Telling it like it is...

A law has been drafted in South Africa to stop mandatory membership to a medical aid scheme for that country’s Members of Parliament (MPs).

This will come with the tabling of an amendment to the Parliamentary and Provincial Medical Aid Scheme Bill.

This proposed amendment, if passed, will make medical aid membership voluntary, as opposed to it being compulsory, as is currently the case.

Those behind this Bill argue that legislators in the republic never need to visit public hospitals because they are cushioned by the compulsory medical aid.

As a result, it is said, they are out of touch with the realities of South Africa’s public health system, which they are expected to exercise oversight on.

This idea, previously touted by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is now being pushed by ActionSA, a relatively new opposition political party.

Dr Kgosi Letlape, a member of the Legislature representing ActionSA, recently announced his party’s intention to table this amendment. He said democracy was about choice.

“When lawmakers themselves cannot make personal choices, we have a problem,” he told a Newsday journalist.

“For too long, Members of Parliament and other office bearers have been shielded by a medical aid scheme exclusive to them. They are insulated from the daily struggles of millions of South Africans who rely on collapsing public healthcare services.”

Dr Letlape could very well have been speaking about Eswatini MPs and other office bearers, who are shielded from the country’s perpetually crippled public healthcare system by virtue of having access to medical aid.

These are the people emaSwati expect to play an oversight role and use their legislative and constitutional powers to ensure that the executive arm of government solves the medical drugs shortage once and for all. So far, this has not happened.

Various audits and motions have been moved, with responses from government doing little to inspire confidence but MPs do not seem bothered.

Instead, they have taken their eyes off the ball, so to speak, and are rehashing the demand for compulsory DNA tests for newborn babies.

The motion by Mahlangatsha MP Mgucisi Dlamini wants the ministries of Home Affairs, and Health to collaborate in developing and implementing a policy that mandates the consideration of DNA testing prior to or during issuance of birth certificates, especially in cases where paternity is disputed or unclear.  

It is a fact that there has been widespread concern regarding fathers who unknowingly raise children who are not their biological offspring in Eswatini.

These men maintain the children financially and otherwise, after being pinpointed by the mothers as the rightful fathers.

In some of the recent cases, it was found that men had been raising more than one child for years, thinking that they were their biological children.

In one case in March 2024, one Mlungisi Vilane successfully fought for the reversal of a maintenance order when it transpired that the child he had been maintaining was not his.

Vilane had been taken to court by Lobesutfu Nkabindze, who accused him of failing to maintain `his’ child, but he later produced DNA evidence showing that he was not the father.

The reader will recall that the DNA debate is not new. It was raised by senators in August 2024 when the upper chamber proposed mandatory DNA testing, arguing that this measure was necessary to prevent men from being made to support children who are not biologically theirs.

I am making these examples to demonstrate that I am not, in any way, trivialising the controversy around paternity matters in Eswatini.

However, there are more pressing national issues, which our MPs should be diligently applying themselves on, raising questions, moving motions and demanding action.

Daily, emaSwati in all four regions of this country are dying because of a shortage of medication in public health facilities but our priority is DNA testing?

There has been a lot of bickering and finger-pointing on the public healthcare crisis.

There are accusations and counteraccusations from stakeholders regarding who is to blame.

With each passing day, the solution to this crisis seems elusive, with no hope in the horizon. As we speak, Swazipharm Director Kareem Ashraff has come out to clear the name of his company from being responsible for this mess.

While doing so, he has made certain allegations, raising issues that need to be investigated.

One of these is the revelation that the suspension of the Deputy Director of Pharmaceuticals contributed to the health crisis.

The incumbent holder of that position is Fortunate Bhembe, who is currently on suspension, pending an internal investigation in the Ministry of Health. Apparently, the deputy director is the only officer registered with the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to approve permits for high-schedule drugs.

With her under suspension, and no succession plan in place, the importation of medical drugs was affected. Ashraff says this alone, delayed the importation of medication for nine months, worsening the drug shortage in the country.

The businessman has also declared that his company now bears the responsibility to destroy E150 million worth of medical drugs that expired while Swazipharm was placed in abeyance, pending the forensic audit by Funduzi.

“Essential medicines sat in our warehouses, unable to move forward into the supply chain,” he said.

These are medical drugs that were intended for hospitals that serve emaSwati.

While they were rotting away, emaSwati were being told that there was a shortage of drugs.

Often, the accusing finger was pointed at pharmaceutical suppliers like Ashraff and others. These are the issues MPs should be concerned about.

My understanding is that, much like journalists, parliamentarians should also have sources who alert them to various issues affecting the people they are supposed to serve.

Apart from that, it is their duty, as representatives of the electorate, to conduct thorough research on topical national issues – and there could be no issue more topical than the medical drugs shortage.

Voters would not want to believe that legislators only go to the august house to raise issues they personally feel strongly about, while neglecting the socio-economic needs of the wider population. If they were not already aware of the issues raised by Ashraff, we are in trouble.

If they were but did not do anything about them, Lord save us!

It is said that legislators are out of touch with the realities of South Africa’s public health system, which they are expected to exercise oversight on.