PETER BRUCE: A blot on minister Mkhize’s medical chart
Mkhize looked like the voice of reason during the pandemic, and he works hard. But getting rid of advisers who only told him the truth is a sign of weakness
So, when you don’t like the advice you’re getting you just change the adviser. That’s what health minister Zweli Mkhize did late last month to the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC), the body of experts, almost exclusively scientists and doctors, set up at the end of March to advise the cabinet on how to deal with the coronavirus.
Mkhize had every right to change people around and there is serious debate abroad about the preponderance of medical advice ruling the lockdown roost in countries like Britain, at the expense of economics and sociological expertise. Nonetheless, the local MAC has more than 50 members but as FM editor Rob Rose pointed out (https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/opinion/editors-note/2020-09-30-rob-rose-hear-no-evil-mkhize-axes-the-critics-from-his-experts-panel/) last week the three he chose to remove were also the most critical of the ultra-cautious way he has handled the pandemic in this country...
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