Hon Chairperson, the IFP has on numerous occasions expressed its concern that South Africa's ailing public health- care system is facing critical challenges and that it is on the verge of collapse. Recent examples of gross neglect and negligence are proof that the IFP has good reason to be concerned.
Last week, it was reported that a woman who had suffered a miscarriage had been left unattended for hours and told to sit on a bench at the Prince Mshiyeni Hospital in Umlazi, Durban. This followed the discovery of a decomposed body in an air duct at the Addington Hospital in Durban. In addition to that, in Cape Town the bodies of a boy and a girl were recently found dumped at a waste-removal company in Airport Industria. The identity bracelets on the babies identified them as coming from the Retreat Maternity Hospital.
During his state of the nation address in Parliament earlier this year, President Zuma renewed his government's commitment to work harder to improve South Africa's health-care system. It is clear from the examples above that this pledge has remained mere rhetoric and that government has not acted on its promise. The IFP calls on government and in particular on the Department of Health to recommit themselves to solving the many crises that have beset our failing health-care system. It is clear that without urgent interventions the health-care system will continue to fail dismally in providing basic health care to the millions of South Africans who rely on the system for their health-care needs. I thank you. [Applause.]