Seshego Treatment Centre still not open
The Department of Social Development said the R100 million centre would be completed by 1 June 2018, after it was initially set to be completed in 2017.
POLOKWANE – A year after the DA called for the Office of the Public Protector to probe the Seshego Treatment Centre, the centre isn’t much closer to opening its doors.
Following the enquiry, The Department of Social Development said the R100 million centre would be completed by 1 June 2018, after it was initially set to be completed in 2017.
Now almost at the end of June, the centre remains closed and according to reports the project already cost government around R96 million in taxpayers’ money.
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Last year it was alleged the department had handed over the project to the contractor in April 2010 with the expectation of completion in October 2011. Extension was granted for six months, however, due to underground services that had to be executed before the construction could resume.
These findings were revealed by DA Spokesperson on Social Development, Suzan Phala, in a media statement issued after an oversight visit to the centre by the DA in June last year.
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“The grass is growing on the pavements, the ceiling is peeling off, some offices have been furnished with new furniture and there is water in the swimming pool. The failure of the department to complete the project in time and its negligence has seen new infrastructure for the people of Limpopo turned into a dilapidated, decrepit facility before anyone could use it,” Phala stated.
Then Spokesperson for the Department of Social Development, Adele van der Linde, said nothing had been abandoned by the department and added they had appointed a new contractor to finish the project. Van der Linde added the then Acting MEC for Health, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, had said during the department’s budget speech at the Legislature in March last year that the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act of 2008 prescribes that each province must have at least one public treatment centre.
Van der Linde quoted Ramathuba to have said: “Our people cannot wait any longer. We commit ourselves that we will work around the clock to ensure the long awaited Seshego Treatment Centre will be functional by the end of the 2017/18 financial year”.
Following last year’s inquiry onto the state of the project, Ramathuba visited the centre last year and acknowledged that construction had been delayed several times over the past five years.
A local resident, who recently found out her younger sister is struggling with drug addiction, said the opening of the new centre will be a great help.
“The problem is not that institutions like Sanca do not want to help, they simply cannot deal with the numbers they need to assist. I know this first hand and the problem is that private institutions are just too expensive.”
Sanca Director, Amanda Swarts, confirmed they had to sent many patients to treatment centres outside the city and in other provinces which leads to long waiting periods. She added that unfortunately many patients get lost in this backlog.
Social Development Spokesperson, Joel Seabi, confirmed construction was complete, but that other processes like recruitment of staff still needed to be done.
“We also need to get the go-ahead from the national department to open the facility officially as it is the first of its kind in the province,” he said.
According to a report for 2017, Sanca dealt with 12 514 drug related cases who had to be dealt with by social workers. Another approximate 2 400 people a year are walk-in patients, around 500 people a months seek assistance and most of those are referred to other provinces.
