SOUTH AFRICA, Limpopo – Limpopo, South Africa, Health MEC, Dr Phophi Ramathuba has been found guilty for unprofessional conduct following her fierce rant at an undocumented Zimbabwean immigrant she accused of leaving her country August last year to seek treatment in South Africa.
The incident happened at Bela Bela Regional Hospital in Limpopo.
Ramathuba was filmed telling a visibly traumatised Zimbabwean patient that President Emmerson Mnangagwa does not contribute a dime towards Limpopo province’s health budget.
She told the patient it improper to stretch her province’s health budget to cater for foreigners.
Her reaction invited wide scorn most prominently from South Africa’s opposition EFF leader Julius Malema and a host of Zimbabwean and South Africans who felt it was unfair for her to burden the less fortunate patient with a political crime she was not capable of solving.
Ramathuba later argued that her comments were not xenophobic but merely addressed Zimbabwe’s broken health system which was now negatively impacting her country’s health system.
The health executive was summoned by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) who later found her guilty of unprofessional conduct.
