http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=649645

Killer’s ghost ‘still roams’ 

Namhla Tshisela
05 December 2007

ABOVE: Mrumrudula Smithson, financial director of the Big Shoes Foundation. Right: Dr Fikile Dube holds an adopted three-day-old baby boy at the children’s hospital. Photos: Thobeka Ndabula

Almost 75 years after she was hanged for the murders of her two husbands and son, the spirit of Daisy de Melker is believed to wander restlessly at The Memorial Institute for Child Health and Development (TMI) in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

When the Johannesburg branch of the National Council of Women (NCW) donated the first children’s hospital in the city to the Transvaal government in 1923, the council could never have imagined the hospital would harbour the ghost of the city’s most notorious serial killer.

De Melker, who became the second woman after Dorothea Kraft to be hanged in South Africa, worked as a nurse at the then Transvaal Memorial Hospital for Children, where it is believed she learnt about strychnine and arsenic that she used to poison her victims.

“In the old days when the doors slammed, people thought it was De Melker’s ghost,” said Jill Stacey of Autism SA.

The institute celebrated its 84th birthday on Monday. The NCW hosted a party at the premises, where calls were made to preserve the building as a heritage site.

“We need to respect the founding principles of the building and maintain the legacy of helping children,” Stacey said.

The hospital was built in the 1920s as a memorial for the casualties of World War One. It was built through funds raised by the Johannesburg NCW, its affiliated societies and other women’s organisations.

It was the first modern hospital for the children in Johannesburg. It boasted facilities such as operating theatres and an infectious diseases ward. Fragments of the old hospital such as old dental equipment remain in the unused units.

Plaques and an honours roll of those who served in the war feature prominently in the old entrance hall of the hospital.

Its childcare facilities were taken over by Johannesburg Hospital in 1978. Since then the building has deteriorated into a state of disrepair.

“The material that was used in some parts of the building is rare. Some of the pipes have to be replaced because they are old and they burst. The roof is also badly damaged and floods whenever it rains,” Stacey said.

Despite its worsening state, parts of the building have been restored by the non-profit organisations that have found a home there since the 1980s, when it was transformed into a “child institute”.

It now houses 24 child-centred organisations that focus on the needs of children. The institute has services for abused, homeless, disabled, orphans and those with learning disabilities.

“As doctors we treat sick children. It is important that we treat them not only physically, but holistically, and to support their families,” said Professor Lorna Jacklin of the Johannesburg Hospital’s paediatric unit, who was instrumental in the founding of the institute.

One of these organisations is the Big Shoes Foundation, established in 2002.

The foundation now boasts one of the most attractive and child-friendly units in the building. It is one of few organisations that provide medical services to abandoned newborn babies.

“We get between eight and fifteen orphans or abandoned children daily,” said Mrudula Smithson, the foundation’s financial director.

The babies are brought to the centre by the police, social workers and caregivers from children’s homes.

It has a clinic with five doctors who do age assessments, test the children for HIV and compile medical reports for adoption.

Big Shoes also trains the police and social workers on how to care for newborn babies.