South Africa’s most expensive, multibillion-rand mental hospital was central to a Kimberley Magistrate Court case this week in which former Northern Cape MEC John Block and eight others are accused of fraud, corruption and money laundering linked to the construction of the facility.
The psychiatric hospital, which became a symbol of government mismanagement, took 14 years to complete, with final costs ballooning to R2.1bn.
The Diamond Fields Advertiser reports that a tender of R5m was allegedly unlawfully awarded to those appearing before court.
The defence, however, applied for the case to be struck off the roll, citing “prejudicial delays”.
Apart from Block, the other accused include former HoDs for the Department of Public Works Patience Mokhali, Elias Selemela and Ruth Palm; Tshegolekae Motaung, a director of Babereki Consulting Engineers; and former co-directors Lourencia Crause, Louis Adriaan van Niekerk, and Winston Moyahi.
Co-accused Edward Charles Pullen Petzer, a former director at Babereki who was arrested in Cape Town on 28 May, was absent due to illness.
The charges relate to a tender awarded to Babereki in 2003 for structural, civil engineering, and project management work on the project. Block, a former ANC provincial chairperson, was MEC for Transport, Roads & Public Works at the time.
The legal representative for Crause, Van Niekerk and Moyahi, Herholdt Robertson, believed that “new accused persons were charged so as to derail the application” and sought to have the matter struck off the roll.
Advocate Brad Osborne, representing Mokhali and Motaung, indicated that the state had misrepresented to both the court and the accused that the matter was trial-ready.
“Two years after my clients were charged, more accused were suddenly added to the charge sheet.”
He added that 16 months later, all the state had produced was an indictment, and that the court “is being held hostage by the State”.
Legal representative Lulama Lobi pointed out that Block had also previously submitted an application for the matter to be struck off the roll.
State advocate Naome Manaka, from the Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit, argued that the matter could not be struck from the roll for some accused while new ones had just been added.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane said the accused had also applied for an inquiry into whether there had been any undue delays in the case.
“The state is ready to proceed,” said Senokoatsane, adding that delays were also caused by Block claiming he was not able to afford to pay for “a room full of documents”.
“His application for legal aid was rejected.”
Magistrate Kubashni Padayachee postponed the matter until 16 July. All of the accused are out on bail.
Ongoing
The tender for the 286-bed hospital had originally been awarded to Vista Park Developers in 2005 and construction began in 2006.
It was supposed to be handed over to Northern Cape Health in 2008, but the project was repeatedly delayed, partly due to a legal dispute between the provincial Department of Public Works and the developers.
The company was fired by the department after it was found that it was not coping with the magnitude of the project, and several more contractors subsequently took over.
The department has been mired in litigation ever since, and five years after its opening, the hosopital is still not running at full capacity.
Last year the DA warned that with only 153 beds out of 287 were being operationalised, and that the facility was not much better off than its predecessor, the old West End Hospital, which functioned at a capacity of 133 beds.
An oversight inspection to the hospital by DA MPL Ofentse Mokae last year revealed that the grounds were heavily overgrown; the maintenance contract had come to an end in June 2022, and, as a result of the centralisation of finances, he reported, it was a struggle to effect the most basic maintenance, such as attending to leaky roofs and unblocking drains.
Functioning at only 53% capacity, children and adolescent patients with psychotic conditions are accommodated in wards with voluntary adults, he added, which poses a high risk.
The party warned that operationalisation of just the 17-bed child and adolescent ward would come at a projected cost of R24m. “Given that the hospital has a current annual budget of R106m, which compares poorly with the budget of the old West End Hospital at R108m in 2019, it is unlikely that this ward will be operationalised any time soon," it said in a statement.
DA article – Kimberley mental hospital a risk to staff and patients (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
16 years and R2.1bn later, Kimberley Mental Health Hospital remains barely used
New Kimberley hospital: 10 years late, sixfold over cost