AngloGold Ashanti debacle is a monument to government incompetence and failure

15 December 2022

If there was ever any doubt that Gauteng cannot survive under the yoke of ANC governance any longer, the AngloGold Ashanti project has dispelled any such doubt. This is a massive waste of taxpayers’ money that could have been spent on improving hospital infrastructure to ensure that Gauteng residents receive adequate healthcare services.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi announced that the Gauteng government was walking away from the “stinking deal” which cost the taxpayers of this province almost R600 million. The only thing that stinks is the quality of the decision-making by Lesufi and his comrades which led to this scandalous and criminal waste of money.

The process to acquire the facility was informed by a resolution of the Provincial Executive Management Committee meeting held on 14 March 2020. The Department of Health eventually abandoned the hospital on the 31st of March 2022, following which the property has been progressively vandalised.

To add insult to injury, Gauteng is responsible for paying service fees, which according to Lesufi, amount to R2 million per month.

The project originally cost R50 million, but ballooned to more than half a billion, raising suspicions that the project may be a means for the ruling party to extract money. Any individual with a modicum of common sense would have questioned the spending of so much money to create just 181 ICU beds which were never used to treat Covid patients.

Both the Department of Health and other departments within Gauteng have declined to utilise the property based on security concerns. This is another takeaway from this sad saga in that parts of South Africa are no-go areas because of the inability of the government to secure the safety of residents.

Marauding gangs of zama-zamas and other criminals act with impunity thus creating fear and terror, while government and the police services stand by with arms folded. The sooner government realises that zama-zamas are a national security threat, the more likely we are to prevent the progressive slide to anarchy and a failed state.

We are in a race to save this country and the finishing line is 2024. The DA is the only viable alternative that has the capability of rescuing Gauteng residents and ensuring full accountability for the Anglo Gold Ashanti Hospital debacle.

Issued by Alan Fuchs, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Infrastructure Development and Property Management, 15 December 2022