We fully support the National Health Insurance (NHI) and we will do all we need to see that implementation is successful. We exist to advocate for provision of quality health care to all South Africans, and no one and nothing will stop us to achieve this noble objective. The National Strategic Plan on HIV, TB & STIs 2023 – 2028 which we have dubbed the “People’s NSP” is our clarion call that quality health care for all is possible in our lifetime. It is within this context that we will be signing the 2nd Presidential Health Compact, a document we contributed to and we believe through it, the NHI will be realised.
“We are here in this world to fulfil a purpose and make the world a better place for future generations. Our purpose as the current leadership of SANAC Civil Society Forum (SANAC CSF) is to smash the health architecture from apartheid into a people centred, responsive and sustainable health system that put people first. We are prepared to die fighting for this ideal. We are the Presidential Health Compact, and the Presidential Health Compact is our midwife to deliver a healthy NHI baby” said Solly Nduku, Chairperson of SANAC Civil Society Forum.
We have never lost hope that ultimately our vision to have the health system serving all South Africans will be realised. For us primary health care is a cornerstone that will deliver us to success. The 2nd Presidential Health Compact is not another document, it is a monitoring tool that will ensure that we keep those who are borrowed authority to act with care so that when they fail, we can hold them accountable. This compact is a clarion call for us show social solidarity whereby all stakeholders contribute to a South Africa we all want to see. This South Africa is the one that leaves no one behind because the suffering of one is the suffering of all.
“We are foot soldiers whose sole task is to ensure that we are those leaders who are ambassadors for change. Our communities rely on our agency and we have represented them through our inputs to the 2nd Presidential Health Compact. We will be signing and we will keep a closer look at progress that will be reached as implementation happens. We will use the NHI as a thread that will be woven into the implementation of the Presidential Health Compact commitments. We will play our part in implementing the pillar on COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT and not only hold others to account, but we will hold ourselves accountable too on our commitments” said Mabalane Mfundisi who is leading the SANAC CSF Standing Committee on Health Systems Strengthening.
We have 18 Sectors that covers the whole of society. We have a responsibility to ensure that we use the collective power of these sectors to advocate for quality health care irrespective of economic, social and political standing of those we represent. Their aspirations carry the same weight if not more than those of our colleagues in the private sector and the medical fraternity. South Africa gives us freedom of choice and this freedom was not for free. There is more that should have been done since 1994, but even with the failures we have recorded as a country, we remain hopeful that we will overcome and realise what we had agreed when the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was agreed as our programme for provision of basic minimum deliverables in the post-apartheid South Africa. We call on Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and the South African Medical Association (SAMA) to be patriots and not be selfish as they currently are demonstrating by their refusal to sign the 2nd Presidential Health Compact. When they are ready, they will find us waiting for them as we continue with implementation.
We are looking forward to Thursday, 22 August 2024 where we will append our signatures to the 2nd Presidential Health Compact. Those signatures will be a commitment we cannot extricate ourselves from until the objectives are realised. If it means we must make enemies by holding others to account, we don’t mind being that enemy because it will mean that when all is done, our enemies will thank us for being honest. An honest enemy is better that a dishonest friend.
####ENDS
For more information, contact:
Gontse Kodisang
SANAC CSF Media & Communications
gontse.k@showmeyournumber.org.za
0676528249
About SANAC Civil Society Forum (SANAC CSF)
The SANAC Civil Society Forum (CSF) is a formal advisory body established in 2012 by the South African National AIDS Council to facilitate the participation of Civil Society Organisations and networks, including those representing People Living with HIV, in the HIV and AIDS and TB within the National HIV response and for the implementations thereof National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2012-2016 through Sectors.
The SANAC CSF aims to promote an inclusive, competent and responsive civil society that effectively serves the needs of the people of the South African communities, by linking and diversifying civil society actors, expanding the sectors and communities where civil society contributes, improving civil society organisations’ operations, and enhancing connections between civil society organisations with their stakeholders and beneficiaries.