LICHTENBURG, North West — Residents are demanding urgent accountability following the collapse of the R28-million General De La Rey Hospital renovation project. Four years after the North West Department of Health awarded the contract to upgrade the aging facility into a modern 120-bed center, construction has yet to begin, leaving patients to deal with deteriorating infrastructure and severe bed shortages.
Locals report that the hospital’s infrastructure continues to degrade, resulting in prolonged waiting periods for patients and a critical lack of available beds. Community members are now insisting that the millions of rands paid by the department must be fully accounted for and that the facility is finally completed.
Revised Plans and Professional Fees
The North West Department of Health’s original blueprint was ambitious — it aimed to replace General De La Rey Hospital and the decommissioned Tusong Hospital with a single, new district hospital. Tusong Hospital had been shut down previously due to dolomite soil conditions that caused massive cracks in its walls. The initial goal was to build a modern 120-bed facility with all necessary auxiliary and support services.
However, the department has acknowledged that approximately R28 million was paid to MIB for professional services tied to the planned upgrade. The professional team successfully progressed with the planning and design up to stage three.
Following further engagements with the National Department of Health, the project brief was subsequently revised. This critical change reduced the proposed bed capacity from 120 to 81 beds, a modification that significantly delayed the upgrading of the facility.
Legal Disputes Halt Progress
Beyond the revised blueprints, the project has been bogged down by legal hurdles. Department spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane explained that the matter was taken to the high court due to disputes surrounding the appointment of the contractor.
Because the department respects court processes, Lekgethwane noted that they were legally barred from proceeding with the implementation while the litigation was active. Moving forward prematurely, according to Lekgethwane, would have prejudiced the legal processes and created further contractual and procurement complications. The department was forced to wait until the court processes were fully completed.
Province-Wide Infrastructure Failures
The stalled renovation is symptomatic of a much larger crisis within the province’s healthcare system. National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) highlighted that infrastructure challenges and a severe lack of maintenance at health facilities are long-standing issues across the North West.
To illustrate the broader failure, NEHAWU pointed to the Christiana hospital, which was gutted by a fire six years ago. Despite the devastation, NEHAWU noted that nothing has been done to ensure the local community regains access to healthcare services in the absence of that specific hospital.
“The department really is not doing enough,” NEHAWU stated, adding that the health authority is actively failing communities when it comes to both infrastructure development and ongoing maintenance.
As legal and administrative delays continue to plague the General De La Rey Hospital renovation, Lichtenburg residents remain stranded with a deteriorating facility, waiting for the promised healthcare upgrades to finally materialize.
