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Govt not ignoring calls for racial profiling of COVID-19 patients: Minister

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Health Minister Zweli Mkhize denied the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)’s claim that government is ignoring the calls to do racial profiling because it knows that the majority of black people are the ones who are infected and dying of COVID-19.

EFF MP Omphile Maotwe also told Mkhize that government would have reacted differently if white people were the most affected.

Mkhize responded during a hybrid sitting of the National Assembly calling for unity in the fight against the corona virus.

“We have actually gone into the issue of racial profiling. We found that many of the people don’t put this in as their classification when they fill in the forms. Doctors also do not … but I think from the point of the view of the EFF, it is important not to be misled.”

“Be aware that when the lockdown was put in place, it was to protect the majority of people,- most of whom all are also black. When social grants were increased. That was to assist [and] support particularly the black and the poor communities,” explains Mkhize.

In the video below, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize briefs parliament on efforts to combat COVID-19:

Meanwhile, African Transformation Movement (ATM) MP Thandiswa Marawu says urgent steps are needed to address all the hiccups that hamper the fight against the virus.

“Critical shortages of equipment, under staffing, in some areas, no capacity to do contact testing and tracing and the lack of testing in laboratories. It is a problem that needs to be addressed urgently,” adds Marawu.

Below is a media statement with the latest statistics of COVID-19 positive cases in the country:

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