‘Citizens should learn to test each other for disease’ – Julius Malema

During a virtual Freedom Day rally on Monday, Julius Malema went through a myriad of issues, updating his followers directly for the first time since lockdown began. The EFF leader also focused his attention on how disease has ravaged South Africa, and that something radical must be done to help us confront this health crisis.

Julius Malema’s Freedom Day rally

Malema prides himself on being a maverick thinker, and his latest idea is likely to split opinion. The firebrand politician believes that a “healthcare reserve” – similar to the army method – must be established in Mzansi.

He reasons that the spectre of disease – both related to the current global health crisis and the rates of HIV/AIDS in South Africa – should encourage workers in some industries to learn about testing for diseases themselves.

Who would be asked to carry out these tests?

Julius Malema thinks that teachers, councillors and government workers could be amongst the citizen “reserve force” that are given the tools to screen for diseases and administer the relevant first aid. Although only the most trusted members of our society would be given the responsibilities, some will question if it’s fair to put this much pressure on employees who already have an overload of tasks and duties:

“In the same way many countries built military reserves after WWII, we should build healthcare reserves, where ordinary citizens and professionals in other fields are trained and capacitated in the essentials of primary healthcare. We should build our pharmaceuticals to produce generic medicines and vaccines.”

“Soldiers, teachers, police, councillors, members of Provincial Legislatures and MP’s must be provided with basic training to administer primary healthcare such as disease detection, screening and administering of first aid care. We must deal with the heavy disease burden that defines our country.”

Julius Malema

#EFFFreedomDayRally Malema: 94. The POPULATION OF SOUTH AFRICA is less than 1% of the global population, but more than 15% of HIV/AIDS related deaths come from South Africa.

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) April 27, 2020