DA blocked from new mental hospital
1 July 2019
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape is calling on Premier Zamani Saul to urgently instruct his cabinet members to exercise transparency by welcoming instead of blocking oversight inspections by Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPL’s) to government facilities.
This comes after the DA’s polite request for a guide, to show myself and a DA delegation of public representatives around the not-yet-operational new mental hospital today, was declined by health MEC Mase Manopole, who also refused us entry.
The DA is deeply disappointed in Manopole, who herself was previously a MPL, and is well aware of the challenges that we encounter.
As the DA and the official opposition party in the Northern Cape, we want to cooperate with government and be part of the team that is helping fix the many problems that this province faces but if this is the way in which we are treated, then we will be left with no choice but to assume that the Health Department has something to hide.
The DA will not allow the constitutional rights of public representatives to conduct oversight inspections of organs of state, to be violated.
Oversight and accountability are mandated functions of legislatures. MPL’s thus have a duty to scrutinise and oversee government facilities, not least of all unopened hospitals that cost over R2 billion and close to 15 years in the making. Even more so, considering that July is mental illness awareness month and the DA remains very concerned about the sub-standard state of mental health care in the Northern Cape.
For as long as the new mental hospital does not open its doors to the public, mental health care will remain highly compromised.
There are not an adequate number of beds for state patients and forensic observations at the old, run-down West End hospital. There are no overnight facilities for children suffering from mental health illnesses in the province.
There are also not adequate facilities in the districts to properly manage mental illness. Instead, there have been times when mentally ill patients seeking care at Robert Sobukwe Mangaliso Hospital in Kimberley were treated with a single injection and told to go home. While patients at Dr Harry Surtie Hospital in Upington have tried to commit suicide by jumping off the top floor because they do not get the medical help that they so desperately need.
Had the more than R2 billion intended to improve mental health care not been so poorly managed, the province could by now have enjoyed the services of fully operational psychiatric units at each of our district hospitals. Instead, almost fifteen years down the line, mentally ill patients are worse off than before.
The DA will take the matter of oversight inspections up at the legislature, as well as write to the Premier to seek an intervention from him. We will also refer this matter to our national spokesperson on Health, Siviwe Garube, so that she can bring this to the attention of the national Minister and see whether he is comfortable with this undemocratic arrangement.
Oversight inspections are a constitutional duty that simply must be protected in the name of transparency, accountability and the betterment of services to all our people.
The DA is further in the process of preparing for the annual budget related committee meetings with all government departments and will be enquiring extensively about the lack of funding allocated to the new mental hospital for the 2019/20 financial year, which is likely to see the facility remain closed for yet another year.
Health care in the Northern Cape is at an all-time low and closing the blinds on this injustice will only aggravate the rot.
Issued by Andrew Louw, DA Northern Cape Provincial Leader, 1 July 2019
