrassing two senior professional nurse managers at Rethabile Community
Health Centre (CHC) in Polokwane over a self-inflicted pain of long queues at the
facility. The MEC ought to have resolved the shortage of nurses in the province
to avert long queues. The utterances by the MEC are not only distasteful but
they are dehumanising and abusive in nature.
The EFF calls on workers, particularly EFF members in the health sector to not
only stand their ground against the bully MEC, but to also refuse any form of
public humiliation by her or any politician. Politicians need to respect people’s
rights, dignity, working conditions and most importantly the nursing profession.
The continuous bullying tactics and scathing attacks against health personnel,
must not be taken lightly because they perpetuate intimidation and demoralises
them in executing their duties. In fact, the MEC is covering up her shortcomings
in running the department decisively, and providing basic healthcare services to
the people of Limpopo, thus resorting to blame games.
It has become a common trend that year in year out, the MEC launches rants
either against workers or patients from neighbouring African countries for
cheap political point scoring. The MEC must, first and foremost address the
backlog of staff shortages in our public health facilities and provide medication
to avoid blaming staff over her own failures.
The EFF’s long standing call for clinics to open on a 24hr basis seven (7) days per
week, has fallen on deaf ears, therefore we will not allow Ramathuba to use
nurses as sacrificial lambs.
In conclusion, we call on the Limpopo Department of Health to take down the
disturbing video from its social media platforms to restore the dignity of the
victimised healthcare workers and spare them from further humiliation.
