Premier Saul appoints Justice Bekebeke to lead task team to address hospital failures

The Director General Justice Bekebeke has been appointed to lead the task team to ensure that the recommendations of the investigation of the Health Ombudsman into complications, treatment and death of psychiatric patients at Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital (RSMH) and the Northern Cape Mental Health Hospital (NCMHH) in 2024, are implemented. 

COPE acting national chairperson Pakes Dikgetsi, earlier this week, questioned the Premier’s silence surrounding the shocking report, his apparent lack of empathy and failure to visit the grieving families.  

“The report exposes inhumane conditions: electricity outages lasting a year, broken resuscitation equipment, and extreme weather exposure that contributed to patient deaths. At the heart of this crisis is leadership failure.” 

He highlighted how, when Saul was inaugurated in 2019, he made a public commitment to place his desk at RMSH to monitor healthcare service delivery. 

"Six years later, his desk remains a pipedream — absent when needed most. His promise was not just political theatre; it was a commitment to lead from the front. That promise now lies shattered amidst the broken systems and lives lost under his administration." 

Dikgetsi pointed out that the horrifying findings where Cyprian Mohoto died after being admitted with untreated pneumonia, Tshepo Mdimbaza succumbed to exposure to the cold and John Louw, incapacitated following delayed intervention for a brain haemorrhage, pointed to "systemic neglect".

Spokesperson for the Office of the Premier, Naledi Gaosekwe, stated that after studying the report and a number of consultations, the Premier had instructed Bekebeke to chair the task team that was established to implement the findings of the report. 

“The report that was released last week by the Health Ombudsman has brought to the fore the major governance inadequacies, violation of clinical protocols and financial mismanagement at both the Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital and the Northern Cape Mental Health Hospital. All these discrepancies have cost families their loved ones.” 

She added that the Premier had instructed the MEC for the Department of Health to provide an update on the immediate actions taken in line with the report within the next seven days. 

“The Premier sends his most heartfelt condolences to the families mentioned in the Ombudsman’s report and will soon visit the affected families. He unequivocally apologises to the many patients who have experienced substandard health services at both institutions.”  

Gaosekwe indicated that the Premier reiterated the government's commitment to transparency and clean governance as well as reforms in the public health system. 

“Upon assuming office in 2019, Premier Saul prioritised public health and education. In an effort to improve the two sectors, the bulk of the provincial budget and adequate support are given to the two departments, and this is evident in the human development Indicators. It is therefore important that, in light of the damning report by the Health Ombudsman’s corrective actions are instituted as a matter of urgency.

”It is our responsibility to ensure that our public health facilities function optimally as more than 80 percent of the people of this province cannot afford private healthcare and are solely dependent on government facilities,” she stated.