Cape Town - The ANC in the Western Cape yesterday failed to get Premier Alan Winde to “reprimand and sanction” Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo for a video she posted on social media showing herself dancing during the festive season while health workers and front-line staff were being asked to return to work from their annual leave.
ANC deputy chief whip Khalid Sayed asked a question about Mbombo’s remarks about “a well-deserved long overdue break” on the video during a briefing by Winde and the provincial health department to the legislature’s ad hoc committee on Covid-19.
Winde said: “I remember when I was contacted about the video I engaged with her. Everyone was talking about this holiday she took to Limpopo. As I’ve said before, the MEC did not go to Limpopo, and she did not take a holiday and has actually been at every single one of the meetings that we’ve had throughout this period.”
“She was singing a song that talks about Limpopo, but she would have to tell you the words. I’ll leave it at that,” said Winde.
FF Plus MPL Peter Marais asked about allowing the use of the drug Ivermectin to treat cases of Covid-19 and said: “A drowning man must clutch at a tyre or a tube and not wait for a boat to come by one day.”
Ivermectin, a widely used drug for the treatment and control of parasites in animals, has been dubbed in some circles as a Covid-19 "miracle cure" but authorities have said it would be professional misconduct for any doctor to prescribe it.
Winde said: “Products such as Ivermectin need to go through a rigorous vetting process. We cannot base decisions on what medicines to take based on videos on social media and hearsay. We have processes, and they are robust for good reason. Those promoting the use of such drugs should Google the cautions about these products. They will find there are many of them.”
During his presentation, head of health Dr Cloete spoke about the provincial vaccine strategy and said: “Once we have the vaccine, we will have to re-prioritise our efforts and resources to act with urgency to vaccinate as many healthcare workers and people as soon as possible.”
“Vaccination does not replace the need for non-pharmaceutical interventions like mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing, for the foreseeable future,” said Cloete.
In his presentation, director-general in the department of the premier Harry Malila said: “Prohibition on the sale of alcohol on-site or off-site has been very effective in reducing trauma cases in the province’s five key hospitals, and by extension, all facilities in the Western Cape.”
“With the country being placed on an adjusted alert Level 3, and with all liquor sales being prohibited, it was reported that most police stations had no matters of non-compliance recorded,” said Malila.
Cape Argus