JOhannesburg - A dispute over the filling of posts at the new Zola-Jabulani District Hospital in Soweto threatens to disrupt the official handover of the facility later this month.
On Thursday, a group of contract workers and their former colleagues toyi-toyied at the hospital’s entrance in protest over “the unfair and corrupt” appointment of people to several positions. Residents from the surrounding townships joined them.
“When (President) Jacob Zuma comes here to open this hospital, he will find us here with his bodyguards. He always tells us to vote, promising us jobs,” said Nthabiseng Dlamini, 28, one of the protesters and a mother-of-two.
Sources at the hospital said an emergency meeting scheduled on Thursday to defuse tensions over the recruitment process was postponed because officials from the Gauteng Health Department were not available.
Construction of the hospital has been dogged by tender irregularities and delays, resulting in numerous missed deadlines.
On Thursday, the DA joined the fray and announced it would lead a picket at the hospital on Friday in protest over the missed deadlines.
The initial 2006 tender for the 300-bed hospital – aimed at easing congestion at the Chris Hani-Baragwanath Academic Hospital – was R336 million. Costs had escalated to more than R480m by 2009, according to the Gauteng Infrastructure Development Department.
A source at the hospital alleged that local councillors had interfered with recruitment, in cahoots with officials from the Gauteng Department of Health, and had appointed their cronies and relatives.
He said the parties implicated had used the project advisory committee, on which they sit along with the hospital’s project manager and community liaison officer, to influence the appointments.
“The contract workers were surprised when they saw people queueing… for interviews. How is it that none of the contract workers was shortlisted for interviews?”
The contract workers accused departmental officials of backtracking on their promises to give them first preference in filling posts.
The positions include housekeepers, gardeners, porters, caretakers, drivers, messengers, security staff, laundry workers and food service workers.
Spokeswoman Phumelele Khumalo denied that the contract workers were promised first preference.
The Star