At a protest march on Tuesday South African Communist Party said the contract awarded by the George Hospital to a Bloemfontein company does not benefit the economy of the Southern Cape, especially since the company in question imported their own staff.

In a memorandum handed over to the George Hospital superintendent Dr Martin Viljoen, the party demanded an investigation by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) into the appointment of the Bloemfontein company.

"There are many local companies capable of doing the renovations. We demand that the project manager be suspended pending the outcome of the investigation."

 The party also demanded that the current reno-vations at the hospital be stopped.

Dr Viljoen who took receipt of the docu-ment, referred George Herald to the provincial spokesperson for comment. The latter was unavailable at the time of going to press.

At the George Civic Centre Mayor Flip de Swardt accepted a memorandum of demand for service delivery to households without electricity, water and sanitation.

"In twelve months’ time we demand houses. Failure to fulfil the abovementioned, will result in Plan B being rolled out.
"The safety and security of people staying in poor living conditions should be a cause of concern. Statistics of rape, murder, assault and robbery with aggravating circumstances keep residents of Mdongwe, Asazani, Protea Park and Kleinkrantz awake at night."

SACP Southern Cape Secretary Vuyani Mashini said people living in shacks lived in fear of fires breaking out. He asked the Mayor to place himself in their shoes.