By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Photo Credit: Tebogo Letsie.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has cautioned the public and media to cease speculating about the health condition of former president Jacob Zuma.
Addressing the media during an inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on migration briefing on Sunday, Ntshavheni said Zuma’s health status must be respected.
Zuma has been receiving treatment at the Netcare St Anne’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, Kwazulu-Natal (KZN).
Initial reports described Zuma as critically ill, but Fullview understands that his condition had stabilised.
The minister said, Zuma is being treated by the doctors, and the president has also assigned the Surgeon General to lead that process, and therefore we must leave those questions to the medical team, the family and Zuma.
Ntshavheni stated that public or political status does not override an individual’s right to privacy regarding their medical condition.
She asked journalists to stop pressing the government for details and to leave health-related disclosures to the designated medical team.
Fullview also learnt that Zuma family declined to have him transferred to 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria, due to strained relations with president Cyril Ramaphosa, preferring that he remain in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
Presidents, deputy presidents and their immediate families are generally entitled to medical services provided through the surgeon-general and the South African Military Health Services.
The government subsequently dispatched a team of specialist doctors, including a resuscitation expert, to KZN on October 9 to provide treatment.
Zuma has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) – the party that made him a two-time president between 2009 and 2018 – in favour of newcomers Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
Zuma, who resigned as president in 2018 after corruption allegations and was replaced by current Ramaphosa, remained a loyal member of the ANC until December 2023 when he declared he would back the MK Party instead of the ANC in the 2024 polls.
Now, with Zuma poised to play a big role in yet another election cycle, his supporters are with him all the way, while those reeling from the effects of his last term in office are nervous at the prospect of having him in a position of power.