EFF leader Julius Malema told President Cyril Ramaphosa in Parliament on Thursday to prioritise round-the-clock public clinics over “bread per house” politics.
The exchange took place during Ramaphosa’s oral reply session in the National Assembly at the Nieuwmeester Dome in Cape Town.
It came in the same week that a video clip — in which a woman dressed in ANC regalia is seen telling community members to take “one loaf [for] one family, from the ANC” — went viral.
Bread does not heal the sick, clinics do, said Malema.
“Our people want clinics and health facilities that are in good condition,” Malema told Ramaphosa.
He reminded the House that the EFF tabled a private member’s bill in 2018 that would require clinics to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The proposal was ultimately rejected.
While the ANC busied itself with handouts, South Africans were left queuing outside locked clinic doors at midnight, desperate for care, the EFF leader said.
He pressed Ramaphosa directly, urging him to act now rather than wait for the delayed National Health Insurance scheme.
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He cited the dire state of facilities like George Mukhari Academic Hospital and Chilidzini, where outsourcing and corruption had crippled services.
“Stop giving people bread in exchange for votes. Give them what will change their lives for the better,” he said.
Ramaphosa agreed. He acknowledged that rural communities were distressed and in need of 24-hour clinics.
“Honourable Malema, you will be pleased to know — maybe for the very first time — that I agree with you,” he said.
He added that staffing was the main obstacle, saying clinics could not remain open without nurses and, ideally, a doctor on standby.
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He endorsed the EFF’s proposal in principle, calling it “ideal” and promised to push the Department of Health to act.
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