Rip-off plumbing for Gauteng hospitals 

11 October 2016

A plumbing company contracted by the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development routinely charges R20 000 for every job done at a hospital, but the Department insists that this is a fair market rate.

According to a written reply by Gauteng DID MEC Jacob Mamabolo, Kokwane Express Services cc was awarded a three year maintenance contract through open tender to do plumbing jobs at hospitals at a negotiated rate.

The company was paid R20 000 for each of 26 jobs done at hospitals and other government buildings in 2014 and 2015, which amounts to R520 000 in total.

This included the following small jobs at the Helen Joseph Hospital:

- Unblocking a sewer at the pharmacy; 

- Repairing the drainage system in the kitchen; and

- Unblocking the main sewer line

R20 000 was also charged twice to unblock the bathroom on the 4th floor of the Sage Life Building, first on 10 November 2014 and then again four days later.

And R20 000 was charged to replace a burst geyser at the Fanyana Nhlapo clinic.

Other jobs involved more work, like fixing pipes and pumping water at the basement of the Hillbrow clinic.

Mamabolo says that "an extensive market research and analysis was done to arrive at the rates agreed upon."

I am not convinced that a fair value rate was negotiated as the small jobs should surely have cost much less.

I suspect that the department is being grossly overcharged by many other companies for reasons that need to be investigated.

Every effort should be made to negotiate the lowest rates for quality work at our hospitals and clinics.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Health, 11 October 2016