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By the end of October, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) will submit a proposal to President Cyril Rampahosa with solutions to their concerns about the National Health Insurance Act. This follows a September meeting with the president. But is there hope for change? In this podcast, Mia Malan asks Ramaphosa’s special advisor, Olive Shisana, and Busa CEO, Cas Coovadia, what to expect.

Our Health Beat team takes you on a tour of some Gauteng hospital success stories — from an NHI-like project, the Chiawelo Community Practice in Soweto, to the lifesaving cardiothoracic surgery unit at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.

August has been an incredible month for Bhekisisa. With 360 000 unique visitors and just under 430 000 pageviews, our traffic went through the roof. Read our monthly newsletter to find out what we were up to in August — and what our top five stories were.

On 22 August South Africa’s second — and highly controversial — presidential health compact was signed by the government and various sectors. The second compact is controversial because prominent organisations that served on the steering committee of the drafting of the first compact refused to sign it.

Compromise isn’t a word favoured by the Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, when it comes to rolling out universal healthcare, despite objections from some of the ANC’s coalition partners. Mia Malan sits down with Motsoaledi to find out how he plans to deliver National Health Insurance amid legal challenges, little money and a system that needs fundamental fixing.

Even if it means the end of the government of national unity, the bit in the NHI Act that says medical aids will effectively cease to exist, won’t be scrapped, says Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. But the Act could be adapted to allow everyone — including asylum seekers and undocumented migrants — to get HIV treatment.

When our profile writer, Sean Christie, asked Aaron Motsoaledi for a form of life story share, South Africa’s health minister responded with a swift biographical flyover. But Christie was more interested in a sense of the experiences that lie behind the bullet points, both good and bad.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi faces a massive challenge: rolling out a controversial NHI Act by a government of which only four out of 11 governing parties support the legislation. Does he have the skills? Mia Malan reports.

In February, Mzulungile Nodikida stepped into the top seat at the South African Medical Association. He tells Sean Christie how he went from playing soccer and cricket while at school in the Eastern Cape to studying medicine in Cuba — and how his career path moved from seeing patients every day to steering an organisation that stands for “uniting doctors for the health of the nation”.

Five political parties have pledged to work together in the government of national unity — but what does this mean for the future of the National Health Insurance Act? We asked some experts.

Thirty years into democracy, South Africa still struggles with rolling out mostly well-designed policies. But if the circumstances in which a health system has to work aren’t fixed, simply passing a law to give everyone access to healthcare won’t change things for the better. Here’s why.

The ANC has National Health Insurance, the DA thinks the answer to better healthcare lies in the private sector working with the public sector, and the EFF says we need a clinic in each municipal ward. So who is right? It’s for you to decide with your vote.

Access to good, affordable healthcare is a right, not a privilege, which is why the party you plan to vote for should take it seriously. Find out if it does and, if so, how it plans to do so.

The signing of the National Health Insurance Bill on Wednesday doesn’t necessarily guarantee that it will become law, especially if the ANC loses power. A law expert says a new government may decide not to implement it and repeal the new NHI Act if they don’t agree with the law, but to do that they would need the majority of votes in the National Assembly.

Governments have the power to decide whether people live or die when it comes to health. On 29 May your vote will determine how well South Africa’s post-election government will look after your health. We’ve launched a series of analyses to break down what parties say they will do to fix the country’s health system.

Governments have the power to decide whether people live or die when it comes to health. On 29 May your vote will determine how well South Africa’s post-election government will look after your health. We’ve launched a series of analyses to break down what parties say they will do to fix the country’s health system.