By BAKANG MOKOTO
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in North West said the fire that gutted the Lekwa-Teemane Local Municipality building and clinic in Christiana might have been caused by political interference.
EFF provincial spokesperson, Linda Mabengwane said in a statement that even though there is no finalized report currently, the party hopes that the cause of the fire is an innocent human mistake.
“However, we cannot rule out the possibility of political foul play due to the internal factional battles of the ANC. The Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati region is a well-known ANC war zone in the North West.
“Over the past few years, the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality and its local municipalities have all been engulfed in the remnants of the ANC’s political war fares. In December 2021, we saw Christiana Hospital equally being burned in the midst of the heated factional battles of the ANC and to this day no one has been held accountable,” Mabengwane said.
He further said as the EFF, their stance has always been that communities must never be caught in the crossfire of the ANC fighting itself. Mabengwane added that the people of North West must never allow themselves or their resources to be used to fight the internal party fights within the ANC.
“The EFF hereby calls on all stakeholders to be on the ground and ensure that a proper report is compiled to ensure that the person responsible for torching healthcare services in Lekwa Teemane is held accountable.
“It cannot be that health facilities continue to burn yearly and no one is held accountable,” he said.
The North West Health MEC Madoda Sambatha said: “We have sent a team of executive managers led by the acting DDG for Health Services, Pule Monale to assess the state of the Christiana Town Clinic, which was destroyed by fire Monday evening.
“The town clinic which has been the only remaining health facility in the area was attached to the municipal hall which also caught fire. The sad incident occurs at a time when we are in the process of finalising procurement of Parkhomes, which are to serve as a temporary structure until the hospital is rebuilt.”
Sambatha said his team has made some sound recommendations to restore health services to the community of Christiana. He said the management team has reported that the extent of the damage caused by the fire is such that the facility will not be operational any time soon.
“As a result, a number of measures for intervention have been proposed and will be immediately implemented. The first immediate intervention is to avail a mobile clinic, which will be stationed next to where the burnt clinic was. The mobile clinic will be stationed there until the health services are restored.
“Following the assessment, the management team has also recognised that there is a piece of land next to the municipality, which can be used to erect a temporary structure in a form of a Parkhome. The strategic positioning of this piece of land will enable the structure to access water and electricity, which will allow clinic services to be rendered without interruption,” said Sambatha.
He said the team has proposed the utilisation of an old Parkhome which consists of three consulting rooms and the structure will provide an additional room to the burnt clinic. Sambatha said the municipality was immediately engaged on these proposals as the need to restore clinic services is a matter of emergency in the area.
Meanwhile, the Lekwa-Teemane Local Municipality mayor, Sebang Motlhabi said that service delivery will not be affected and they have appointed a team to do a damage assessment caused by the fire.
The Guardian 