Embattled North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo appointed his own team to look into the province’s health crisis.

This comes after Cabinet decided to place the health department under the administration of the national government, in the wake of protests ravaging the province.

Mahumapelo on Friday welcomed Cabinet decision to invoke Section 100(1)(b) of the Constitution to address his province’s health crisis.

READ: Cabinet places North West health dept under administration

“We welcome this intervention and will give it our full cooperation to ensure that the health services of our province are normalised,” he said.

The premier’s spokesperson, Brian Setswambung, said that Mahumapelo appointed a team of three MECs to intervene in the health department.

Without giving details, he added that the team had already made strides in its engagement with the National Health Education and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu).

Mahumapelo further emphasised that the province will cooperate with the inter-ministerial task team which was appointed to deal with critical issues in the province.

Inter-ministerial task team

On Thursday Ramaphosa announced that a team headed up by Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma would conduct an urgent assessment of the state of governance in the North West.

The team will have to hand over a report to Cabinet by May 9 to advise on what steps to take.

Some of the hospitals and clinics in the province remain closed after staff members downed tools two months ago in a strike led by Nehawu. 

There were reports that some staff had intimidated their colleagues and forced them to abandon patients.

The strike led to a shutdown of the main medical depot‚ resulting in a shortage of medication and other supplies.

The health crisis escalated as violent protests broke out across the province amid growing calls for Mahumapelo to step down.

On Wednesday, there were reports that protesters had denied entrance to ambulances at the Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp, which led to a patient’s death.