A senior employee of the KwaZulu-Natal health department of Health has been gagged, stripped of his authority, and suspended from his job for raising concerns about the impending decision to outsource the EMS ambulances.
Last week, authorities suspended Chris Maxon, the former spokesperson who later became the director of private licensing, in what seems to be a retaliatory move.
As Maxon prepared to speak at a public health forum, he was informed that he was not permitted to do so in his official or private capacity.
Later, he was suspended from his job, and stakeholders received an email warning them not to contact him directly any more.
Letters to the premier
In his capacity as a Rise Mzansi activist in the province, Maxon wrote to Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli on August 5 and 7, requesting that he step in and halt the outsourcing of EMS services that had been announced by Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi (formerly Simelane-Zulu), the MEC for health.
“While the department buys R1.35-million per ambulance, thousands of trained health workers remain unemployed,” he wrote in the first letter.
“While private EMS providers prepare to profit, hospitals operate without CEOs, clinical managers, or finance heads.
“While families wait hours for emergency response, lawsuits for negligence pile up — 1 678 active cases with a best-value liability of R5.9-billion.
“This is not fiscal responsibility; it is a willful diversion of public funds to profit-making enterprises, while the public sector bleeds.”
He argued in another detailed letter that the province’s severe fiscal and healthcare crisis does not justify the procurement of luxury ambulances.
He added that the decision undermines public healthcare, violates constitutional obligations, and risks long-term damage to an already fragile system.
He said the rationale provided — citing temporary outsourcing “while procurement processes are fine-tuned” — is deeply troubling and raises serious questions of accountability, transparency, and governance.
Ntuli has written to the MEC
“We urge your office to intervene with immediate effect. Specifically, we call for a suspension of the EMS outsourcing and ambulance procurement, the redeployment of administrative staff to the frontlines, a forensic audit of procurement and medico-legal liabilities, and a public consultation on the restructuring of emergency and hospital services,” reads the second letter to the premier.
“The time to act is now, before temporary measures become permanent failures. Your leadership in this matter could be pivotal in restoring confidence in the provincial government’s commitment to equitable, accessible healthcare.”
Bongani Gina, the provincial government’s spokesperson, stated that they would make sure the letter reached Ntuli so he could give it immediate attention.
“The office of the premier will track the letter and ensure that it reaches the premier,” Gina said.
But according to a paper trail obtained by Sunday World, Maxon sent the first letter to Ntuli’s office, who then wrote to Simelane-Mngadi on August 14 to give it some thought.
The department did not take advantage of the two-day response period. We will include the response as soon as we receive it.
