Author: Njih Favour
Head of health Lesiba Malotana, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko. (Graphic: Spotlight. Images: Gauteng Health/X) Comment & Analysis 19th September 2025 | Spotlight Editors The courts have spoken. The health ombud has issued devastating reports. The Auditor-General has again put damning evidence on the table. Civil society has protested. Yet, the devastating crisis in Gauteng’s health system shows no sign of improvement. The rot in Gauteng appears to be deepening. Nowhere is this more evident than in the province’s health department, which remains trapped in a cycle of institutional decay and administrative failure. The consequences are…
This project is funded by: The recent sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy at a church shelter in the Limpopo border town of Musina is a stark reminder of the systemic vulnerabilities that place children at risk. Police arrested a 24-year-old woman on a rape charge, and further investigations are ongoing. The caretaker at the shelter where the incident happened wouldn’t speak to Health-e News, but sources in the community said that the woman and the boy were living at the shelter. “There are basic safeguards that must be followed, such as separate sleeping areas, background checks on staff, and…
Last month, a video of a nurse at Livingstone Hospital in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape went viral on social media – but not for the reasons one might expect. The video shows Benjamin Ngqaza (56) in the middle of a hospital ward, dancing and leading nursery rhymes, much to the delight of the young children occupying the beds in the ward. This is Nurse Benjamin Ngqaza, he entertains children admitted in the paediatric ward in his free time. What a hero 🙌🏽😂♥️ pic.twitter.com/ToHutUb1q1— 🇿🇦TheGreatDlamini🇿🇦 (@Phislash) August 3, 2025 Health-e News caught up with Ngqaza, who is affectionately known as…
Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko is the MEC for Health and Wellness in Gauteng. (Photo: GautengHealth/X) News & Features 17th September 2025 | Ufrieda Ho Activists say the Gauteng Department of Health’s late appeal to a court judgment that compels it to act on cancer treatment backlogs is raising more questions about what the department believes it stands to lose from not doing as the courts have ruled. There are growing concerns and questions about why the Gauteng Department of Health is hellbent on legal appeals rather than compliance to two court orders that direct the department to clear cancer treatment and services…
Nomhle Mashiyana, whose 14-year-old daughter Nomthandazo died on 4 July 2023, believes bullying at school pushed her child to suicide. She recalls an incident where her daughter was violently assaulted by a group of girls, who ripped out parts of her hair. Despite efforts to transfer her daughter to another school, the teen ultimately took her own life before the move could happen. “The school failed my daughter,” Mashiyana says, reflecting on the tragedy. Nomhle says Nomthandazo was bullied over her appearance and ultimately attacked by a group of eight learners after she confronted one of them. She says a…
National Health Insurance is a scheme that aims to address healthcare inequity in South Africa. (Photo: GCIS) News & Features 16th September 2025 | Jesse Copelyn Since President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the NHI Act into law last year in May, eight different groups have challenged it in court. One common argument is that it is irrational and unreasonable to restructure the health system when there’s no money to do so. In this feature, Spotlight dissects how the argument is being applied, and whether it has any chance of success. Earlier this month, the Western Cape Government filed papers with the…
This project is funded by: When Suzette Meyer lit 21 candles on a winter’s evening this July, she wasn’t mourning her husband Warren’s passing. Instead, she was celebrating life: 21 lives that had been changed through his final act of generosity – being an organ and tissue donor. It had been exactly one year since Warren’s sudden death. He was declared brain dead by doctors at Fourways Life Hospital after he suffered a cardiac arrest in July of 2024. But Suzette and their three daughters chose not to focus on grief. “I don’t believe in celebrating the anniversary of death.…
Of the roughly eight million people living with HIV in South Africa, around 6.2 million are on treatment. (Photo: Shutterstock) News & Features 15th September 2025 | Ufrieda Ho A dire picture for HIV/Aids funding emerged at the 12th South African AIDS Conference, raising the call for resilience, adapting and also for government to raise its game. The what-next of South Africa’s HIV response will have to be centred on getting back to basics, leveraging on advances in treatment options and learning fast about adapting in a world without US aid for health services. These were among the key takeaways…
South Africa may be able to start rolling out lenacapavir (LEN), the twice-yearly HIV prevention jab, in January 2026 – three months earlier than initially planned. But the details of the agreement that will bring the drug into the country are guarded by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) – and even the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) says it doesn’t know what LEN will cost the country at the end of the Global Fund donation in two and a half years. National Department of Health Director General, Dr Sandile Buthelezi, told delegates at this week’s South African AIDS conference that U.S.-based…
The “golden age” of donor assistance, when there was an abundance of donor aid, is over. “It’s decreasing not just for health, but for development broadly” is the stark warning issued by Professor Yogan Pillay, Director of HIV and TB research at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “This means the only way to do it is to increase domestic financing or change the way we do business,” says Pillay, speaking at the South African AIDS conference currently underway. “Instead of looking backwards and how to find more money, we should be looking forward and changing the way we run…