Patients suffer as hospital lift deal fails

Seriously ill children have to climb 136 steps at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital on days when the lifts don’t work. The Gauteng government promised 200 new lifts for key buildings two years ago, but The Star has learnt that only 70 have been installed. In June this year, attempts to replace the remaining Charlotte Maxeke lifts again failed. The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) issued a tender for new lifts in blocks one and two of the hospital – the red and yellow blocks. At the top of one block are paediatric wards. The children’s cancer wards are on the ninth floor, obstetric and gynaecology wards on the seventh and the labour ward on the sixth. The main hospital thoroughfare is on the fifth and can be reached from the parking garages through other lift blocks; when lifts don’t work, patients walk from there. On Tuesday, DID spokesman Philemon Motshwaedi said the June tender was evaluated, “but since none of the companies complied with the minimum requirements, the tender could not be awarded”.

The hospital CEO, Dr Barney Selebano, said the lifts in the two blocks were an ongoing problem and he had been promised action by the province. “They make doctors angry, they make patients angry, they make everybody angry.” In January 2009, the then Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works told The Star that 200 lifts would be replaced at six hospitals and 11 government buildings. “Although it was originally planned and announced that 200 lifts would be installed, only 81 were procured,” Motshwaedi said on Tuesday. Only 70 were installed because the province had run out of money. In 2009, the province said it had bought the lifts directly from Koyo, a manufacturer in China, while stripping out the old lifts and putting in the new ones would be contracted in South Africa. Officials said local companies had also bid for the lift contract, but the work could be done at about a third of the cost by buying directly from Koyo. Officials went to China to oversee the shipping of the lifts.

The whole deal was to cost about $11 million – around R110m at the time – and all the lifts were to be installed by December 2009. On Tuesday, the DID said Koyo also did installation, and Nqoba Business Enterprise was the technical project manager. Motshwaedi said the final cost of just the 81 lifts was about R137m. This included about R110m for the contract, about R19m in professional fees, R7.5m for installation and about R550 000 for training. Charlotte Maxeke Hospital was a priority for the new lifts, and by June 2009, 10 of its 27 lifts had been replaced. When The Star visited Charlotte Maxeke recently, only 16 of the 24 lifts seen were Koyo lifts. Two Koyo lifts weren’t operating, but technicians wearing overalls labelled “Koyo” were inspecting them. Five of the eight old lifts were not working, but there were no technicians working on them. “Nqoba Business Enterprise: Lift Consultants. Lift stopped for scheduled construction” read a sign on one old lift. Uncomplimentary comments were scrawled next to it.

The Star found that the Koyo Elevator Company SA was registered in SA in 2006 but is now deregistered. It is not registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), which is legally required for government construction contracts. Koyo could not be contacted for comment. Nqoba Business Enterprise’s Jackie Gokamilwe referred requests for comment to the department. Nqoba’s registration with the CIDB has been suspended, apparently because of failure to provide tax documents, and its grading is lower than that listed as the minimum required in the June tender. Nqoba brought in skilled workers for the installation. There are hints of even higher costs. “We have successfully assisted Nqoba Business Enterprise cc in securing corporate work permits for 50 Chinese nationals to come and do the installations of new lifts and escalators in South Africa for a period of three years,” wrote immigration lawyers Mogaswa Attorneys on their website.

“Nqoba had to outsource some of the work to a Chinese company, Koyo Elevator Co Ltd, to do the installation and maintenance of lifts and escalators. “Our instructions were then to secure corporate work permits for 50 Chinese nationals. We are therefore pleased to announce that we succeeded in securing the corporate work permits for 50 Chinese nationals and still continue to render legal services in respect of the same transaction. “The total value of the transaction is R2 billion.” Mogaswa confirmed getting all work permits and referred further comment to Nqoba.