R600m AngloGold hospital refurbishment ‘unlawful’
The Special Tribunal has declared the R600 million lease and refurbishment contracts for the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital in Carltonville unlawful, unconstitutional, and invalid.
The order comes after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) applied to the Special Tribunal to set aside these contracts and recover the state's losses.
The tenders were awarded during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hospital was intended to provide additional beds for COVID-19 patients, but the procurement processes were riddled with irregularities.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the refurbishment was initially estimated at R50 million, but the cost surged to over R600 million without a justifiable explanation.
"All lease agreement extensions or amendments were found to be unconstitutional and illegal. The appointment of eleven Professional Service Providers (PSPs) for the hospital renovation was deemed unlawful due to non-compliance with procurement requirements.
"The investigation also found that no feasibility study was conducted to evaluate the hospital's capacity to treat COVID-19 patients.
"Service providers were appointed without proper contracts and began work before finalising agreements. Furthermore, the hospital was not operational during the critical first three waves of the pandemic, making the expenditure wasteful,” Kganyago added.
Earlier this month, five officials from the Gauteng Department of Health and Infrastructure Development Department were dismissed for corruption.
The officials were investigated for irregularity in awarding contracts for the refurbishment of the hospital in 2022.
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