DRUG REHAB CENTRE TO CONTINUE

The Noupoort Christian Care centre says it will continue treating drug
addicts despite the Department of Social Development's recommendations that
it stop operating.

It has supplied the department with five reasons why it will not close.

The centre has been in the news often since the death of patient Ernest
Coetzee in 2000. Less than a year later, a 16-year old patient died there
too, having been found chained by the neck to the door of a cell in the
punishment wing.

The centre has never been registered with the department, with questions of
financial irregularity, human rights abuses and inadequate staff
qualifications hanging over its head since it opened in 1991.

The centre's lawyer, Werner Prinsloo, yesterday faxed a two-page letter to
Francios Faroo of the department's legal office, furnishing reasons why it
would not close.

"The ball is now in the department's court and we will continue business as
usual," the centre's spokesman, Lukie Carelsen, said from Pretoria yesterday.

The reasons given by Noupoort why it should not be closed down are that:

Parents and sponsors were unanimous that it should stay open.

During a television debate on Sunday, 78% of studio audiences and callers
to the show said the centre should continue operating.

The second-last government inspection team "did a thorough inspection" of
the (centre) and recommended registration in its report.

A church delegation and a delegation from the Tough Love organisation
stayed with the patients for several days and reported positively on the
centre.

The centre had "an unprecedented success rate".