Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba has strongly condemned the conduct of nurses at Mahwelereng Clinic after complaints that staff members reportedly delay treating patients until 9am so that they can drink their tea, despite arriving for work at 7am.
Ramathuba conducted a site visit at the Waterberg District clinic on Thursday, engaging directly with staff to uncover the root cause of the severe patient delays.
In a video posted to her official Facebook page, the premier can be seen walking through the facility and asking staff about their operational hours.
One administrative employee explained that the primary issue stemmed from nurses prioritising their morning tea over patient care. The employee noted that while administrative staff issued patient files on time, the bottleneck lay with the nursing staff.
This revelation angered the premier, who immediately demanded to speak to one of the nurses on duty. “You can lie to others, but not to me,” Ramathuba told the nurse. “If you don’t assist patients, they will call me and complain. But if you arrive here, see these patients and then sit down to enjoy your lunch boxes, these patients won’t complain. By 12pm, you would be completely done.
“This practice of seeing the first patients at 9am will not work. It must stop now.”
Ramathuba said it was painful to see elderly patients forced to wait hours for medical attention, urging the healthcare workers to change their behaviour. “This is my request: you are going to change. You know how many nurses are currently unemployed, right? You know how much we struggle to secure funding to hire nurses. You are going to change and do exactly what you were taught at nursing college.”
She further warned staff that she would not defend them when officials formally investigated the matter.
The premier emphasised that the issue was not a lack of clinical skill, but rather public servants refusing to do their jobs. She noted that patients no longer complained about medication shortages, but rather about long waiting times. “It’s not that you don’t have the skills — you were taught the right things. The problem is the attitude of wanting to sit and drink tea,” Ramathuba lamented.
“Are we not tired as healthcare workers of being taught how to treat patients by lawyers? Let’s do our work. We don’t need an outsider to advocate for our patients. We are the ones who have taken an oath. We understand what it means when a patient sits here for the whole day. Some of them are mothers and fathers who have to take time off from work to be here, which is wrong.”
She issued a stern warning regarding disciplinary actions, stating: “If you think people will defend you, let me tell you that it doesn’t work that way. When you are charged, you face it alone. When you get dismissed, you get dismissed alone.
“Love your people more than anything else, and you won’t go wrong.”
Ramathuba highlighted the immense challenges unemployed nurses face in trying to get absorbed into the healthcare system, criticising staff for taking their employment for granted.
“Now that you are absorbed into the system, you are doing all these things. If I advertise your job today, I will receive thousands of applications. You must appreciate how lucky you are to be working and you must show that appreciation by taking care of these patients. They don’t have a choice. If they did, they would have gone to a private hospital.”
Stressing the core duty of medical professionals, Ramathuba reminded them of their responsibilities: “We must advocate for our patients because when you took that oath, you promised to do exactly that. The most important thing is to love your patients. They rely on you.”
The premier concluded her visit by promising to return unannounced to check on the clinic’s progress. “Next time I come, it won’t be nice. If I find this facility in the same condition, you will be in serious trouble.”
TimesLIVE
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