June 14, 2006
By Tammy O'Reilly
IT'S 2.30 on a Friday afternoon and things are winding down at the Metro Centre in Braamfontein. Matshidiso Mfikoe, the mayoral committee member for health, is seated at her desk – which, save for a slice of cheesecake, is free of any clutter.
She is talking on her cellphone, simultaneously penning notes and occasionally giving out a hearty laugh. It's clear she's in high spirits.
She has worked hard this week, attending meeting after meeting, answering queries, preparing documents and tweaking plans for the department – and in just a few hours she will be mothering her five-year-old boy, Kamogelo,
"I only get to see my son on weekends," says Mfikoe. "I'm just too busy on weekdays to give him the attention that he needs and deserves, so my mother insists I leave him with her during that time."
There's no doubt her job is demanding, but that's something she has become used to since she made the decision to enter the world of politics in 1986. "I don't have a social life. I can't even remember the last time I went to a cinema," she says.
Mfikoe was born in Alexandra in 1972 but moved to Pimville, in Soweto, early in her childhood. When she was at Progress High School her teacher felt she was no good at maths and encouraged her to take up history instead.
"I became so consumed with this subject and it made me want to make a difference so I began to participate in youth movements and I became a member of the Soweto Student Congress and Soweto Youth Congress," says Mfikoe.
After matriculating in 1991 Mfikoe joined the ANC and began studying towards a teacher's diploma at the Soweto College of Education. Following the 1994 elections, her political involvement intensified.
"I was so involved with the ANC at that time that I didn't pay much attention to anything else. When I found out I was pregnant at the age of 29 my mother was so excited because I was so busy with politics I didn't have the time to socialise. She was worried that I never brought any guys home," she says.
In 2000 she appointed as a proportional representation councillor. After the local government elections in March, she was offered the position of mayoral committee member for health.
"I am the youngest member on the mayoral committee," says the 34-year-old. "Any time something needs to be done for the mayor, the other members always jokingly tell him to ask his last born, which is me."
City clinics
She says it did not take her long to find her footing in the department, mostly because her predecessor and the staff had already established a very stable unit.
To get a feel of the needs of the community and of the health workers, during her first few weeks in the position she visited clinics in all 11 regions, stopping unannounced at a few.
"I received mixed signals. We got the usual complaints about staff attitudes and long waiting queues. Most important, though, we found that none of the clinics could complain of a shortage of medication."
There are 83 City-run clinics in Johannesburg. They offer free services covering everything from immunisation and family planning, to maternal and child health. They also promote good health practices – such as the completion of courses of TB medication – and awareness of HIV and Aids.
"In my opinion we have enough clinics in the City to adequately deal with patients' demands, but the biggest challenge we are having is retaining our staff," says Mfikoe.
Recently the City has seen an increase in the number of nurses who leave to work in private hospitals and clinics. "Nursing is a neglected sector and we need to look at ways of motivating our staff to stay. They do an incredible job and, if we keep them happy, then they make the patients happy."
On an impromptu visit to a clinic in Roodepoort she found that by 11am the staff of two nurses had already seen more than 100 patients; 200 more were waiting for treatment.
In his budget address in May, the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Amos Masondo, said an allocation of R6-million would be made to expand and improve access to primary healthcare.
HIV/Aids
The mayor has made HIV/Aids one of his six priorities – these are the "anchor points" of the 2006/2011 Integrated Development Plan.
"Our long-term goal is to massively reduce HIV and Aids prevalence/incidence rates and that reduces the impact of HIV and Aids on communities," he said in his speech.
He announced the appointment of about 25 additional healthcare workers to "provide the opportunity for the expansion of the City's HIV and Aids programme".
The City's HIV/Aids strategy includes the training of volunteers in the administering of care to Aids sufferers, the distribution of pamphlets and condoms, and an awareness campaign that reaches homes, classrooms and the workplace.
Mfikoe points out that there are two sets of volunteers in the City, but they are not enough to accommodate the demand. Some do home-based care: they go from house to house, talking about HIV/Aids and caring for people who have the disease. Then there are Directly Observed Treatment Strategy (Dots) volunteers, who motivate people to complete their course of TB medication.
The department is working on training the existing volunteers in Dots and home-based care so that between them they have more skills.
"My focus for now is to find better, more effective ways of dealing with HIV. One way or the other all of us are affected, but we are definitely not winning the fight against the disease," Mfikoe says.
"Awareness is everywhere, but it seems distributing condoms, posters, memorabilia and giving out ARVs is not helping. We need to think of something unusual – something to bring the message closer to home. But it's a challenge for the whole world. Not just Joburg or South Africa."
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