Why is probe of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital fire still outstanding?

5 September 2022

The Democratic Alliance notes the report in Daily Maverick today on a leaked police forensic report that concludes that the fire at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital (CMJH) in April last year was an act of arson rather than any accidental causes.

It appears that the report was completed last year and recommended further investigation, but there is no indication that this was done.

I asked questions about this in the Gauteng Legislature a month ago, and Acting Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko said that the police had done the investigations but the report is still pending. 

According to Nkomo-Ralehoko: “The forensic report investigation is coordinated by the Office of the Premier so, as the department, we are not in a position to provide clarity on any delays.”

In my experience the Premier’s Office is the graveyard of investigations as they are never done speedily or made public. Poor excuses are given for the delay in releasing the four investigations into the fire at the Bank of Lisbon Building in September 2018.

I am concerned that the fire at CMJH was done to cover up corruption in the storeroom where it started.

The fire damage has caused immense disruption and patients have suffered, including lives lost from delayed treatment, 

The DA will continue to press for full disclosure of all investigations into the fire, and criminal prosecutions for implicated people. 

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 5 September 2022