Monyatso Mahlatsi was appointed by new Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae on 20 June and sworn in as a member of the executive committee on 23 June by Judge President Cagney Musi. (@Universitas_AH/X)
- Monyatso Viceroy Mahlatsi is the Free State’s new Health MEC.
- He served as Cosatu’s provincial secretary since 2014.
- The Free State’s health department is struggling with a shortage of healthcare workers.
Newly-appointed Free State Health MEC Monyatso Viceroy Mahlatsi has vowed to deliver quality health services, while also ensuring the department is attractive to various types of healthcare workers.
“The road is long, but we are hitting the ground running,” he told Spotlight.
Mahlatsi was appointed by new Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae on 20 June and sworn in as a member of the executive committee on 23 June by Judge President Cagney Musi at the OR Tambo Building in Bloemfontein.
Immediately after being sworn-in, the entire provincial cabinet, led by the premier, went on an oversight visit to the Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital in Bloemfontein, followed by the National District Hospital.
The purpose of the visit, according to a media statement from Letsoha-Mathae’s office, was to assess the state of facilities, to identify prevailing challenges and to ensure that necessary interventions are swiftly implemented to improve healthcare services across the province.
“We are inseparable as provincial government departments as we have to be integrated in planning and implementation of our plans,” said Mahlatsi.
“We shall be depending on the support of others – the provincial and national government as well as development parties and the private sector – to ensure that we deliver the best possible services to our people.”
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Mahlatsi was not yet ready to share his observations about the oversight visit with Spotlight, but he says he envisions eventually overseeing a department where all health establishments are housed in decent infrastructure, have working medical equipment, are safe, clean and stocked with sufficient medicines.
He says his next move is to familiarise himself with key health stakeholders. He plans to meet management officials within his department as well as senior staff at healthcare facilities to ensure that there is a clear plan to support and retain those workers at the coal face of service delivery.
This, says Mahlatsi, will help ensure that the department offers quality and affordable healthcare for all.
Mahlatsi will have his work cut out for him.
1/2 The newly-appointed Free State MEC for Health, Mr Monyatso Viceroy Mahlatsi (right), was sworn in on Sunday, 23 June 2024, vowing to observe and maintain the basic and all other laws of the Republic of South Africa.#UAH
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ATACMS#totalshutdown pic.twitter.com/IonrZIMFUC— Universitas Academic Hospital (@Universitas_AH) June 23, 2024
As is the case in South Africa’s other provinces, the Free State health department is struggling with a shortage of healthcare workers, as well as budgets that have, for several years, been shrinking in real terms.
More broadly, Mahlatsi says his approach to his new position will be guided by the ANC’s election manifesto.
The document reads, if re-elected, the party would “implement the National Health Insurance (NHI) to reduce the cost of medical care, especially for the poor”.
Alongside this, the party states that it will strengthen health infrastructure, train healthcare personnel, and create a single electronic health record – all of which are considered necessary for a functional NHI scheme.
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Mahlatsi is the 10th Free State Health MEC in the past 30 years.
Among the nine previous MECs, only three completed full five-year terms.
Sinorita Ntlabathi served from 1994 to 1999, Ouma Tsopo served from 1999 to 2004, and Sakhiwo Bellot served from 2004 to 2009.
Sisi Mabe was MEC from 2009 until 2011 and Fezi Ngubentombi was only an MEC for a year before she died in a car accident in December 2012.
Benny Malakoane was then appointed MEC in 2013 and he served until 2016.
Butana Kompela served from 2016 to 2018 and Montseng Tsiu served from 2018 to 2023.
Mahlatsi, who takes over from Mathabo Leeto, who is now the Social Development MEC, has been the provincial secretary for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) since 2014. He has since resigned from that position.
Working class struggle
Cosatu spokesperson Zanele Sabela said that, “as a champion of workers”, they were confident that Mahlatsi would continue to “wage the working class struggle”, particularly as the country prepared to implement NHI.
The Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa stressed the plight of community health workers (CHWs).
“We need an MEC who will consider the needs of CHWs in the province. Our CHWs do not get the national minimum wage of R4 800 and these are some of the issues we would like him to address,” said the union’s provincial chairperson, Peggy Motlokoa.
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As a labour unionist, Mahlatsi is no stranger to the health department, said Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa’s (Denosa) Free State secretary Brian Motshabi.
The labour union already had requests for the new MEC.
Motshabi said they were calling for improved governance in the department, permanent jobs for contract nurses who assisted the department during the Covid-19 pandemic, and for Mahlatsi to beef up security in health facilities.
He added:
Denosa will continue to engage robustly with the department and represent the interest of our members.
Keeping watch
Democratic Alliance spokesperson for health in the Free State, David Masoeu, says his party will be keeping watch on Mahlatsi’s performance in the health department.
“The DA is aware of the ANC’s ongoing challenges and will be holding them accountable to ensure that they deliver health services that the people deserve. We will be keeping a close eye on Mahlatsi and we hope that he will be able to do the job,” he said.
MK Party spokesperson in the Free State, Sandile Mabiza, didn’t specifically comment on Mahlatsi’s appointment, but said his party would keep the ANC in check.
“We will keep a close eye on them and we will judge them based on the work that they will be doing,” he said.
*This article was published by Spotlight – health journalism in the public interest. Sign up to the Spotlight newsletter.
