I read Nhlanhla Mbatha's article "This country still written in Afrikaans and red blood", Sowetan, May 24, with dismay.
I read Nhlanhla Mbatha's article "This country still written in Afrikaans and red blood", Sowetan, May 24, with dismay.
I am writing to put the record straight. From the moment he entered my consulting rooms, he was addressed in English.
He initially spoke to my filing clerk, a black woman, whom he told he wanted an HIV test.
The filing clerk called my receptionist, and the receptionist asked Mbatha if she could help him, not "what his problem was".
Mbatha said he needed a laboratory form for an HIV test and she told him because there were legal issues involved he had to see me first. But he refused and said that it was his yearly check-up and that he did not have to see me for that. He is not my patient.
My receptionist then informed me about Mbatha's request and I decided that if he did not want to see me, we would give him the laboratory form as requested.
She gave him an Afrikaans request form, which he ably completed. After Mbatha signed the request he was handed a pretest counselling form to sign.
I have a copy in my possession. This form was in English, so I can take it that there was nothing on that form that he could not understand.
A few days later he came back and requested an HIV form for his friend. If he was treated so badly, why did he come back?
When he came for his results, he was told he had to see me and he refused.
Though my consulting rooms are in a "white" area, about 15 percent of my patients are black. I also have very senior ANC members and high-ranking government officials as patients. I wonder why they would come back to me year after year, if I am such a terrible Afrikaner.
I submit Mbatha has some racial issues of his own, and he was just looking for a horse to flog. I am still wondering why he didn't go to his own doctor. Was it because he wanted to create a situation that would fit him to write about?
Dr Louis Kilian, West Rand
l Mbatha stands by his comments.
Mbatha is not honest
I read Nhlanhla Mbatha's article "This country still written in Afrikaans and red blood", Sowetan, May 24, with dismay.
I read Nhlanhla Mbatha's article "This country still written in Afrikaans and red blood", Sowetan, May 24, with dismay.
I am writing to put the record straight. From the moment he entered my consulting rooms, he was addressed in English.
He initially spoke to my filing clerk, a black woman, whom he told he wanted an HIV test.
The filing clerk called my receptionist, and the receptionist asked Mbatha if she could help him, not "what his problem was".
Mbatha said he needed a laboratory form for an HIV test and she told him because there were legal issues involved he had to see me first. But he refused and said that it was his yearly check-up and that he did not have to see me for that. He is not my patient.
My receptionist then informed me about Mbatha's request and I decided that if he did not want to see me, we would give him the laboratory form as requested.
She gave him an Afrikaans request form, which he ably completed. After Mbatha signed the request he was handed a pretest counselling form to sign.
I have a copy in my possession. This form was in English, so I can take it that there was nothing on that form that he could not understand.
A few days later he came back and requested an HIV form for his friend. If he was treated so badly, why did he come back?
When he came for his results, he was told he had to see me and he refused.
Though my consulting rooms are in a "white" area, about 15 percent of my patients are black. I also have very senior ANC members and high-ranking government officials as patients. I wonder why they would come back to me year after year, if I am such a terrible Afrikaner.
I submit Mbatha has some racial issues of his own, and he was just looking for a horse to flog. I am still wondering why he didn't go to his own doctor. Was it because he wanted to create a situation that would fit him to write about?
Dr Louis Kilian, West Rand
l Mbatha stands by his comments.
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