KZN Covid-19 vaccine delay: MEC can’t hide behind political deflection forever
18 February 2021
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) notes the statement from provincial Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, in response to our claim that she issued an instruction to Albert Luthuli Hospital’s Covid-19 Vaccine team to stop the vaccinations of 40 healthcare workers, scheduled to take place yesterday.
The instruction, issued via Whatsapp, has since gone viral on social media. The DA will consequently scrutinise whether she is fit to run her office.
The MEC can hide behind political deflection if that’s what she chooses, but the Whatsapp instruction is there for all to see and she still needs to answer for that.
While her statement is predictable in its denialism, it is also typical of the arrogance that the DA has come to expect from her. At no point does she deal with the substance of our claim - that she sent an order and that, in so doing, she purposefully stopped the vaccinations.