The DA in KwaZulu-Natal will be laying criminal charges against Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and his provincial counterpart over an oncology crisis gripping the public healthcare sector.

In a statement issued on Tuesday evening‚ the party said that Motsoaledi and KZN Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo were indirectly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of cancer patients.

“More than 300 sick and vulnerable cancer patients died on Minister Motsoaledi and MEC Dhlomo’s watch because of their seeming negligence‚” the party said.

This comes amid an oncology crisis that‚ among other things‚ has resulted in machines at state hospitals not functioning because of a lack of maintenance and an exodus of specialists‚ which has resulted in just two cancer doctors being employed by the state – and both of them in Pietermaritzburg.

SA marching toward universal health careSouth Africa is marching toward universal health care‚ with the White Paper on National Health Insurance to be gazetted on Friday paving the way for adoption by parliament. 

The DA said their opening of the charges was also being done in the context of a South African Human Rights Commission report into the state of healthcare services in KZN.

The report found that both provincial and national departments acted unlawfully and failed to take reasonable measures to progressively realise the right to have access to healthcare services in the KZN province.

DA Shadow Minister of Health Patricia Kopane and the party’s KZN health spokesman Dr Imran Keeka were set to report the case at the Point Road police station‚ the closest station to the Addington Hospital‚ which has borne the brunt of the problems.