INSIDE POLITICS REPORTER
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday that the total number of confirmed coronavirus and fatalities in South Africa were not reported or classified according to race.
Mkhize was responding to a question from Economic Freedom Fighters MP Naledi Chirwa, who caused a ruckus in the National Assembly’s first hybrid virtual sitting by questioning the health minister to provide a racial breakdown of all people who have contracted the deadly virus.
Chirwa demanded to know how many black people have been infected and how many have died of the coronavirus compared to white people.
“We have never put a racial tag on the disease. Any attempts to racialise this is misleading,” Mkhize responded, sparking a storm of furious criticism from EFF benches.
An angry speaker of Parliament Thandise Modise intervened and eventually restored order after EFF’s Floyd Shivambu and Mbuyiseni Ndlovu demanded to get answer from Mkhize.
Mkhize argued the virus has infected South Africans across the board irrespective of race, ethnicity and other backgrounds.
The debate over collection of race-based data has divided the medical fraternity globally, with some arguing that this might improve the understanding of the social determinants of health.
In recent weeks, the head of the British Medical Association has also demanded the urgent investigation into the possible greater vulnerability of black, Asian and minority ethnic people to COVID-19, while in the US those cities starting to report data based on race, show an over-representation of victims who are black.
President Donald Trump’s administration has yet to release comprehensive data about racial and ethnic outcomes in Covid-19 cases, despite the growing concerns about racial disparities and some former health officials urging Medicare to resurrect a similar Obama-era analysis.
