R500 Million wasted on Anglo Ashanti Hospital

Health News

Tebogo Msimanga |

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomed the court order obtained by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to freeze R7.9 million from two companies that were irregularly given tenders to refurbish the Anglo Ashanti Hospital for Covid-19 patients.

DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC Jack Bloom said further spending on this “white elephant” hospital in the far west rand should be frozen, and efforts made to recover a lot more of the R500 million that was spent on unlawful contracts for this project.

The hospital was supposed to have 175 ICU beds, but only 87 beds have been completed and there is no staff or equipment to provide high-level care. “Only a small number of low-level Covid-19 patients have been admitted there who could have been treated elsewhere.”

According to the SIU, there was no approved budget for the renovations, which increased from an estimated R50 million to more than R500 million.

Bloom further said earlier this year the MEC for Infrastructure Development Tasneem Motara revealed in response to his questions that the decision to refurbish the hospital, which was donated by AngloGold Ashanti mine, was taken by the entire Provincial Executive Council.

“This implicates Premier David Makhura in this appalling waste of money that should have been used for extra beds and staff at existing hospitals to save the lives of Covid-19 patients.”

He added that Makhura cannot continue to deflect accountability for all the corruption scandals on his watch. “Imagine how many lives could have been saved if this R500 million was properly spent”.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *