26 May 2025
We, the undersigned 126 frontline South African doctors — from more than 40 public and private
healthcare institutions across the country, from rural clinics to urban tertiary hospitals, including
independent practitioners and recently unemployed clinicians — write to you as the Secretary
General of the only legally recognised union representing doctors. In one voice, we raise an urgent
call to confront the deepening crisis in our health system and the threat it poses to the health and
dignity of our people.
An Open Reply to Dr Cedric Sihlangu — On the Futility of Pleas and the Urgency of Power
Comrade Dr Sihlangu,
Your media statement of 3 April 2025, condemning the downgrading of commuted overtime
contracts by the Gauteng Department of Health, correctly names a symptom — but still refuses to
confront the disease.
You write with righteous fury, but the union you speak for remains mired in contradiction: claiming
to stand for doctors, yet unwilling to speak the full truth about the system that exploits us. You tell
us that this assault on labour rights is unacceptable — but you do not tell us why it happens, who
benefits, or what real power we must build to stop it.
You condemn the province for undermining due process. I ask: why are you still appealing to
“protocols” and “established channels” when every worker in this country knows those channels
serve the powerful, not the people?
You call for dialogue — but dialogue with whom? With the very state that, year after year, has
frozen posts, looted budgets, outsourced dignity, and now discards its doctors like broken tools?
Let us speak plainly. What is happening in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and everywhere else is
not a technical oversight. It is the deliberate application of austerity, in service of a political class
that has no intention of delivering just, functional, or universal healthcare.
The goal is not to fix the system — it is to break it, hollow it out, and contract it to the politically
connected.
You say the NHI must be built on a motivated and compensated workforce. We say: the NHI, as
currently designed, is not a path to equity — it is a pipeline for centralized corruption, dressed
up in the language of justice. Your statement lends legitimacy to this illusion. Why?
You warn us of the risks to morale, but you avoid the real question: what will SAMATU actually
do to build power from below? Where are the strike committees? Where are the worker
assemblies? Where are the democratic structures that allow us — the rank-and-file — to set the
union’s course?
Because that is the core contradiction: SAMATU speaks of unity, but it remains a union of the few
speaking on behalf of the many.
If you truly believe what you’ve written — that this is an assault on the profession — then why is
the only weapon offered a vague threat of “general meetings” and moral appeals?
No oppressed class in history has won relief through petitions and press statements alone. Our
struggle must be organized, collective, and militant. It must be built not in press rooms but in
wards, clinics, call rooms, and picket lines.
We must:
• Take over SAMATU and return it to the hands of its members.
• Elect accountable leadership from below, rooted in struggle, not ceremony.
• Unite the employed and unemployed in one movement for full employment and
workplace democracy.
• Refuse symbolic resistance and prepare for real, coordinated action.
• Name the system for what it is: not broken, but functioning exactly as intended — to
protect capital, contain labour, and make politics profitable.
Dr Sihlangu, if your words are sincere, then join us in this work. But if you will not stand beside us
in struggle, then step aside — and make room for those who will.
Because this is not just about fair pay — it’s about transforming a broken system, and building one
anchored in democratic control, public accountability, and human dignity.
In solidarity —
South African Doctors who have had enough:
Dr Simon Nkululeko Spoor, Dr Sarah Molefe, Dr Zahir Jones, Dr Siziwe Putuka, Dr JK Bakabana, Dr LP Moukangwe-Makhubela,
Dr P Naidoo (Tshwane District Hospital), Dr Lebohang Lesia, Dr Malebo Mokau (Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital),
Dr Abdullah Seedat (Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital), Dr Chad Beyer (Western Cape Dept of Health),
Dr Mokena Photolo, Dr Onalenna Tsime, Dr Vus'umuzi X. Shabangu, Dr Chris Lehlokoa, Dr Keleabetswe Mogotsi, Dr Nozipho Jiyane,
Dr Hlongwane TF, Dr Mologane Strike Moukangwe, Dr Moeponi Pakkies, Dr Samuel Ramokonpi, Dr Tshivhenga, Dr DJ Maloisane, Dr W Nel,
Dr Phumza Mabono, Dr LM Phasha (Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital),
Dr Ziphora Maleka (KwaMhlanga District Hospital), Dr Akesh Maharaj, Dr Daluxolo Myeni (Ngwelezana Tertiary Hospital),
Dr Thabang Makhafula, Dr Martin Methula (Witbank Hospital), Dr Neo Motaung, Dr Hylda Makanisi (Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital),
Dr Mtwakazi Nkosazana Bula, Dr LC Makola, Dr D Dhillon (JHB Health District),
Dr Kgapuru Mashishi, Dr Kelebogile Msane, Dr Aser Munonde, Dr Mahlaku Madisha, Dr T Mokhele, Dr Bulelwa Muganga,
Dr Ramatsobane Makgalemane, Dr Sarah Maduna, Dr LL Khwela, Dr Ngema MS, Dr Daniel Mphuthi, Dr Portia Nhlapo,
Dr SJ Mogwatane, Dr N Mathoho, Dr Mable Mashampa, Dr PK Letsoalo, Dr LL Ruga, Dr Nkosinathi Maluleke, Dr Dimpho Kumalo, Dr Mabuya,
Dr T Mabaso, Dr Thato Brett Serudu, Dr Kamohelo Nkobeng-Sibeko, Dr Pebetse Maepa, Dr L Shabangu (Ekurhuleni Health District),
Dr Esethu Tshaka (Butterworth Hospital), Dr Matlalepule J Matlwa (Bernice Samuel Hospital), Dr Mpone Moloi (Leratong Hospital),
Dr BB Leteane, Dr Moraka Nkoana, Dr Priscilla Smith, Dr Athenkosi Zwane, Dr Nothando Shandu, Dr TK Leteane, Dr R Hajee, Dr ZM Patel,
Dr MA Mokgadi, Dr Mpho Sekgala, Dr Ilhaam Esack, Dr Mabasa BV, Dr Vincent Nhlapo, Dr LF Mokgethi-Marumo, Dr MPJ Morokane,
Dr Dithomo Marule, Dr KV Monyuku, Dr M Mamabolo, Dr S Griffiths, Dr Khulile Sidzamba, Dr N Sedibe (Institution not Specified),
Dr Zintle Mgcwaba, Dr Nokukhanya M Zulu, Dr S Nkosi (Unemployed), Dr Thabang Tooi (Saint Rita's District Hospital),
Dr Craig Scholtz, Dr Esihle Madyibi, Dr C Ile (Private Practice), Dr Moleseng Nkogatse, Dr Mabetsaola Mogale (Zebediela District Hospital),
Dr Wandile Khumalo, Dr B Mdodana (Barberton General Hospital), Dr Nkhensani Baloyi (Cape Winelands Health District),
Dr Thabo Tlolane (Sterkfontein Hospital), Dr Renato Torrinha Afonso (Cape Metro Health District),
Dr Patricia Chabikuli (False Bay District Hospital), Dr Kealeboga Mokotedi (Klerksdorp-Tshepong Hospital Complex),
Dr Reitumetse Sefo (Fezi Ngumentombi District Hospital), Dr Dipuo Monama (Seshego District Hospital),
Dr AJ Monama (Mankweng Tertiary Hospital), Dr Tsepang Matekane (West Rand Health District), Dr Chukky Selanto (Eastern Cape),
Dr Mashongoane T, Dr Kebo Masoga, Dr Miyelani Shingange, Dr OK Nkata, Dr TS Shabangu (Tshwane Health District),
Dr N Malan-Venter, Dr V Singh (JHB Health District), Dr Sergio Vieira (UAH/Pelonomi Regional Hospital),
Dr William Nkosi (Ekurhuleni Eastern District), Dr Bopape Evah (Letaba Regional Hospital),
Dr Phumelele Nkwanyana (Pietersburg Tertiary Hospital), Dr Gloria Pitswane (Tambo Memorial Hospital), Dr S S Mahowa (JDH),
Dr Christine Ntombithini Ntjie (Pietersburg Provincial Hospital), Dr Lebogang Malatji (Mamelodi Regional Hospital),
Dr DE Makola (Sedibeng District), Dr R Maphanga (Dora Nginza Provincial Hospital),
Dr M Mthethwa, Dr Mpho Mahlangu (Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital)
