This as Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu said on 26 August that discussions were ongoing with the developers of a proposed massive new housing scheme in the area, as well as with the Gauteng Department of Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs (Cogta).
DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health Jack Bloom posed a question to MEC Mahlangu, and in the reply Mahlangu admitted that Cogta had not consulted with her department when the contract was awarded in January 2012 to the Equisent Infrastructure Development consortium to develop the Rietfontein site which is bordered by Edenvale and the Johannesburg suburbs of Linksfield and Sandringham.
Bloom said, “I am astonished that plans went ahead for a major development, including 8 000 proposed residential units, with no consultation about the future of the hospital. Furthermore, there is a huge controversy over heritage and environmental issues in this area, including graves where victims of anthrax and other diseases were buried.”
The hospital building is a National Monument that is over 100 years old. It has a colourful history, including patients like Archbishop Desmond Tutu who was treated there for TB as a child.
While Mahlangu had previously said that there were no plans to move Sizwe Hospital, the developers of the site had said at public meetings that the hospital would be relocated to a site near the Edenvale Hospital.
Bloom indicated that he will assist local residents in ensuring that there is a proper evaluation of this project with no underhanded deals.
