Build One South Africa (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa, his family, and cabinet to cancel their medical aid cover contracts and start using public health care services before inking the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law.
“Before he signs the NHI bill, I challenge the President, his whole family, the cabinet, and all their family members to publicly cancel their medical aid and to use public healthcare with immediate effect. There must be no healthcare obtained overseas,” he said.
Before he signs the NHI bill I challenge the President, his whole family, the cabinet and all their family members to publicly cancel their medical aid and to use public healthcare with immediate effect. There must be no healthcare obtained overseas. pic.twitter.com/A7wTkFMxQK
— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) May 14, 2024
Ramaphosa is expected to sign the NHI Bill into law today (Wednesday) at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to publicly sign the National Health Insurance (NHI) bill into law at the Union Buildings on Wednesday. @ pic.twitter.com/lhnT75HINR
— Kamogelo Vega (@Kamogelo_Vegaa) May 13, 2024
This comes after five years of heated debates and public hearings over the authorisation of the bill. The bill was tabled in 2019.
According to Maimane, the bill under the African National Congress (ANC) governance, will not go a long way to ensuring that the people receive proper healthcare services.
“The NHI as envisaged by the ANC is going to be devastating for this country. You will have profound skills flight out of this country and ultimately it will drain the fiscus.
“This is a R500 billion investment that needs to go, with a government that is already heavily indebted, incapable of managing financial resources, and has ultimately caused the public healthcare sector to collapse due to poor leadership at multiple places,” he said.
Maimane continued to stress that citizens will not get the best healthcare, stating that healthcare will end up being outsourced elsewhere.
Several organisations, health experts, and some citizens have condemned the decision to authorise the bill, saying this will only damage the country’s health system.
ActionSA said it was disappointed that Ramaphosa had ignored the pleas to avoid signing the NHI bill into law, to avoid state capture 2.0.
While the NHI is well-intentioned to address healthcare inequality in South Africa, however, in its current form, ActionSA said this was exposing the health system to corruption.
The party said the NHI would not solve the healthcare system and infrastructure, but would instead worsen the problems.
Disappointing that the President has ignored our plea to not sign the NHI Bill into law.
I will say this again – The NHI will NOT fix South Africa’s broken healthcare system. Instead, it will worsen our healthcare crisis and open doors to more corruption. https://t.co/uJXEi9crcp
— Herman Mashaba (@HermanMashaba) May 14, 2024
Additionally, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said they will be challenging this “reckless” legislation in court to safeguard the citizens’ future.
“The DA will, upon its signing into law by Ramaphosa, challenge the ANC’s NHI to the Constitutional Court.
“Ramaphosa’s NHI Bill will be a death sentence for South Africa’s healthcare and further burden taxpayers,” Steenhuisen said.
The DA will, upon its signing into law by president Cyril Ramaphosa, challenge the ANC’s NHI all the way to the Constitutional Court.
Our legal team was briefed months ago already and will file our legal challenge against this devasting legislation without delay. pic.twitter.com/mFEVujIBcg— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) May 14, 2024
RISE Mzansi leader, Songezo Zibi said the NHI Bill was misleading the nation into believing that they would be well taken care of.
“We must not allow the ANC to mislead us into thinking the NHI is a silver bullet, we need healthcare facilities that belong to South Africans, and are at least 15 minutes away from each home,” he said.
We must not allow the ANC to mislead us into thinking the NHI is a silver bullet, we need healthcare facilities that belong to South Africans, and are at least 15 minutes away from each home. #WeNeedNewLeaders #VoteRISEMzansi pic.twitter.com/CxyQyGBwEG
— Songezo Zibi (@SongezoZibi) May 14, 2024
Meanwhile, the DA is set to address the media on Wednesday outside the Union Buildings on its next steps to stop what it called the unconstitutional NHI Bill.
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