This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
Financial Mail reports that plundering by zama zama miners and dysfunctional governance in the North West’s Department of Health (NWDOH) have kept a fully functional 295-bed hospital standing idle.
The Duff Scott Hospital, 12km from Klerksdorp in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda district municipality, was once owned by Buffels mine but is now privately owned. It has three operating theatres and could provide work for many junior doctors, nurses and health-care workers, according to new manager Anissia Botha, who says she has paid “millions” in security and for repairs. The NWDOH granted the hospital an operating licence in 2016, subject to it becoming operational within six months, but the situation remains deadlocked with provincial authorities not responding to Botha’s letters. According to Botha, it was “practically impossible” to meet the six-month deadline, but the provincial government has not responded to attempts to negotiate. For protection against zama zamas the hospital had to bring in security at R1.2m a year. The hospital was bought at an auction after two Anglo mines closed down in 2016. It was used by the provincial health department for six months during Covid to treat 100 patients. Botha indicated that a three-year hospital operating licence would enable her to get a full complement of staff in place “to service patients optimally and alleviate the problems related to the access to health care in the Klerksdorp, Orkney, Stilfontein and Hartbeesfontein area. It would also provide a base of operations for newly qualified doctors.” The NWDOH advised that the Duff Scott Hospital’s operating licence application was scheduled for adjudication on 12 July.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Chris Bateman at Financial Mail (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page