By Michelle Jones
A family spokesman for Deputy Human Settlements Minister Zoe Kota-Fredericks has been unable to explain why she and her driver where transferred from a state to private hospital 200km away, after both sustained just minor injuries in a fatal head-on collision.
Asked why the pair had been transferred from the state's Beaufort West Hospital to the private George Medi-Clinic, Unathi Tshopwana answered: "That I can't divulge."
Kota-Fredericks and her driver were travelling on the N1 between Beaufort West and Leeu Gamka when their luxury German sedan and a bakkie collided on Sunday.
The two in the bakkie, a father and son, died before traffic officers and emergency medical services reached the scene about 20km from Leeu Gamka.
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Pressed, Tshopwana refused to answer why it had been necessary to transfer the pair from a state to private hospital if they had only sustained minor injuries. He could also not answer who had made that decision, how the pair had been moved to the new hospital or who had paid for the transfer.
Asked whether they had been transferred because the family felt the medical facilities at the state hospital were not up to standard, Tshopwana responded: "I'm not sure. We were told they had been moved, but we were not told why."
He was unable to give any further details, and when pressed to comment he hung up the phone.
Kota-Fredericks would be discharged from hospital either on Tuesday or Wednesday. She had sustained a "few minor injuries but had stabilised".
michelle.jones@inl.co.za
This breaking news flash was supplied exclusively to iol.co.za by the news desk at our sister title, Cape Times.
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