Cape Town - An Public Service Commission (PSC) probe into allegations of corruption at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital – where a whistle-blower complained of nepotism – led to a recommendation that a labour relations officer at the hospital be transferred.
The hospital falls under the provincial Department of Health and Wellness while the PSC is a Chapter 10 institution whose mandate is to provide oversight over the public service through research, investigations, inspections and advocacy.
Health and Wellness MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said the matter was investigated and fully dealt with between Head Office PM and Labour Relations.
“Following the conclusion of its investigation into the allegations, the department provided feedback to the Public Service Commission (PSC) in November 2021.”
She said the report found that the allegations of corruption and/or nepotism at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital have been unsubstantiated.
“Regarding the concerns about the Labour Relations Officer, the issue has been resolved following the officer’s retirement.”
PSC Western Cape Commissioner Leonardo Goosen told the legislature’s standing committee on the premier and constitutional matters that his office had received a complaint that the officer had both her children and her cousin employed at the hospital.
Goosen said the PSC investigated the matter during the 2020/2021 financial year and found that the officer had been involved in the appointment of her nephew. The officer, while recusing herself from the interview, did not completely fulfil the provisions of the Health Department’s recruitment and selection policy, which made the appointment “irregular”.
As a result, the PSC recommended that the chief executive at Red Cross Hospital should address the officer on the content of their report as it pertains to her involvement in the recruitment processes.
Goosen said the report recommended that the officer should be barred from any recruitment process at the hospital and that it was undesirable for her to remain stationed at the hospital given the family members employed there and the allegations surrounding their appointment.
Allegations of nepotism against the hospital’s acting porter supervisor in the appointment of his sons at the hospital were not, however, substantiated.
The report also recommended that the temporary lifting of recruitment and selection delegations assigned to the human resources unit should be considered for a period of six months.
“In this time, the human resources unit should be exposed to proper training in terms of record-keeping and HR practices.”
The report also found that documentation relating to personnel files and submission for appointments was not helpful and was in disarray, and advised that strong action be taken against officials who were neglectful of state record-keeping and control.
The whistle-blower’s allegations that service workers had been wearing the same uniforms for the past five years and that the staff residence was in a poor condition, with taps removed and no fumigation despite an infestation of cockroaches, were substantiated.
Newly elected committee chairperson Christopher Fry (DA) and leader of the official opposition Cameron Dugmore (ANC) thanked Goosen for his briefing, which they both called thorough.
Dugmore requested a copy of the PSC’s full report, which Goosen said would be made available to the committee.
Western Cape Director-General Harry Malila, who sat in on the briefing, did not make any comments.
The report also featured the PSC’s investigations into the alleged rape of a 15-year-old mental health-care patient at Stellenbosch Hospital, and the alleged assault of an Eerste River Hospital patient.
In the Stellenbosch matter, the PSC report concluded that the teenager and a 19-year-old male patient had engaged in sexual activity and were discovered by a nurse.
Goosen said: “The exact nature of this transgression is a subject of a police investigation, which was subsequently concluded and no charges were filed.”
In the Eerste River case, the PSC report said there was no evidence that the patient, Florence Rafu, was assaulted by staff. It found that Rafu herself was unable to recall what led to her injuries and there were no witnesses to account for the assault allegations.
In that case the hospital itself indicated that the incident could have been prevented and has since established corrective actions to be taken to prevent such an incident from happening in the future. The actions include more frequent patient checks.
The PSC recommended that there should be disciplinary consequences for staff (both nurses and managers) where negligence results in harm to patients.