Pretoria - Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said despite investing almost R600 million in the refurbishment and upgrading of the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital, which had been identified and dedicated as a Covid-19 critical-care facility, the provincial government has now resolved to walk away from the stinking deal.
“This is another painful chapter, I must be honest. It is just that the new administration, which I have the honour to lead, we took a decision to eliminate uncertainty. If it was not the case, this matter would hang on for quite some time,” Lesufi spoke to journalists.
“The Gauteng government, through the department of health, during Covid, requested that a hospital be established to deal with the challenges of Covid. Through a mine called Ashanti, a hospital was identified, and that institution needed R50m to be upgraded to be at the level where it can be utilised.
“The sad news is that from R50m, it sky-rocketed to R588m. As I am speaking to you now, the hospital cannot be utilised. The department of health feels that it is not conducive to be utilised, and all government departments feel they can’t use the hospital because it is not safe. The Zama zamas have taken over the hospital.”
The premier said the facility remains unsafe, and patients cannot be taken to the controversial hospital.
“We rehabilitated an institution at the value of R588m, but we do not own that institution because the mine is refusing to hand over the property. We still need to pay for water and lights, and I am told that averages R2m or so, if my memory serves me well, every month,” said Lesufi.
“The lease agreement that was there has expired, and a new lease agreement can’t be signed. We have taken a conscious decision to cut our costs and let go of this investment.”
Lesufi said his government was releasing the Hawks and the SIU to go and recoup the money, which belongs to the State.
“All the people that were responsible for taking the cost of this hospital from R50m to R588m must be identified, tracked, assets frozen, and money returned to government.
Lesufi said six officials have since been identified for the stinking deal. He said three are from the provincial department of health and the other three are from the provincial department of infrastructure.
Last year, IOL reported that the Gauteng hospital, which was refurbished at the massive cost of more than R500m to treat Covid-19 patients, had become a white elephant six months after its completion, with less than 10 patients having been treated at the facility located in a remote area.
The Anglo Ashanti hospital on the West Rand opened amid much fanfare by Gauteng Premier David Makhura in May last year, before the peak of the third wave of infections.
This was revealed by the then Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in an oral reply to DA health spokesperson Jack Bloom at the Gauteng Legislature.
IOL