Should the Northern Cape celebrate the fact that there are more deaths from HIV and Aids in the Gert Sibande district in Mpumalanga? Should the Gert Sibande district then stand up and celebrate the fact that De Aar in the Northern Cape and Worcester in the Western Cape are centres of foetal alcohol syndrome in the country where babies are also dying? [Interjections.] You cannot celebrate such a thing. Should I sit and celebrate the fact that our recent research has just shown us that in De Doorns the biggest killer is kwashiorkor and marasmus? I did not celebrate that, because this is South Africa. I cannot celebrate South African kids suffering from kwashiorkor and marasmus, simply because they occur in the Western Cape. It is wrong. It is absolutely wrong. I don't think the country should go in that direction. [Interjections.]
We never celebrated the fact that provinces other than KwaZulu-Natal failed to reduce mother-to-child transmission. KwaZulu-Natal reduced the transmission successfully. I am trying to say that we should leave aside these party-political things when it comes to the lives of our patients. Let us have empathy when our patients are dying. [Applause.] How do you celebrate that "there they die early", but "here we live to old age", all within the borders of South Africa? South Africa is a unitary country. [Interjections.] It must not be ... yes, it must not be cut up into Bantustans simply because the DA came into existence. We have gotten rid of Bantustans in this country. We don't want them to come back. Please don't make the Western Cape another Bantustan. [Applause.]
Ntate Dikobo, don't worry about terms. I agree with you. Terms can sometimes be confusing. From me, I agree that we should have called it NHI, but if you are uncomfortable with the word "insurance", just call it universal health coverage. In Mexico, they call it Seguro Popular, meaning a popular scheme. In England, they call it NHS; in America, they call it "Obamacare". If South Africans agree, we can call it "Dikobocare". If they agree, I won't mind. [Laughter.] So, worry about the concept. The concept is what you have mentioned, Ntate Dikobo, and I support you. The concept is this: every citizen has a right to access to good quality, affordable health care, regardless of their socioeconomic conditions. That is "Dikobocare." So, I agree with you about terms. They must not give you sleepless nights. The concept and the dream are the same, and we are going to implement it as such.
On the issue of circumcision, Ntate Dikobo, we have a facility in the Department of Health. I even met with the kings and all traditional leaders in this country in Mafefe in Limpopo to discuss this. The SA National Aids Council can help. If any traditional healer wants to start traditional initiations but uses medical male circumcision, we are ready to help them at all times. The problem is that our traditions can sometimes be very difficult. You are aware that King Zwelithini in KwaZulu-Natal clearly said that by 2015, there should be 2,5 million males who have been circumcised in that part of the country. He said it must be by medical circumcision. Even in the Eastern Cape, we have just contributed R1,4 million to a project about this issue, which is about to start.
Mrs Robinson, we agree with you. Primary health care is not only going to be the central core of NHI; it is actually going to be the heartbeat. It is the heart. When you remove the heart from a body, the body dies. If you remove primary health care from NHI, there is no NHI. It will die, because primary health care means the prevention of diseases and promotion of health. We are going to increase the budget, not decrease it. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.