City Press reports that the Gauteng health department has fired five of the nine officials embroiled in the R580 million corruption relating to the refurbishment for Covid of a Anglo Ashanti hospital, but it has failed to explain why it took the provincial government three years to conclude the disciplinary hearings.
The department instituted disciplinary action against the implicated officials in January 2022 following recommendations from the Special Investigation Unit (SIU). The officials faced several charges, including misconduct, fraud and corruption. This was after the SIU found that the initial budget to renovate the hospital had ballooned from R50 million to more than R580 million. On Tuesday, the department revealed that five officials had been fired, two were issued with written warnings, one was acquitted and the one had left the department. The DA’s Jack Bloom welcomed the conclusion of the disciplinary process, but lamented that the delay had cost the taxpayer more than R20 million in salaries while the suspended officials sat at home. Bloom said criminal charges should be laid against the implicated officials as well as those in the companies that had benefitted from the irregular contracts. He added that there should also be political accountability for the extremely poor decision to refurbish this hospital in Carletonville that had been donated by AngloGold Ashanti. The hospital was supposed to have been be used for Covid-19 patients in 2020, but only 100 were treated there. The hospital is now abandoned and vandalised.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sipho Mabena at City Press (subscription or trial registration required)
- Read too, SIU welcomes action taken against officials in hospital refurbishment corruption, at TimesLIVE
- En ook, Anglo Ashanti-debakel: Korrupte amptenare gestraf, by Maroela Media
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