Chin'ono Says ZANU PF's Corruption Is Forcing Zimbabweans To Seek Medication In South Africa
Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono has said Zimbabweans are crossing the border to seek medical treatment in South Africa because the ruling ZANU PF is looting national resources meant for rehabilitating and capacitating local health institutions.
His remarks come after a video of Dr Phophi Ramathula a South African Member of the Executive of Health for Limpopo Province in which she tells a Zimbabwean patient that she ought to get medication in Zimbabwe has gone viral.
Speaking to the SABC News on Ramathuba’s video, the journalist said:
What we saw in that video is a direct consequence of the misgovernance in Zimbabwe. I have said time and again. I was even sent to prison in 2020 for exposing corruption which involved the looting of public funds meant for public health.
The problem that we’re facing today has been happening for years. We’ve been saying that the South African side was not as robust as it should have been with ZANU PF.
2 500 women die every year in Zimbabwe giving birth. That’s why you have over 70% of women giving birth in Musina hospital in Limpopo in South Africa being Zimbabwean. This has been caused by misgovernance by ZANU PF. This has been caused by the looting of public funds. This has been caused by incompetence generally in the Zimbabwean government.
Now when you look at the exact video that you referred to it was about a Zimbabwean patient who was in South Africa for what is called elective operations and these are operations that should have been happening in Zimbabwe. So instead of blasting the MEC, as many have chose to do, I choose to look at the root cause of this problem and say would this video have happened if our system in Zimbabwe was working well? I have heard the argument of ethics that has been raised by so many people including the EFF, and that again is a South African argument. For me as a Zimbabwean, my number one breach of ethics is the one done by the Zimbabwean government.
He said President Emmerson Mnangagwa took an oath of office pledging to protect the interests of every Zimbabwean citizen, including health, “he has failed to do that not because the government or our country is broke and poor, but because his government and the party he leads has embarked on rampant corruption…”
