Noupoort rehab centre’s founder dies

The founder of the drug rehabilitation facility, Noupoort Christian Care Centre, has died after a long illness.

Pastor Sophos Nissiotis, 79, died at a Port Elizabeth hospital on Monday night after an ongoing battle with lung issues.

The rehabilitation facility he oversaw is based in the small Northern Cape town and has, over the years, attracted wide media coverage amid allegations of abuse.

Programme manager and close friend Pia Green said staff at the centre were mourning Nissiotis’s death, but vowed to continue his work.

“We had a meeting this morning [Tuesday] when the staff were all told. Many are upset at the news but we will carry on with his work,” she said.

“He was ill for about two years and battling issues with his lungs. He had been on oxygen for several years already.”

Green said Nissiotis’s death was a great loss to the centre. “It is a huge loss to us all. “I dealt with him every day for the past four years and have known him for more than 20 years.

“It is a real loss but the best way to honour his legacy is to continue with his work.

“We have been running for 27 years and will continue to run and uphold his legacy and wishes.”

In 2014, the rehab centre made headlines amid allegations of human rights violations including deaths, claims of assaults and inhumane discipline and punishment.

The first death there had already been recorded in 2000.

But the centre came into the spotlight again after the Kimberley High Court heard allegations of excessive punishment and other violations of children’s rights from the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Child Law.

Among the allegations were that the centre imposed harsh punishment and kept people in cages.

The university law centre gave evidence in the case and called for all minors at the facility to be removed.

Judge Mpho Mamosebo had ordered the new probe into the centre, undertaken by the department of social development.

Nissiotis suffered from a 30year drug and alcohol addiction before he was converted to religious faith.

He completed his studies at the Rhema Bible Training College before starting at rehab programme by invitation of the government at Magaliesoord.