Motsoaledi condemns patients stock piling medicine at various clinics

Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.

Health Minister Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi says his department is aware of some patients who abuse the health system by going to different facilities to collect the same medication.

He was reacting to the discovery of boxes of anti- retroviral treatment during a wreckage of a bus crash in Limpopo on Sunday. Motsoaledi says that the reason they are able to get away with the practice, is because systems at health facilities are not yet synchronised around the country.

“Quite a number of people, sometimes even South Africans do that, moving from clinic to clinic, getting treatment- getting the same thing, because the system cannot catch them. Most people, let me be clear- most Zimbabweans do that because while they’re in South Africa to collect ARVs, they want to stockpile, to go home. In other words, instead of taking your share of one month, you take a six- months share, so that you no longer have to come back so South Africa again which is very wrong and stupid, and it causes problems in our public health services because then we run out of drugs, as if we ran out of stock.”

[LISTEN] Health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi confirms government probe into medicine smuggling to neighbouring countries.

🔗 https://t.co/5vRwOtEQNa #TheWeekendView #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/or42NG0qm9

— SABC News Radio (@SABCNews_Radio) October 18, 2025