More than half a million rand for hospital CEO’s hotel stay despite Eastern Cape Health budget crisis

7 October 2024

A recent written parliamentary question has revealed that the OR Tambo District Office of the Eastern Cape Department of Health (EC DoH) has been footing the bill to accommodate the CEO of Zithulele Hospital, Nolubabalo Fatyela, at three different hotels in Mthatha for nearly two years, at a cost of R 574 026,55.

The DA will write to Jan De Villiers, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, to refer this case to the Public Service Commission for investigation of irregular and wasteful expenditure, for disciplinary recommendations to be made and for their findings to be reported to Parliament.

On 29 July 2022, Fatyela was moved from Zithulele Hospital near Hole-in-the-Wall to the District Office in Mthatha on the instruction of Nomakhosazana Meth, MEC for Health at the time.

Zithulele Hospital had over many years built up a reputation as one of the best rural hospitals in the Eastern Cape, but since the appointment of Fatyela in September 2021, there has been an exodus of experienced medical and nursing staff, and the quality of care at the hospital has deteriorated significantly.

The OR Tambo District Office has shelled out R 574 026,55 to the Hotel Savoy & Conference Centre, the Bluetique Hotel, and the Mayfair Hotel, where she stayed for total of 366 days, despite the fact that the EC DoH is currently facing a massive budget crisis and does not even have enough money to pay its Telkom bills.

We urge the Eastern Cape Department of Health to investigate this unjustified and wasteful expenditure urgently and explain why alternative accommodation, that does not cost the state anything, such as the staff quarters at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital where the CEO has been housed for the past few months, was not arranged much earlier. We further urge that disciplinary action be taken against the OR Tambo District Manager for approval of this irregular expenditure.

Issued by Karl le Roux, DA Deputy Spokesperson on Health, 7 October 2024