Gauteng officials suspended over R588m refurbishment of AngloGold Ashanti Covid hospital

Gauteng officials suspended over R588m refurbishment of AngloGold Ashanti Covid hospital

Premier David Makhura, flanked by Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development Tasneem Motara and Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi, officially opens AngloGold Ashanti Hospital in Carletonville on the West Rand on Friday, 14 May 2021. (Photo: Twitter / @David_Makhura) The Gauteng government has suspended nine senior officials in the departments of health and infrastructure after the refurbishment of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital ballooned from a budgeted R50m to R588m. Only a handful of severely ill coronavirus patients have been treated at the facility.

The fallout from irregular contracts awarded during the Covid-19 pandemic continues as the Gauteng health department suspended three senior managers and the department of infrastructure six senior managers on Sunday following recommendations from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

The nine suspensions relate to contracts awarded for the refurbishment of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital in Johannesburg’s West Rand, which was scheduled to add around 180 high-care beds to the province’s capacity to treat Covid-19 patients. Initially budgeted at R50-million, contracts worth R588-million were awarded for infrastructure and R144-million for medical expenses. The Anglogold Ashanti Hospital in Carletonville on 14 May 2021. (Photo: Twitter / @BongiweGambu) “The SIU has uncovered serious irregularities in the awarding of contractors for the refurbishment of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital in the West Rand,” said the Gauteng government in a statement on Sunday.

“[In] December 2021 the SIU made referrals to the Gauteng Provincial Government to institute disciplinary action against the nine senior managers who were implicated in irregularities in the awarding of contractors for the refurbishment of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital, which was one of the hospitals earmarked for the treatment of Covid-19,” it continued.

The province said the SIU had also referred the implicated officials and contractors to other state institutions for further investigation. The nine senior managers, who have not been named, were sent letters of suspension and will face disciplinary proceedings once charges are finalised.

The SIU’s 737-page report on Covid-related procurement by state institutions outlined some of its findings against service providers and contractors in the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital refurbishment, but mentioned only one Gauteng government staff member — department of infrastructure supply chain management head Trevor Tabane, who was also acting chief financial officer. Premier David Makhura at the opening of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital in Carletonville on the West Rand, Gauteng, on Friday, 14 May 2021. (Photo: Twitter / @GautengProvince) The SIU said Tabane selected six of the contractors that […]

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