– R1 billion and 21 years later, 1 Military Hospital remains incomplete.
– Soldiers, veterans and their families have suffered reduced healthcare services.
– The DA demands answers, accountability and a full cost comparison.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is deeply concerned by revelations that government is considering constructing a new military hospital despite having spent more than two decades and over R1 billion attempting to restore 1 Military Hospital.
We will insist on a full accounting of every rand spent since 2005, a detailed comparison between completing the existing hospital and constructing a new facility, and comprehensive accountability for those responsible for two decades of failure.
The Repair and Maintenance Programme originated following a Portfolio Committee on Defence oversight visit in 2005 with the recommended refurbishment work commencing in 2006.
Twenty-one years later, South Africa’s premier military hospital remains a construction site and unable to provide the full range of services expected of a strategic military healthcare facility.
The real tragedy is not the building itself. The real tragedy is the impact on serving soldiers, military veterans and their dependants who have been forced to endure reduced healthcare services as a result of years of indecision, poor project management, weak oversight and apparent failures of accountability.
The prolonged deterioration of 1 Military Hospital has contributed to the loss of critical specialist capability within the South African Military Health Service.
Services that should have been available within the military healthcare system increasingly had to be outsourced to private specialists, laboratories, pharmacies and healthcare providers.
At the same time, service providers have repeatedly raised concerns regarding outstanding SANDF accounts and delayed payments. The consequence is that soldiers, veterans and their families increasingly find themselves caught between a dysfunctional military healthcare system and private providers who are understandably reluctant to continue rendering services without payment.
This situation is unacceptable.
Even more concerning is that the Department now appears to be considering a completely new hospital without first explaining how more than R1 billion was spent on the existing project, why key milestones were never achieved and why accountability remains largely absent despite forensic investigations and repeated Auditor-General findings.
The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure has himself highlighted concerns regarding the approximately R5.2 million per month spent under the Total Facilities Management contract and has encouraged Parliament to scrutinise whether value for money was achieved. This warning cannot be ignored.
The proposal for a new hospital also raises fundamental questions about affordability.
The SANDF is currently facing one of the worst funding crises in its history. Aircraft remain grounded due to maintenance backlogs. Naval vessels spend extended periods alongside because of funding constraints. Critical military capabilities continue to decline because sufficient resources are simply not available.
Where, then, will the billions of rand required for a completely new military hospital come from? How many years will it take before such a facility becomes operational? And what happens to military patients in the meantime?
Perhaps most troubling is the fact that delays have already caused medical equipment procured for 1 Military Hospital to become obsolete before it could be utilised. Millions of rand were spent on equipment that effectively reached the end of its useful life while waiting for facilities that were never completed. This represents not only wasteful expenditure but also a direct loss of healthcare capability for those who serve and have served South Africa.
South Africa’s soldiers and military veterans deserve answers. More importantly, they deserve a healthcare system that works.