The Member of the Executive Council for Health and a Member of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature Phophi Constance Ramathuba has said that Zimbabweans will now have to pay for their medical treatment in South Africa whether they are legal or illegal. In a video that has gone viral on social media, the MEC was recorded speaking to an unidentified Zimbabwean woman who was being treated at Limpopo general hospital.
She told the woman that the Zimbabwean government was becoming a burden to the budget of South Africa hence she as the MEC can not afford to treat her people. “Statistics South Africa will come and count our people, find how many are on medical aid and how many need government-assisted health service then am given a budget, but you Zimbabweans just come and get free treatment” She added that nowhere in the world do people from foreign lands just go and get free medication except in South Africa.
She added that Mozambicans also do the same but when the minister of home affairs complains he is called xenophobic. She then asked if it was possible for a South African to just jump the border and get free medication in Zimbabwe without any documentation. Before the video ended she told the sister in charge of the ward that the woman must not be discharged until she pay the bill.
