Friday, March 29, 2024

Interpreting the Sata-Kazimu picture

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President Sata and the first lady visiting the Presidents son Kazimu at Milpark hospital Johannesburg
President Sata and the first lady visiting the Presidents son Kazimu at Milpark hospital Johannesburg

By Field Ruwe

The smile

When a father gives care, a son gives him love. Look at the picture again; President Sata shows genuine delight at seeing his son. He may not grin; the smile on his face is rare and spontaneous. It is one of those special smiles drawn from the subterranean of paternal love.

Look closely. You may not see the smile if you are bent on seeing how sick he looks. Look at it from a father-son perspective. Although radiated from a face overwhelmed by illness, the benign smile has power in it; it has eternal love, comfort, encouragement, assurance, and reassurance. His smile is not only substantial, but also a requisite to Kazimu’s recovery, and psychological well-being.

Sata’s smile would be even more consequential if Kazimu was lying in our very own University Teaching Hospital, in a ward as sophisticated as the one in the picture. The smile would be as contagious as to deeply affect us all. It would go beyond being a gesture for love of his son, to being a symbol of pride for all; of great accomplishment, self-empowerment, and advancement.

Sata’s smile would spread to Kazimu’s friends Steven Kawandami, and Tiberth Musambachime, wounded in the same accident. It would engulf the wards and light up the souls of patients less fortunate than Kazimu. That’s what a smile does; it brings happiness, appreciation, and pleasure to those who are treated equally.

Disappointment

The noun associated with “equally” is “equality,” a word that implies that people have the same status in certain respects. In this aspect it refers to “health equality.” A country with 14 million people highly susceptible to all sorts of diseases due to poverty requires the absence of prejudice stimulated by an inalienable part of a person’s class. It calls for the absence of disparities in critical aspects of health. Simply put, it calls for equality in health care.

When allowed to be digested, the above paragraph evokes a feeling of disappointment. Unlike a smile, disappointment hurts. Disappointment is synonymous with failure. It carries with it words like letdown, discontent, displeasure, setback, disillusionment, regret, and shame.

With disappointment in mind look at the President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellence Michael Chilufya Sata seated by the bedside at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, a country that is not his. See how his presidential mystique and prestige are stripped of him. He looks ordinary—lackluster—at the mercy of South Africa. He is in South Africa, in a Milpark ward because his own country does not have state-of-the-art life-saving facilities. For almost fifty years it has lamentably failed to build a hospital of Milpark’s caliber. And since he is the current ruler, he becomes the epitome and conventional emblem of failure.

Zambian doctors

Look at the picture again, the president looks exhausted. Hardly had he rested after spending two weeks in a hospital in Israel than he found himself in another foreign hospital visiting his son. In the picture, he is hoping South African doctors can save his son’s life, just like he has entrusted his life with Indian, British, and Israeli doctors.

What does all this mean to our very own doctors, fully bred at the Ridgeway Campus after seven years of excruciating training, some of it spent in the morgue? Let me be candid, the president’s son lying in a hospital bed in South Africa is a blotch on the image of the medical profession in Zambia. It undermines our doctors and conveys an impression of medical incompetence. It also sends a wrong message to the international medical fraternity and often results in our doctors being ostracized. They are seen as second-rate, middle-of-the-road, and of course inferior to their foreign peers.

Take the president’s wife for instance. She is a fully-fledged medical doctor. In the picture, she is using the visiting hour at Milpark to see her stepson. She too has put all her hope in the South African doctors. Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to see her in a white coat as leader of the Zambian medical team treating Kazimu at UTH? That aside; how wonderful it would be to see her attending to her very own husband in a state-of-the-art ward in Lusaka. Look at the picture again. There is absolutely nothing she can do to help her stepson on foreign soil.

Self-empowerment

While a picture is worth a thousand words, I have focused on specific words like “smile” “equality” and “disappointment.” Now, let us look at another word, “self-empowerment.” It is a word related to “self-sufficiency.” Self-empowerment in this context is the ability to own facilities that are vital to the survival of a people. In successful cultures, it exudes pride, and confidence.

“Pride” and “confidence” are the words the owner of Netcare Milpark Richard Friedland, carries with him. This is an individual who can afford a state-of-the-art hospital, while our leader who presides over a country with abundant wealth cannot. He cannot afford even a single modern medical ward like the one in which his son is recovering, let alone an Intra-MRI operative machine. Our very own president would rather globe-trot and spend millions of tax-payers’ dollars in aviation gas, medical bills, accommodation, and food.

The cost to the tax-payer on Travel,Fuel,medical bills etc

Let me expound. On the day he visited his son the president first flew by helicopter to the airport and boarded the presidential Challenger jet. After slightly over two hours he landed at Lanseria International Airport. The Challenger 604 jet consumes 262 gallons (1191.1 litres) of fuel per hour which is worth $3,851.00. It takes approximately two hours to Johannesburg, a total of $7,702 one-way and $15,404 return plus parking fees. A seven-hour return Lusaka flight to Tel Aviv would cost approximately $53,914 plus parking fees per hour, and other incidentals. If you add the South African and Israel bills, you get close to $70,000 in gas alone. Add medical bills, food, lodging, and jet parking fees you have a colossal figure.

Zambia can afford to have a state of the art hospital

Why can’t such amounts be channeled to the building of a state-of-the-art annex at the antiquated UTH or any other hospital for that matter? By the way, I stumbled on a quotation of $302 million for a high-tech hospital with 320 beds. A third of the budget (100 beds) would cost approximately $53 million. Surely president Sata can raise this amount without getting a loan.

Let me show him how. Back in January 2009, Frederick Chiluba, appearing in Ndola High Court told Deputy Registrar Jones Chinyama that according to an audit conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers and Grant Thornton there was $53 million in the Zamtrop account of which $8.5 million was his. This is the exact required amount for the project. The Zamtrop money is ours. If it has disappeared, those responsible must be brought to book. In the case the money cannot be recovered, there are many other fund-raising alternatives.

Sourcing medical attention abroad should stop. It exposes a class society built on power. It also exposes disparity due to lack of imagination and poor priorities. What Zambia needs is health-empowerment. Sata’s government must build a state-of-the-art Urgent Care hospital in Zambia that will provide exceptional medical care for all without class distinction.
Thanks to the Sata-Kazimu picture it is as enthusing as disappointing, and serves as an eye opener. The next president must take heed. Having said that let me end by wishing the president’s son Kazimu speedy recovery.

Field Ruwe is a US-based Zambian media practitioner, historian, author, and a doctoral candidate. Learn more about him on his website www.aruwebooks.com. On it you shall access his autobiography, articles, and books. Contact him, blog, or join in the debate. ©Ruwe2012

35 COMMENTS

  1. This Field Ruwe on Sata katwishi. Ruwe took over where Chanda Chimba left it…
    Please let Ba Sata rest, he is still recovering, and he deserves to be well, even though its tough to regain his physical fitness. And you can’t add discussing the sufferings of his son.
    When is Ba Sata going back to visit Kazimu again? He deserves weekly visits.

    • That picture shows that the President is fine, and all the nonsense that has been going around is nothing.
      And it also shows that HH is a disgrace to not find time and visit Kazimu

      The picture also shows nothing like how you trying to make a mountain out of a molehill

      You don’t just get it Field do you?

      Thanks

    • Uyu guy akafwafye ne chamba mu mutwe ico apepele ku Chingola. Surprisingly he is the only surviving member of his group of dagga smokers who have all passed on.

    • Ruwe has no job in America. He is on welfare and enjoying being a free lodger. That’s why he has all this time on his hands.

  2. Yes Field Ruwe is telling it like it is and the PF cadres will be fuming because sometimes the truth hurts.
    Zambia is a pauper nation and it is quite embarrassing to imagine what South Africans think of Zambians. Just last week a delegation of 5 or 6 went to RSA to study the automated ticketing system and one wonders, has Zambia been privately annexed to South Africa?

  3. Please give Sata a rest. Even Mazoka used to go to South Africa for treatment. Chiluba, RB and their ministers frequented South African hospitals. What is wrong with Sata taking his children to South Africa?

    • The difference is that this sickly and dying chap is using our money and the presidential challenger on family business. We all get sick but we use our insurance or own money to spend on such errands. How can you have a president who pays more attention to family issues than national issues. Let him go on unpaid leave so that others can work. Sleeping and being sedated every day is not part of the job description of the president. How can we have a president who is hated so much by all, except a few hardcore bemba tribalists, provide leadership. What is happening to SATA is becoz of his ARROGANCE AND STUPIDITY. How do you explain his sickness, death of the other “wife”, accident of his son. Dont mess around with the bashilubemba. Viva Sosala. Release the constitution NOWWWWWWWW.

    • What is wrong is the hypo racy of having been a very vocal opponent to medical evacuation. He should practice what he preached or publicly retract and apologize for his earlier statements.

    • Yes they used to, but the author here is saying this has to come to an end. My dear all the names you have mentioned come from the upper class, what happens if an ordinary Zambian finds himself in this situation? The answer is: chances of survival are almost zero because very few families have the financial power to spend such money on such trips and other related costs.

  4. Ruwe, what ever Sata has done to you does not qulify you to insult him like this, not especially at a time like this. Please find some other more informative articles to post. We are fade up of your cheap propaganda. If Sata remains in power long enough, he will build those stste of the art hospitals. We are all human and anyone can fall sick at anytime, tomorrow it will be you.

    • Even if Sata would live as long as we have waited for Jesus, he will not be building state of act infrastructure.

    • I must have missed something; did Ruwe insult Sata? Please, I think you need to see things as they are. Zambia needs visionary leaders who can do something about this wastage of public funds, and deteriorating social services. Ruwe has hit where most PF supporters don’t want to accept and see.

  5. I love Field Ruwe’s articles. So thought-provoking. They say a picture says a thousand words. If you think Sata’s expression is that of joy, then good luck!

    • The simple conclusion of that picture:

      1. Sata wondering why his all family is dying
      2. Kasebo very happy to know that the F.O.O.L is going to die soon and she will enjoy his money. She does not give shi.t about the guy in the bed.

  6. I have said it again and again that this Field ‘Libwe’ do not mean well for Zambia, he is just short of a war monger! For those of you who don’t know this guy, please be warned that this boy is ungrateful, the unthankfull type run-away from Zimbabwe who lived in Zambia for sometime.

    Instead of thanking Zambia for looking after him so well that now, he is even living happily in the USA but don’t see it that way. Instead of writing volumes against President Mugabe in Zimbabwe, he’s chosen to attack ours.

    Field please leave us alone with our Sata, we will do all those things you are suggesting in our own time. Rome was not built in a day ok?

  7. SATA told us that all the morningside and milpark thing will come to pass when he takes over the president but he is even going their with his relatives more than any other person…………….mambala ni lazo wa story maningi

  8. Even if you’re blind, you can atleast HEAR the graders moving earth, the hammering and the SMELL of cement and dust in this unprecedented phase of infrastructure development. It has never happened before and it will take years to get a leader like MCS who has a way of getting difficult projects off the ground and completing them. In a sea of hate you can’t think straight. Your judgement is clouded. I rest my case.

  9. ….what I don’t appreciate about ‘some’ bloggers is the fact that they only read one or two sentences or paragraphs, at times just from the head line and go straight to positing comments…. The whole essence of giving us- bloggers the opportunity to ‘air’ our views is to share meaningful and reasonable variety point of views against any topic, it must be inevitable and compelling that a blogger reads the article in full and comprehends before considering posting a comment. I’m meant to believe that many bloggers read the articles in full and also go thru the comments like I do. It baffles me to go thru comments which does not correlate with the topic at hand….better not to comment at all.

  10. Iwe Ruwe, next time you cook your half baked stories, send them to Zim where u come from stop, talking about issues that dont concern u. Try these deceptive stories in yr country and see if you will even step those long legs there.

  11. Please blogger go home and vote for me in 2016, I will ban the sending of ministers and their families to SA hospitals and instead use the money to improve and upgrade the services in our already existing hospitals!

  12. Excellent article!!! Nothing against the patient Kazimu, but the substance brought out in the picture by Ruwe calls for all loving Zambians to reflect deeply where this PF govt is taking this country & why we keep on entrusting the governance of our country in wrong hands. Surely @ 50yrs, we fail to provide proper medical facilities for our people & the entire presido finds comfort seeking treatment for himself & his family in foreign land. What about the rest of the citizenry, us the poor????? God have mercy!

  13. LOOK,AM A MEDICAL STUDENT AT UNZA AND I DO NOT BLAIM THE PRESIDENT FOR TAKING HIS SON ABROAD.THE TRUTH IS WE NEED TO FACE REALITY;WE ARE POOR AND OUR HOSPITALS ARE NOT WELL EQUIPED.I KNOW SOME CAN AGUE BUT ZAMBIA HAS A LOT OF PROBLEMS AT HAND SO UNTIL THAT TIME COMES,ALL COMPLICATED CASES SHALL BE HANDLED ABROAD.DID YOU PEOPLE EVEN KNOW THAT WE HAVE ONLY ONE DIALYSIS MACHINE AT UTH?NOW HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE KIDNEY PROBLEMS IN ZAMBIA?THE FACT IS IF YOU GO TO SOUTH AFRICA MOST OF THE GOOD DOCTORS ARE ZAMBIANS,EVERY YEAR PEOPLE LEAVE ZAMBIA FOR GREENER PASTURES.SO PLEASE DONT CONDEMN TOO MUCH WHEN YOU DONT KNOW THE INSIDE STORY.HOW DO YOU EXPECT SATA TO GET BETTER AT UTH WHEN WE ONLY HAVE BASIC HEALTH CARE,NO ADVANCED MEDICAL CARE?HOW MANY ONCOLOGISTS DO WE HAVE?HOW MANY MRIS DO WE HAVE?

    • You have so missed the point my friend! Zambia has resources to reverse all that. Poor leadership is taking that country underground. Sad thing is, as long as some of you who claim to be in higher learning institutions don’t see this and can’t appreciate such analysis, then indeed the country has a lot to learn….

    • No wonder Sata took his child to RSA for treatment. We have medical students who cannot spell. Are sure you are a medical student? Listening to that chap who presents Manzi therapy on radio a certain Dr Manda, spells disaster for the medical profession in Zambia. Gladly, there are some good doctors among the rotten mangoes.

  14. Kansi mweo bantu…Kanzimu ni mwana wa bani…..nanga Castro enze mwana wa bani kansi? Kusamvwa aba bana ochitisha nso makolo,,sha!

  15. So Field Ruwe where do you go when to need medical attention? To Zambia? Stop boring us with your meaningless drivel you hypocrite

  16. Mr Ruwe its not about the incompetence of our Zambian trained doctors, infact they are among the best in the world. Its the modern equipment our hospital lack. Refer to FTJ firing doctors who went on strike because they could not stand seeing patients die as hospitals did not have the necessary medical equipment. GOD BLESS ZAMBIA.

  17. I agree with Mr Ruwe, the way forward is to go to America and throw mud at your country of origin. This way, Zambia will surely develop

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