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A visit to the new state of the art mental hospital in Kimberley today, confirmed my suspicions that the R2 billion facility, that has taken almost fifteen years to complete, is still a long way off from becoming operational.

In effect, the nine state patients who are currently still languishing in prison, will indefinitely continue to be deprived of their basic human rights.

While Premier Sylvia Lucas bragged about the facility’s eventual completion during her State of the Province address and, in her reply to the SOPA debates, announced the appointment of a number of personnel for the facility, including approximately 25 nurses and five medical officers that were due to commence work today, 1 March 2019, these new appointees were nowhere to be seen.

Lucas previously defended the department for not yet having gotten the facility up and running. She blamed licensing and regulatory procedures for the delays.

The DA doesn’t accept these excuses.

The Health Department wasn’t expected to get the facility up and running overnight, they had the better part of ten years to make the necessary preparations for a smooth transition from the West End Hospital to the new building.

Furthermore, its already been exactly a year since MEC of Roads and Public Works, Mxolisi Sokatsha, stated that all works at the hospital were 100% done and that the project was on a snagging and de-snagging phase to rectify any faults. At the time, it was further said that the facility would be operational by July 2018.

The truth of the matter is that this project has been hounded by poor planning, corruption and poor project management from the very start.

This facility should have taken three years and R290 million to complete. Instead, it is about ten years overdue and R1,7 billion over budget.

The real reason that the facility has not yet been operationalised is because the Health Department ran out of money, not once, but numerous times. They also used the funds that were intended for operationalization of this facility on legal costs and construction to repair work done by past tenderpreneur contractors.

Another reason behind the delays in the facility’s operationalisation have been the outstanding rates and taxes, to the value of approximately R100 million, owed by the Department of Roads and Public Works to Sol Plaatje municipality in respect of the hospital.  It is uncertain as to whether this dispute has ever been settled. If the Health Department got the occupancy certificate, it must have been paid – but with what money?

Nonetheless, the bottom line is that there is a desperate need for this facility to get up and running. Mental illness is a growing health issue and more and more people are affected by mental illnesses every year.

A DA government will not waste time in ensuring that access to mental health care is expanded. Aside from sorting out the current mess around the new mental hospital, we will also work to decentralise mental health care to the districts so that all our people, far and near, can receive the mental health services that they deserve.

Only change under a DA-led government will bring quality healthcare to all the people of the Northern Cape.

Issued by The DA