UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
Last-minute lobbying by the business sector led to a week-long delay in the passing of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill by the National Council of Provinces last week.
This rather unedifying last-minute loss of nerve by the country’s legislators, particularly the ANC parliamentarians, revealed not so much the contentious nature of the proposed new health system in South Africa but the poor and pusillanimous leadership of the ANC.
Cosatu lamented, in a statement on behalf of labour, that the government “wilted like a cheap suit” under pressure from a little bit of lobbying by business.
Nevertheless, the
