Since the beginning of the year there has been no wall or fence around the Mabandla Clinic in Kariega.
Mabandla Clinic in Kariega was closed for the second day on Tuesday as nurses refused to work after finding human waste at the door and empty bottles of alcohol strewn around the yard. The fencing around the clinic was stolen at the beginning of the year and despite promises, it has not been replaced by the provincial Department of Health.
“We can’t work in this environment,” one of the nurses told patients who had gathered at the entrance. “There are faeces all over the back entrance since yesterday morning. There are empty bottles of alcohol in the yard.”
The nurses locked the door and asked the patients to take up the issue with the Department of Health.
The nurses said they told gardeners from the Community Works Programme (CWP) not to remove the faeces at the back entrance as it should serve as evidence.
After the fence was stolen, nurses stopped work at the busy clinic in January, citing security concerns. They returned to work when residents offered to act as guards on a rotational basis. The clinic serves about 500 patients daily.
At the time, Eastern Cape health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo told GroundUp that replacing the fence was a top priority. “Emergency procurement processes have already ensued to ensure urgent installation of proper boundary fencing,” he said.
Construction of a wall was started, but has not been completed. Bricks are still lying around the yard, which is used as a thoroughfare by people going from one street to another. There is no gate.
Ward 45 Councillor Sabelo Mabuda (ANC) told GroundUp the construction of the clinic wall had stalled since February.
“This problem emanates from the theft of the fence last year. Nurses and leaders and the district office of the Department of Health decided that a wall must be built.
“The Department of Health promised to put in a gate, and a construction company was introduced in January. However, the material was not delivered several times and the work has been sporadic. We were promised that the construction of the wall would be completed within four weeks … but it hasn’t,” he said.
Kupelo said on Tuesday that the district manager was dealing with the matter. “A meeting was held with the Councillor and the infrastructure office.”
“The matter is receiving urgent attention,” he said.
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Abyss Tamer
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty unbelievable guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.
Undergrad
Domkop – idiot [dom-kop] Similar to the German “dummkopf” or Dutch “domkop”, this term literally translates to “dumb head” and is a derogatory term used to describe someone who you think is stupid.Example: “Ag! You domkop! You broke my cell phone!”