The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has completed its probe into the R570m refurbishment of AngloGold Ashanti Hospital in Carletonville — where costs ballooned to more than 10 times the initial budget, blowing more than a quarter of the province’s Covid infrastructure budget.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said evidence had been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority and the SIU was completing a report on the investigation, which would be handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The hospital was donated to the Gauteng health department on a lease agreement by AngloGold Ashanti last year. Earlier this year it was identified as a Covid critical-care facility for the west rand.
It stood vacant for 15 months, opening in May with 80 of the 181 beds planned for the facility handed over. But it was only in late June that the first two patients were admitted.
The SIU was tasked to investigate corruption, malpractice, maladministration and irregularities in the procurement of goods and services, including leased accommodation.
According to the SIU, Pro-Serve Consulting was appointed to render professional architectural, electrical, mechanical, civil and structural engineering services, while Thenga Holdings would provide general construction work.
On September 17, the Special Tribunal granted the SIU an order to freeze R7.9m held in the bank accounts of Pro-Serve and Thenga. This was after the SIU said the tender process was “flawed, unlawful and invalid” and issued with no consideration to National Treasury regulations. Also, there had been no explanation why costs had ballooned from R50m.
Earlier this month Pro-Serve Consulting and Thenga Holdings applied to the Special Tribunal for the reconsideration of the interim preservation order. They argued that the hospital was taking patients and therefore deriving benefit from the work done, that they were unable to conduct business because of the preservation order and that it had not been proved that the amount paid to them revealed irregularities in the procurement process. Both companies claim they were properly appointed and that allegations of their involvement in overpricing have not been proved.
Pro-Serve director Thabang Mbembele told the Sunday Times this week: “The matter is presently before the Special Tribunal Court. Pro-Serve is opposing the matter and we are awaiting the judgment.”
Thenga Holdings CEO Sithabiso Thenga declined to comment.
When the Sunday Times visited the hospital this week it found only a few patients and nurses in a single ward with 15 functional beds.
Hi-tech motion sensor doors and wide gleaming corridors contrasted starkly with tall weeds sprouting at the helipad, piles of rubble outside and empty parking lots.
Most of the hospital was standing empty, with only one ward on the first floor functioning. There were no patients in the ICU, and most of those in the hospital were quarantining. The few staff members on duty were reluctant to speak to the media, while security guards confirmed that there was very little going on at the facility.
Gauteng health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi told the Gauteng legislature earlier this month that R490m had been spent on building infrastructure, R46m on equipment, R6.4m on staff and R1.2m on goods and services.
She said while 175 beds had been approved, only 57 were usable and only 15 had been used. She said that from June to October the hospital had treated 109 patients, of whom only eight needed critical care.
Mokgethi said the plan was to now merge the hospital with Carletonville Hospital to create a larger district hospital complex with 375 beds and the capability to host a pharmacy depot and down-refer TB patients and those in need of palliative care.
Jack Bloom, the DA’s spokesperson on health in Gauteng, said it was clear no research had been done ahead of the refurbishment. “I have asked who took the decision and have been told it was the entire executive committee. This was Covid money spent on things that nobody ever identified a need for. What was a gift horse is now a white elephant.”
In contrast to the R570m lavished on AngloGold Ashanti Hospital, the total budget for repairing Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital after a devastating fire in April is just under R61m, the Gauteng department of infrastructure development told the Sunday Times.
Gauteng health spokesperson Kwara Kekana said various measures were in place to prevent further increases to patient backlogs. “All complex operations which cannot be done at our smaller hospitals are transferred and performed at Charlotte Maxeke, where staff continue to offer services and support to other facilities,” she said.
Gauteng infrastructure development spokesperson Bongiwe Gambu said while just over R4m had been spent so far, a total of R60m had been budgeted “for the maintenance work currently being done in the main hospital”.
She said remedial work for the radiation oncology section, fire remedial works, occupational health and safety compliance works and associated professional fees for the project were estimated at just more than R944m.
It had been decided that the hospital would reopen in stages, beginning with Block 1 in May next year and ending with Block 5 in June 2024.
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