Overview
- The Public Protector published findings on Friday, May 22, 2026, that the Gauteng Department of Health and the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development failed their legal duties and left Charlotte Maxeke partly non‑operational after a 2021 fire.
- Investigators identified root causes as a custodianship dispute, poor project plans, weak coordination and procurement failures that stalled work and delayed approvals, with custodianship moved on 9 February 2022 and the DBSA appointed as implementing agent on 16 February 2022.
- Financial oversight failures left roughly R666–R667 million allocated between 2021 and 2024 but only about R324 million spent by March 2024, driving cost escalation that raised the estimated completion bill from R1.1 billion to about R1.7 billion.
- Safety inspections found the hospital breached building and fire standards, including 19 critical City of Johannesburg compliance items and missing as‑built drawings, which require extensive remedial work to meet SANS 10400‑T and national building rules.
- The Public Protector ordered 30‑ and 60‑day action plans, referred the project to the Auditor‑General, recommended lifestyle audits and consequence management for implicated officials, and noted that donors and the DBSA had delivered some faster, limited reopenings such as the Accident and Emergency unit.