News24 | ‘They are just waiting for me to die’: Woman says dept of health reneged on R500k promise

Priscilla Tobeka Jantjies said she suffered complications after a tooth extraction at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in 2002.

• A 50-year-old Jeffreys Bay woman says severe complications from a 2002 tooth extraction at an Eastern Cape state hospital left her disabled.
• The Eastern Cape Department of Health offered a R500 000 “humanitarian” payment in 2013, but claims no record shows the offer was accepted.
• Jantjies protested by sleeping outside the department’s provincial headquarters in 2023 and claims her health continues to deteriorate while she survives on a disability grant.  

A Jeffreys Bay woman has accused the Eastern Cape Department of Health of playing with her emotions over a promised R500 000 “humanitarian” payment for complications she developed after a 2002 tooth extraction.

Priscila Tobeka Jantjies, 50, was living in Mdantsane when she went for a tooth extraction at state-owned Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in December 2002.

The procedure turned into a nightmare for the mother of two who was admitted to the hospital after losing consciousness. She said she stayed in hospital for days because she was unable to see, walk or speak.

When she was discharged, Jantjies claimed her wellbeing was severely affected by the procedure as she was constantly bedridden due to loss of energy.

Assisted by her husband, Thomas, and their lawyers, Jantjies launched litigation against the department which was resolved years later through an out-of-court settlement.

In a June 2013 letter from the department, addressed to Jantjies and seen by News24, then-acting senior manager of legal services Mlungisi Mlambo wrote that the offer was made “purely on humanitarian grounds”.

Mlambo wrote:

The offer was on condition that Thomas accepted it.

Thomas died in 2017 and it is unclear if he had accepted it at the time of his death.

“My husband was the one who was signing all the documents on my behalf because I was sick due to complications after the tooth extraction. After he died, I started enquiring about the offer from the department’s officials, but they have been sending me from pillar to post,” Jantjies told News24.

In March 2023, a frustrated Jantjies went to sleep outside the premises of the department’s provincial headquarters in Bhisho in protest against the department’s failure to honour the promise.

“I was promised that I would be paid the money with the department’s officials saying the money was going to be paid by the end of October 2023. This has not happened,” Jantjies said.

She claimed she was also promised, shortly before last year’s general elections, that the offer would be paid.

“I have been calling the officials many times without getting anything solid. I guess they are just waiting for me to die. My health has deteriorated,” she said.

Jantjies said she was unemployed and was dependent on a disability grant.

“I was never a disabled person until after the tooth extraction.”

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Department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said Jantjies was owed nothing.

He admitted there was an offer made for Jantjies, but said the department’s records do not show it was accepted.

“There was no basis for that offer. There was no causal nexus for the R500 000. Clinical investigations concluded that her disability was not linked to the tooth extraction and multi-disciplinary government assisted the family and moved them from a shack in [Mdantsane] and built them a house in Jeffreys Bay with furniture,” said Kupelo.

Kupelo would not say if the department was still prepared to make good on the offer.