Date : 29 January 2025
From : South African Medical Students Union (SAMSU)
Subject : National March for public Healthcare
Dear Colleagues,
The South African Medical Students Union (SAMSU) stands in full support of the National March organized by the South African Medical Association Trade Union (SAMATU) on Friday, 31 January 2025.
We call on all medical students, health sciences students, South African students across all disciplines, healthcare workers, and every citizen who values the right to quality healthcare to stand with us as we march for:
The immediate employment of all qualified healthcare professionals—no doctor, nurse, or healthcare worker should be left to languish in unemployment while hospitals are critically understaffed.
The reversal of salary reductions and exploitative policies such as the shift system, flexy system, and the cancellation of commuted overtime—healthcare workers deserve dignity, not degradation.
Urgent investment in public healthcare infrastructure—no patient should suffer or die due to collapsing hospitals, equipment shortages, and inadequate resources.
The march will begin at 10h00 from Union Buildings (The Triangle) and proceed to the Office of the Minister of Finance.
South Africa’s over 1:3000 doctor-to-patient ratio, below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended 1:1000 (three times lower), is an indictment of a failing system that places profits over people, austerity over lives, and negligence over responsibility. We refuse to accept a healthcare system where preventable deaths occur daily, while trained professionals remain
locked out of employment. This is not just a crisis—it is a betrayal of the constitutional right to healthcare.
For years, SAMATU has been on the ground, relentlessly fighting for healthcare workers and the survival of our public health sector. Now, we must all rise together—students, healthcare workers, and the broader community—to defend what remains and demand what is just.
This is not just about jobs or salaries—this is about the future of healthcare in South Africa. If wedo not act now, we risk an even more broken system where only the wealthy can access care, while the rest are left to suffer in silence.
This is our fight. This is our moment. The time for action is now!
Issued by:
Ambrose Lekalakala
Secretary General
South African Medical Students Union (SAMSU)
For inquiries, please contact:
INQ: 060 836 870