The Gauteng department of health has denied claims by the hospital landlord that it has been paying rentals for leasing the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital which it had not been using since October.
The 175-bed hospital in the outskirts of Carletonville on the West Rand had not been operational until two weeks ago when a DA councillor in the area raised an alarm that the facility had no medical staff and had not received patients despite being officially handed over to the department last month. It is alleged that the department had no capacity to hire staff and that the facility was too far from the people who needed it.
The hospital accepted its first seven Covid-19 patients on Wednesday – three days after Sowetan learnt that the department had allegedly been paying a lease and the facility’s upkeep since last year.
AngloGold Ashanti had previously owned the facility and renovated it to the tune of R460m when it entered into a lease contract with the department,” said the mining company spokesperson Chris Nthite. He said the hospital was among many of its assets it sold to Harmony Gold late last year.
Harmony Gold’s spokesperson Sihle Maake confirmed to Sowetan that the department had been financially responsible for the upkeep of the facility.
“Subject to confidentiality restrictions in the lease agreement, we can confirm that there is a lease agreement in place until the beginning of next year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and is open for renewal. The department is paying for its usage. The department is fully responsible for the functioning, operational requirements and staffing requirements of the Western Deep Levels Hospital near Carletonville.
"In addition, it should be noted that at the time that the lease agreement was concluded, the hospital in question was neither operational nor equipped and that much work was needed to be attended to by the department in order to bring it to an operational state,” said Maake.
However, the department disputed this at the weekend.
“The facility is on a zero-lease agreement, meaning that there are no rental costs. The department of infrastructure development and property management, which is the lease holder, can confirm this,” said the department’s head of communication Motalatale Modiba.
Gauteng department of public works and infrastructure spokesperson Victor Moreriane was contacted for comment yesterday morning but did not reply. He also did not respond to calls and text messages sent to him.
When Sowetan visited the hospital last week, workers from two companies were doing renovations while others from the third firm were on a wage strike and had not reported for work since June 4.
Mineworkers who lived next to the facility said their wives and children had to travel about 15km to Carletonville to access medical attention. Most mineworkers have medical aids but cannot afford to put their family members on it.
“My company [Kusasalethu] has its own clinic in the same yard where I work so I go there whenever I’m sick. However, my family will have to go to Carletonville when they are sick and yet we live next to a hospital that’s supposed to help us,” said Thabo Motsoeneng.
Modiba said 80 beds were opened on Wednesday and 63 posts had been approved for a budget of just over R17.6m.
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