The civil rights organisation AfriForum strongly condemns parliament’s decision to accept the new bill on National Health Insurance (NHI). The organisation has also already assembled a team of the country’s top legal experts, economists, and medical experts to oppose the legislation on all possible levels.

According to AfriForum, NHI is just one more of the castles in the sky that the ANC government has built with the aim of campaigning for votes in light of next year’s national election.

The current public health system is succumbing to its ANC inflicted wounds, yet government now wants to force all citizens to become even more dependent on the state with their culture of mismanagement.

The result will be that medical practitioners leave the country, patients die, and cadres are further enriched through corrupt medical contracts.

“People thought load shedding was bad, but this policy will lead to health care shedding,” says Jacques Broodryk, spokesperson for AfriForum.

“Besides, there is no way the already overburdened taxpayer is going to be able to finance the state’s new pipe dream. Do you think for one moment that the members of parliament who passed the legislation use government hospitals when they are sick? No, they use top private hospitals or even travel abroad for medical treatment,” concludes Broodryk.