By Justine Gerardy

The suspended deputy manager of the East London hospital Complex, Dr Nokuzola Ntshona, was arrested this week for drunken driving two months after an arrest on the same charge.

Stutterheim police spokesperson Captain Thozama Solani said Ntshona was stopped at 10.30pm on Monday by patrolling police officers who found a five-litre box of wine and a glass next to the driver’s seat.

“She was heavily under the influence of liquor,” Solani said.

Ntshona could not recall details of a collision, reported by the owner of a red golf on Monday, when questioned on damage to her driver’s door and window.

She was arrested for drunken driving and kept in custody overnight after she was taken to the community service centre and refused to be taken to hospital for blood tests, Solani said.

Ntshona appeared in the Stutterheim magistrate’s court on Tuesday where she was given bail of R500. The case was postponed to September 27.

A hearing on her suspension with a departmental disciplinary committee was meant to take place on Tuesday but was postponed due to the arrest.

Her union representative, Reuben Opperman, said: “She was not available to take part in disciplinary hearing and we asked for a postponement.”

The arrest follows a similar arrest in June after Ntshona was arrested shortly before midday for drunken driving in the East London city centre.

East London police spokesperson Superintendent Mtati Tana confirmed that Ntshona appeared on the register at Fleet Street police station holding cells for June 23. No further details were available as the docket was in court pending the forensic results of blood tests, he said.

Ntshona was suspended by the Eastern Cape department of health in August. She had supported former health deputy minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge’s view that a crisis existed at Frere hospital and also wrote a letter to President Thabo Mbeki highlighting the dire situation there.

Ntshona’s legal battles follow a conviction 11 years ago in the United States where she was convicted of conspiracy to defraud a government health scheme. The court found her liable for $380 290 (about R2,7-million) in restitution and sentenced her to two- and-a-half years in prison.

According to papers on the New York State department of health website, Ntshona voluntarily surrendered her New York State medical licence in 1997.

The state’s board for professional medical conduct further ordered that her name be struck from the roster of physicians.

Ntshona was also dismissed in 2004 from Polokwane hospital, where she worked as a specialist, for issues related to misconduct, said Limpopo provincial health spokesperson Phuti Seloba.

This week Ntshona referred queries to union representatives at the Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of SA.

This comes after the the Eastern Cape state attorney wrote to Ntshona advising her not to speak to the media and warned that she would be interdicted if she continued to do so.

Provincial health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said one of the charges Ntshona faced was providing the media with inaccurate information regarding the department.

Ntshona’s hearing had been postponed to September 17 and 18, he said.

She was appointed the East London hospital Complex deputy manager and Cecilia Makiwane hospital medical superintendent in May.

Ntshona has been removed twice and reinstated to the Health Professions Council of South Africa medical and professions board, said council Tendai Dhliwayo.

Being struck off the roll of practitioners means that doctors cannot practise.

The first case in 2003 was due to failure to pay annual fees. The next year she was struck off due to “error in registration or through fraud”, which was overturned after legal intervention.

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