The Special Tribunal has declared the lease and refurbishment contracts awarded by two Gauteng departments for the AngloGold Ashanti Hospital as invalid.
These contracts were awarded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) approached the tribunal to have the contracts set aside.
"The Special Tribunal order...reviewed and set aside multiple decisions made by the Gauteng Department of Health [GDOH] and the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development [GDID], including lease agreements entered into with AngloGold Ashanti Limited and Golden Core Trade and Invest (Pty) Ltd for the use of the hospital and residential premises. These agreements were inconsistent with the Constitution, unlawful, and invalid.
"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. Consequently, all contracts for this work have been set aside between the GDOH, GDID, and the service providers," the SIU said.
The corruption busting unit explained that an investigation into the matter found that "during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the GDOH and GDID sought to expand healthcare capacity and entered into a lease agreement for Western Levels Deep Mine Hospital, formerly owned by AngloGold Ashanti".
"The hospital was intended to provide additional beds for COVID-19 patients, but the procurement processes were riddled with irregularities.
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"The SIU investigation revealed that the procurement process was unlawful as it failed to adhere to the required transparent and competitive bidding procedures. This is a contravention of the Public Finance Management Act and National Treasury's regulations, causing the GDoH to incur fruitless and wasteful for goods and services supplied," the SIU explained.
Furthermore, the investigation revealed that no feasibility study was conducted to "evaluate the hospital's capacity to treat COVID-19 patients".
"Furthermore, the GDoH was misled into believing that only minor renovations were needed at the AGA Hospital. Initially estimated at R50 million, the cost surged to over R600 million without justifiable explanation.
"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," the SIU said.
