From union leader to Free State’s new health MEC, Monyatso Mahlatsi makes big promises

Newly appointed MEC for health in the Free State Monyatso Viceroy Mahlatsi has vowed to deliver quality health services while ensuring the department is attractive to various types of healthcare workers.

“The road is long but we are hitting the ground running,” he told Spotlight.

Mahlatsi was appointed by new Free State premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae on 20 June and sworn in as a member of the executive committee on 23 June by Judge President Cagney Musi at the OR Tambo Building in Bloemfontein.

Immediately after being sworn in, the entire Cabinet, led by the premier, went on an oversight visit to Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital in Bloemfontein, followed by National District Hospital.

The purpose of the visit, according to Letsoha-Mathae’s office, was to assess the state of the facilities, to identify prevailing challenges and to ensure necessary interventions are swiftly implemented to improve healthcare services across the province.

“We are inseparable as provincial government departments as we have to be integrated in planning and implementation of our plans,” said Mahlatsi. “We shall be depending on the support of others – the provincial and national government as well as development parties and the private sector – to ensure that we deliver the best possible services to our people.”

Mahlatsi was not yet ready to share his observations about the oversight visit with Spotlight, but he says he envisions eventually overseeing a department where all health establishments are housed in decent infrastructure, have working medical equipment, are safe and clean and stocked with sufficient medicines.

He says his next move is to familiarise himself with key health stakeholders. He plans to meet management officials within his department as well as senior staff at healthcare facilities to ensure there is a clear plan to support and retain those workers at the coalface of service delivery. This, says Mahlatsi, will help ensure that the department offers quality and affordable healthcare for all

Mahlatsi will have his work cut out for him. As is the case in South Africa’s other provinces, the Free State health department is struggling with shortages of healthcare workers and budgets that have for several years been shrinking in real terms.

More broadly, Mahlatsi says his approach to the position will be guided by the ANC’s election manifesto, which says that, if re-elected, the party will “implement the National Health Insurance to reduce the cost of medical care, especially for the poor”. Alongside this, the party would strengthen health infrastructure, train healthcare personnel and create a single electronic health record – all of which are considered necessary for a functional NHI scheme.

Mahlatsi is the 10th Free State health MEC in the past 30 years. Only three of the previous nine completed full five-year terms. Senorita Ntlabathi served from 1994 to 1999, Ouma Tsopo from 1999 to 2004 and Sakhiwo Belot from 2004 to 2009. Sisi Mabe was MEC from 2009 until 2011 and Fezi Ngubentombi was only an MEC for a year before she died in a car accident in December 2012. Dr Benny Malakoane was appointed MEC in 2013 and served until 2016. Butana Komphela served from 2016 to 2018 and Montseng Tsiu from 2018 to 2023.

Mahlatsi, who takes over from Mathabo Leeto, who is now the MEC for social development, has been the provincial secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) since 2014. He has since resigned from that position.

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