When is the hospital going to be fully operational?
We’ve brought in the Department of Health, which has appointed an implementing agent and drawn up a project plan, which will fast-track the remedial work. We expect that by the end of 2023 they will have finished all the material work, allowing us to then fully open the hospital.
Why have there been so many delays?
The first delay was caused by the engineers not being able to draw up a rational fire plan because they couldn't find the building plans for the hospital. They had to use 3D scanning technology to produce the building plans, which took a bit of time.
Then we brought in the Solidarity Fund to start doing work on one of the blocks, including the emergency section, which is expected to open before the end of this month.
We’ve heard that sort of promise before, haven’t we?
We trust the engineers brought in by Solidarity. They’ve finished all the work now.
So why are we still waiting?
They discovered that all the cables were vandalised, so they couldn’t connect electricity.
What about corruption?
The bigger portion of the repair work was delayed because the departments of health and infrastructure development could not agree on the scope of work and the budget. That’s where corruption comes in.
The health department felt the scope included things that were not necessarily part of the fire damage. It also felt the budget was too high, well in excess of R1bn. We then got the report from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on the investigations they’d conducted.
What investigations? They say they haven’t conducted any investigations.
They investigated the awarding of contracts into the refurbishment of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital.
What about the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital contracts?
We, in the office of the premier, are conducting preliminary investigations into that.
Why haven’t you referred it to the SIU?
We have a forensic unit in the office of the premier which conducts all investigations for the province.
Shouldn’t you have referred it to the SIU?
We’re in the process of referring it.
Why only now?
These contractors were brought in in the middle of last year. It was only towards the end of the year that we started picking up problems between the two departments.
Why did it take you so long?
There are processes you have to follow. When we saw the report into AngloGold Ashanti, a project which started at R50m but ended up costing us well over R500m, it became clear that overpricing alleged by the department of health was real.
Why do we still not know if the fire was an accident or arson?
Unfortunately, that’s in the hands of the police. When they’ve completed their investigation, they will let us know.
How many of your hospitals are fire risks?
I can’t answer that because it’s subject to ongoing work by the department of infrastructure development. They have to conduct condition assessments on all of them.
Until then, they’re all potentially fire hazards?
I don’t want to speak without the details of whatever reports the department of infrastructure development hands us.
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