Delays in enforcing the law have left communities exposed to unsafe practices and weak oversight, officials have said

Around 300,000 traditional health practitioners in South Africa remain effectively unregulated due to years of delays in implementing key provisions of the law, creating a prolonged regulatory failure in the sector, the South African Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Health said on Tuesday.

The committee said the failure to operationalise the Interim Traditional Health Practitioners Council of South Africa has left a legal and regulatory vacuum nearly two decades after the Traditional Health Practitioners Act of 2007 was passed.

Committee chairperson Faith Muthambi said the situation was no longer acceptable.

"It cannot be acceptable that Parliament passed legislation in 2007, established a statutory council in 2014, and 12 years later the core provisions of that law remain unimplemented," Muthambi said.

MPs warned that the absence of regulations and a functional national register means there is no effective system to verify or monitor practitioners, leaving communities exposed to unregulated and potentially harmful practices.

The committee noted that, despite being mandated to oversee an estimated 300,000 traditional health practitioners, the council continues to operate with limited funding of about R6.7 million in 2024, projected to remain below R10 million in the outer years.

Lawmakers said the funding model, which assumes financial sustainability through registration fees, is unrealistic given that many practitioners operate in economically vulnerable and rural communities.

The committee further raised concerns over what it described as the council's inability to demonstrate measurable progress in regulating the sector or protecting indigenous knowledge systems.

It also flagged the lack of integration of traditional medicine into broader health reforms, including the National Health Insurance framework, and the absence of dedicated budgets for research, intellectual property protection and product development.

Public safety concerns were also highlighted, including continued reports of fraudulent medical certificates and the inability to take action against unregistered practitioners.

"The non-existence of a practitioner register renders the council unable to fulfil its core mandate of protecting the public," the committee said.

MPs also criticised the council's continued interim status since 2014, saying it has weakened accountability and delayed institutional development.

"When individuals are appointed to an institution, they inherit its history and its failures. Accountability does not reset with new appointments," Muthambi said.

The Department of Health and the council told MPs that delays stemmed from regulatory backlogs, procurement challenges and capacity constraints, and confirmed that an amendment bill is being processed to formalise the council and extend its mandate.

However, the committee rejected the explanations as insufficient and has demanded detailed written submissions, including financial statements, regulatory timelines and a clear implementation plan to establish a fully functional authority.

First published by IOL