An Eastern Cape hospital CEO has been staying in hotels since 2022 – at a cost of more than half a million rands – because of threats against her life, claims the provincial Health Department, saying this was due to Nolubabalo Fatyela’s appointment to the post at Zithulele Hospital two years ago causing tension at the facility.
News24 reports that in a parliamentary response to a DA question, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the monthly hotel bills were, on average, R36 000. The total cost for 366 days was R574 026.55.
“The OR Tambo district manager authorised the expenditure (delegated by DDG: clinical services),” Motsoaledi wrote.
Fatyela was accommodated at three hotels in Mthatha from August 2022 to July 2024.
Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson Mkhululi Ndamase said Fatyela had been booked into the hotels because of threats, and that “whenever there are safety concerns against any employee, we always do everything possible to ensure their safety”.
The DA’s Karl le Roux said the party planned to write to the Public Service Commission to investigate possible irregular and wasteful expenditure.
“Zithulele Hospital had, over many years, built a reputation as one of the best rural hospitals in the Eastern Cape, but since the appointment of Fatyela in September 2021, there has been an exodus of experienced medical and nursing staff, and the quality of care has deteriorated significantly,” he added.
Attempts to get comment from Fatyela were unsuccessful.
Le Roux said the department had options to accommodate Fatyela at state-funded facilities in Mthatha.
“We urge the department to investigate this … expenditure and explain why alternative accommodation that does not cost the state anything, such as staff quarters at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital (in Mthatha), where the CEO has been housed for the past few months, was not arranged earlier.
“We further urge that disciplinary action be taken against the OR Tambo district manager for approval of this irregular expenditure.”
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