Protesters outside Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital on Sunday, 20 February 2022. (Photo: Masego Mafata) Two weeks after the Gauteng government held a media conference to announce its plans for the repair of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, medical staff report little evidence of progress and patients continue to bear the brunt of mismanagement.
Prof Adam Mahomed, the Head of Internal Medicine at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH), says there is an “ongoing sabotage” of efforts to get more sections of the hospital up and running.
Parts of the facility were gutted when a fire broke out on 16 April 2021. Damage was estimated at R40-million.
In recent days, despite the presence of security employed by the hospital and Solidarity Fund in different parts of the facility, there has been theft of copper piping and more than 500 metres of electrical cable and new electrical distribution boards from inside the hospital.
This has further delayed the reopening of the critical Casualty section. The thefts have been reported to police. However, attempts to confirm this with hospital CEO Gladys Bogoshi were unsuccessful as she is on leave outside the country. The fire-damaged entrance to the parking garage at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. The blaze broke out on 16 April 2021. (Photo: Shiraaz Mohamed) “It’s as if someone wants the hospital to remain closed,” a source told us, adding that “the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) continues to interfere”.
The role of the GDID in health facility-related corruption still needs urgent investigation, according to a coalition of activists who have called on the premier to ask the Special Investigating Unit to probe the GDID.
The modus operandi of corrupt officials in the GDID is likely to be the same as that revealed by the SIU during its investigation into the AngloGold Ashanti Western Deep Levels Hospital (see its final report ). There, it was found that “the Framework for Infrastructure Delivery and Procurement Management, NT Regulations and Practice Notes, the PFMA, SCM Practice Notes and GDID SCM Policy for Infrastructure Procurement and Delivery Management prescripts were not followed in the appointment of [22] professional service providers and contractors”.
As a result of these findings, on 13 February it was reported that the Gauteng government had suspended nine officials from the health and infrastructure departments. However, Vuyo Mhaga, a spokesperson from the Office of the Premier, on Thursday declined to name these officials, saying […]
