The Standing Committee on Appropriations wants the Office of the Public Protector to conduct an investigation into alleged irregular appointments, maladministration, and financial misconduct at the Frere Hospital in the Eastern Cape.

This action comes after the committee received confidential information from a whistle-blower that implicates a senior official previously suspended for alleged misappropriation of funds and concerns raised over irregular tender processes.

Committee Chairperson Mmusi Maimane announced this request during the tabling of the Division of Revenue Act Bill in the National Assembly on Thursday.

“We will not have another Tembisa Hospital occurring in the Eastern Cape, and therefore, we have begun this journey because if we are going to safeguard healthcare funding, we have to make sure all money is spent for the purpose it was designed for,” he said to the parliamentarians.

Maimane said in a subsequent statement that the information before the committee painted a worrying picture of a hospital struggling with serious challenges.

These include chronic staff shortages, long-standing infrastructure problems, and limited resources, all of which undermine the quality of healthcare provided.

“The Minister of Health needs to seriously reflect on the state of this hospital. Frere Hospital is a referral facility for four district municipalities, serving about 3.2 million people in mostly rural areas, yet it continues to face overwhelming patient volumes,” he said.

In a report prepared after the October oversight visit to the Eastern Cape over four days, the committee said it had visited Frere Hospital to get an understanding of both the impacts of the funding withdrawal by the US and possible funding needs by the health sector.

The engagement with the hospital management focused on budget constraints, infrastructure challenges, human resources, and service delivery capacity.

It noted the number of vacant senior positions and that the hospital did not have a permanent CEO, with the current official acting in that position for over five years.

The committee recommended to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to ensure that the executive positions at Frere Hospital, including the CEO and CFO positions, were urgently filled.

It also demanded a thorough investigation into the operations of Frere Hospital and that a complaint be lodged with the Office of the Public Protector.

Maimane said the committee has previously recommended that key leadership positions at the hospital be filled urgently and found it unreasonable and harmful to effective accountability and decision-making for the CEO position to have remained vacant for more than five years.

“We are asking the Public Protector to intervene because our recommendations have not been implemented.” 

Maimane emphasised that the investigation is necessary to address any human factors that may be disrupting the hospital’s operations through maladministration.

“Many people are suffering while those responsible for the hospital’s administration are failing to ensure that patients receive timely and adequate care. We cannot allow another situation similar to the Tembisa Hospital incident to occur in the Eastern Cape,” added Maimane.

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za

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