Hawks asked to probe new hospital

ors on site received part payment about two weeks ago, they indicated that the money has been used to pay off bank overdrafts and loans.

“Payments from August until February are still outstanding.”

There is only a skeleton staff on site and minimal work is reported to be taking place.

Hawks spokesman, Captain Philani Nkwalase, confirmed that they had received a request for an investigation into the new mental hospital.

“The investigation is still in its early stages. There have been no arrests or charges formulated as yet. We cannot divulge any more information at this stage.”

He was also not able to indicate who had lodged the request for the investigation or provide a date when the complaint was laid.

Northern Cape members on the National Council of Provinces, who were contacted yesterday, were unaware of any request extended to the Hawks for an investigation regarding the new mental hospital.

The first contractor on site, Vista Park Developers/Joh Arch Investments joint venture, run by Andrew Scholtz, indicated that he had approached the Hawks six months ago to investigate allegations of bribery and corruption at the new mental hospital.

He, however, indicated that he had not received any feedback regarding the investigation as yet.

Scholtz claims that the Department of Roads and Public Works owes him R54 million plus 15.5 percent interest for work completed on site, dating back to 2005.

The DA in the Province stated that it did not open the criminal charges, and indicated that the charges were confirmed by the Department of Health during a portfolio committee meeting last week.

DA provincial chairman, Harold McGluwa, said that the Department of Health had informed the committee that it had approached the national Department of Health and Treasury for more money to complete the new mental hospital.

He said that the department admitted that it needed more funds to complete the project.

“The project has been dragging on for 11 years. In the meantime, state patients in the Northern Cape continue to languish in prison because the Department of Health does not have enough beds to accommodate them at the old West End Hospital,” said McGluwa.

“This is despite two year’s worth of empty promises being made by the department that they will open a new ward to accommodate additional state patients. This ward has not been operationalised yet due to insufficient funds to properly equip it.”

He added that hundreds of voluntary patients in need of intensive psychiatric care were cared for at home, due to the department’s inability to provide them with in-patient care.

“Both national and provincial government has shown complete disregard for the lives of psychiatric patients. The tragedy of the Esidimeni state patients who died, has failed to stir the Northern Cape government to action.”

McGluwa stated that the new mental hospital was nothing more than a “monument to corruption”.

“Given that a criminal investigation has eventually been instituted by SAPS into the new mental hospital, we believe that it is just a matter of time before the true extent of the dishonesty and collusion involved in this colossal mess is finally exposed.”

He urged the premier to reveal how much money was spent on this project and what the remaining budget shortfall was.

McGluwa added that this socalled “state of the art facility”, would be outdated by the time it was eventually completed.

“Over the past 11 years, mental health has shifted from a centralised to a decentralised approach meaning that the new facility may, in fact, be too big.”

Spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Lebogang Majaha, was not aware of any investigation being conducted into the new mental hospital.

“Although the contract is with the Department of Roads and Public Works as they are the custodians of infrastructure in the Province, we want to challenge the DA to prove the R2 billion overspending figure purported to the public as it is misleading and devoid of any truth.”

Majaha said they were waiting for a directive from the national Department of Health in terms of funding that would be sourced from the chief procurement officer at national Treasury for the completion of the hospital.

“The provincial Department of Health, along with the Department of Roads and Public Works, is preparing documentation to procure additional funding from national Treasury. This process is guided by the national Department of Health as we are committed towards completion of the mental hospital. We are not sure of the amount of funding at this stage.”

Majaha added that the current contractor on site, Motaengil, was continuing with construction and was working towards the set deadlines.

“The MEC for Health will make further announcements regarding funding and the completion date during his upcoming departmental budget speech.

“The facility will conform to the norms and standards and once commissioning has been completed the facility will be ready for operationalisation.”

Majaha stated that the department was committed to providing quality care to communities.

“We will not neglect our patients. All acute mentally ill patients are admitted at West End Hospital on a day-to-day basis. A multi-disciplinary team is convened every morning to make clinical judgements on patients who are eligible to leave the facility, in order to accommodate acute mentally ill patients from across the Province.”

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts in Parliament indicated that it also did not lay the charges.

Questions directed to the Department of Roads and Public Works were not answered at the time of going to press.