Health MEC honours Manapo promise

By Emily Setona

QWAQWA – Health MEC Monyatso Mahlatsi says the water and electricity crises at Mofumahadi Manapo Regional hospital are being addressed, and illegal water connections might have occurred while the hospital was being refenced.

During his second visit to the hospital on July 25, Mahlatsi said the seventh administration plans to honour all its commitments to the community by working together as different government departments to improve on service delivery.

This was an oversight visit commemorating the 67 minutes of goodwill for Mandela during which he also unveiled the hospital signage that was the work of the department of Public Works.

“There was a time when the hospital’s fencing was not in a good condition and we had to refence this institution, so I suspect that it is during this time that the hospital was vulnerable, and people were able to come on to the hospital property and make illegal water connections to the water reticulation network of the hospital.

“The team that works on the water will be here next week to conduct a full investigation to trace where the water is going. We have requested the local municipality to make sure that there is accountability to find out who dared trespass on hospital property and make an illegal connection. I have instructed management to ensure that security patrols this area daily where this illegal connection has been made so that it will not operate anymore,” Mahlatsi said when addressing the media.

FS Health MEC Monyatso Mahlatsi.

Discussing a way forward on how to engage the community about stopping these illegal water connections that are causing a life or death crisis at the hospital, Maluti – a – Phofung (MAP) executive mayor Malekula Melato suggested the following:

“I will call a meeting for the community of this ward through councillor Tshidi (Mofokeng) who is responsible for this ward, so that we can tell the people that it is time for them to face reality because some of the things that they do have a very negative impact on the lives of other people. We cannot stall and say we will leave this illegal connection of water while it is compromising the hospital. We will get the team of MapWater, the team of Vaal Central Water to come join us to explain the situation to the community.”

Health MEC Monyatso Mahlatsi with Maluti-a-phofung local municipality Malekula Melato and Chairperson of Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli Regional hospital Paratlane Motloung.

On behalf of MAPWater, acting operations manager Mamotshabi Makhoba said the team from MAPWater and Vaal Cetral Water who were currently busy dealing with a burst pipe in Fika Patso Dam will immediately attend to the issue at Mofumahadi Manapo Regional Hospital as soon as they are done at Fika Patso and make sure that they close the illegal connection that is redirecting the water that needs to be going directly to the hospital.

During the unveiling of the signage board of the hospital, the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mahlaudi Motsoeneng Radebe said:

“We were having a challenge with the signage that directs the people to the entrance to the hospital, so we thought to put it here in the direction of the main road, where all the people passing by will know that this is the main entrance to Manapo. I’d therefore like to say thank you to the MEC for being here to come and unveil this board for us.”