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.
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