Mental Health Hospital R2 billion budget overspent… again!

by Harold McGluwa – DA Northern Cape Provincial Chairperson

Date: 24 February 2017

Release: Immediate

Type: Press Statement

The budget for the “new” mental health hospital in Kimberley has been overspent yet again but still, the

construction of the hospital remains incomplete, with countless due dates already having come and gone.

To add insult to injury, Premier Sylvia Lucas chose to completely sideline this issue during her State of

the Province Address.

The Northern Cape Department of Health admitted during last week’s portfolio committee meeting that

the National Health Department and Treasury were engaging with chief procurement to get yet

another additional tranche of money to complete the project that has been dragging on for 11-years and

has already cost the taxpayer close to R2 billion.

In the meantime, state patients in the Northern Cape continue to languish in prison because the Health

Department does not have enough beds to accommodate them in the old West End Hospital. This is

despite two years 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 operationalized yet due to insufficient

funds to properly equip it.

Hundreds of voluntary patients in need of intensive psychiatric care are also forced to sit at home due to

the department’s inability to provide them with in-patient care.

Every life matters. However, this government, on both a national and a provincial level, has time and

again shown its complete disregard for the lives of psychiatric patients the country over. The tragedy of

the Esidimeni 100+, killed in Gauteng at the hands of the ANC government, should stir the Northern Cape

government to action; yet this is not happening.

The Premier should have used the opportunity at SOPA to name the new mental hospital for what it is – “a

monument to corruption” that has robbed mental health sufferers across the Northern Cape of their right

to health care and ultimately epitomises government’s failure to deliver.

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.

The DA challenges the Premier to provide the people of this province with a truthful account of exactly

how much money has been spent on this monstrosity and what the remaining budget shortfall is, during

her reply on the SOPA debates this coming Tuesday. We also expect her to give an indication of the way

forward with regards to mental health care in the province.

Given government’s poor track record in terms of the completion of the new mental health hospital, a

bold, informed and the realistic decision must be taken with regards to the future of the incomplete facility.

This decision must take into account the most cost effective option that will open up mental health

services to all the people of this province in the shortest time possible. Above all, this decision must take

into account the reality that the hospital, which a long time ago was hailed as a “state of the art facility”, is

already outdated in spite of it not even being finished yet. This is in light of the fact that the philosophy

underpinning mental health has, over the past 11 years, changed from a centralised to a decentralised

approach meaning that the new facility may, in fact, be too big.

Above all, this decision must take into account the reality that the hospital, which a long time ago was

hailed as a “state of the art facility”, is already outdated in spite of it not even being finished yet.

This is in light of the fact that the philosophy underpinning mental health has, over the past 11 years,

changed from a centralised to a decentralised approach meaning that the new facility may, in fact, be too

big.

Last year, the DA-led Western Cape government, which boasts numerous mental health service units

across the province, opened up a modern psychiatric unit in the Cape Winelands District, with 30 beds,

an Outpatient Department, four consulting rooms, three seclusion rooms and a number of services areas,

at a total cost of R35 million. At this price, the Northern Cape government could already have opened up

over 50 such units, taking mental health to the furthest corners of this vast province.

At this price, the Northern Cape government could already have opened up over 50 such units, taking

mental health to the furthest corners of this vast province.