During a joint provincial and City press briefing yesterday, officials unveiled a dramatic plan to improve long-suffering Manenberg.
It’s a “vision”, officials said, to stop further decay in Manenberg and also attempt to address its current crisis of drug abuse and gangsterism.
Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo announced a plan to invest in health-care facilities and create a regional, and therefore larger, hospital. Mbombo said this would provide the Manenberg community with specialist care, including paediatric and mental health services.
This new facility would replace the old GF Jooste Hospital – although not on the same land – which was closed in June last year. At the time, the Western Cape Health Department said the hospital was due for major reconstruction, expected to cost R785 million. But this plan is just that – a plan.
Mbombo could give no budget for the proposed hospital. Neither could she give a site for the new hospital, nor a date the community could expect to get this specialised health care.
It was also announced that the GF Jooste site would be given to the City to use as a police training facility.
In the interim, she said, patients seeking urgent health care would have to make their way to the Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha district hospitals.
Yesterday, the Cape Times front-page lead story detailed the humiliating and tragic experience of Blanche Appollis, who was admitted to Mitchells Plain District Hospital in May.
The dying woman woke up to three porters watching and laughing at her while she was naked, with her hands tied, and they refused to help her. She could not get to the toilet on her own, and her pleas for assistance fell on deaf ears, forcing her to wet herself.
She died on May 26 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
And while Appollis was at the hospital, people awaiting help were seen sleeping on the floor.
Yesterday, Mbombo admitted the district hospitals were understaffed and unable to accommodate the increasing numbers of people seeking help.
So the big announcement was in fact a slap in the face for Manenberg residents, who have been left to face horrendous treatment and service at these two hospitals for years to come.