Not a hospital: The Anglogold Ashanti hospital in Carletonville was set to be repurposed. (Paul Botes/M&G)
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is probing a “wasted” R500-million that was meant to add 175 Covid-19 ICU beds to Gauteng’s total Covid bed count, as the province reels from apparent shortages.
The Mail & Guardian has established that, in November last year, the SIU sent a letter to senior officials from Gauteng’s health and infrastructure departments alerting the province to the fact that it was investigating the R500‑million refurbishment project of the Anglogold Ashanti Hospital in Carletonville.
The SIU investigation comes in the wake of shocking images of Covid-19 patients receiving treatment in an open parking lot area, with oxygen tanks attached to their beds, at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Tshwane.
The letter, which was signed by the SIU head, advocate Andy Mothibi, and which the M&G has seen, lists five “grave risks” to the Gauteng health and infrastructure departments, owing to work stoppages that were caused, among other things, by strike action on site.
The letter was addressed to Richard Makhumisani, the acting head of department in the infrastructure development; Arnold Malotana, the interim head of department for the provincial health portfolio; and Carel van Heerden, the legal services head for the Gauteng health department.
The SIU’s letter said certain contractors had banned all workers from entering the site.
“Payments to the eight contractors working on-site were stopped pending the outcome of the SIU investigation, which has caused severe unhappiness with the relevant contractors.
“Certain of the contractors [are] threatening to take the law into their own hands by stripping [or] breaking down and removing the equipment (including very expensive medical equipment) from site, because they have not been paid for their work,” Mothibi’s letter reads.
No go: The project was beset by work stoppages, disputes and strikes. (Paul Botes/M&G)
“Obviously, such action would be completely unlawful, and the South African Police Service should be called in immediately if they [contractors] give effect to this threat. Almost no security is currently still being provided on-site (or the security abandoned the site), which leaves the premises (including the structure and equipment) vulnerable to theft and vandalism,” the letter says.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago confirmed this week that the unit was investigating the Anglogold Hospital spend. However, he said the unit did not comment on ongoing investigations.
“Thus far, the SIU has received very good cooperation from the Gauteng government in respect of all Covid-19-related investigations,” Kganyago said.
At a briefing on Tuesday, Gauteng premier David Makhura read out grim Covid-19 numbers, saying hospital admissions had peaked to 4 100, of which 2 787 were in private hospitals.
Makhura added: “We are not yet at a level where hospitals are full, but the last seven days have given us a sense that the numbers are increasing quite rapidly.”
The R500-million figure was revealed at a site visit in May last year by infrastructure development MEC Tasneem Motara, who said the hospital had been expected to be handed over to the health department in June last year.
The hospital was leased to the provincial government by mining company Harmony Gold, which had acquired Anglogold Ashanti’s assets.
Gauteng health spokesperson Kwara Kekana said that, since the pandemic outbreak, the department had added 2 419 new beds at public hospitals, with a further 775 created “with alternative building technologies”; 375 of which, Kekana said, would be fully staffed and equipped by the end of the month.
“The hospital [Anglogold] referred to will still be able to assist within the surge. The infrastructure in the hospital had to be repurposed for a new critical care facility. The department intends to use the hospital beyond the Covid period as it will add much-needed beds in the province,” Kekana said.
On the SIU probe, Kekana said: “This is an ongoing process; the SIU was provided full access to documents, staff and sites in question for their investigations by the Gauteng department of health.”
When the M&G first reported on the hospital in September last year, it revealed that a combined R74-million, on top of the original R500‑million, would still be required for high-quality equipment for the ICU centre.
The equipment included beds, ventilators, infusion pumps, defibrillators and monitors for the beds. The calculations were based on a Gauteng spreadsheet on hospitals’ expenditure to deal with the pandemic.
Jack Bloom, the Democratic Alliance’s health spokesperson in the Gauteng legislature, told the M&G this week that the project wasted much-needed funds.
“There is no way, I believe, that any Covid‑19 patients would be treated in that hospital, which was in good condition when it was handed over to the provincial health department. The R500-million spent there has been a complete waste of money.
“Only 56 beds have been built; roughly seven months after it was supposed to become operational. I doubt they even have staff willing to work there,” Bloom said.
When the M&G visited the site this week, only one security officer, an unarmed woman, stood guard at the boom-gate entrance.
At the actual site, rubble and scaffolding were strewn across the hospital property, with air-conditioning vents lying exposed in the baking sun. Some of the vents appeared to be rusting from the searing heat. Besides a handful of people who seemed to be working for a fire-protection systems company, the site was almost empty.
On Monday, the M&G sent detailed questions to infrastructure development spokesperson Bongiwe Gambu, who neither acknowledged nor answered the questions, nor did she answer repeated phone calls in which the M&G intended to ask for comment.
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