Spooks asked to probe Tembisa hospital fire

The Gauteng government has asked the State Security Agency to investigate if the fire that ravaged the accident and emergency section of the Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital was the result of arson.

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi said he has asked the agency to probe whether “there was no foul play” that caused the fire.

“There have been lots of wrong things happening, so we just have to make sure that there is no human element to it, because if you don’t do it, it can then expand to other hospitals. Police, state security and the fire and forensic unit are investigating the matter,” Lesufi said.

The fire, which broke out on Saturday in the casualty unit where 81 patients were being treated, has disrupted services at the hospital, leaving patients and nurses frustrated.

An employee who spoke to Sowetan on condition of anonymity described the situation as “chaotic”.

She said staff returned to a “messy place” yesterday, where they found themselves having to redirect patients to a new makeshift casualty department that only had two working computers after 10 others were destroyed in the fire.

“It was very chaotic today. Patients did not know where to go, including the staff themselves,” the employee said.

“Staff were sent around to try to direct the patients where to go.”

Reflecting on the chaos, the employee said she was not sure what to expect when she went to work as they were unable to locate patients’ files as only two computers were working in the makeshift casualty ward.  

Another employee, a nurse, said staff had to deal with frustrated patients who were confused at being sent from one part of the hospital to another as departments had moved as a result of the fire.

“I don’t want to lie; we cannot work efficiently like we used to. To be honest, it’s frustrating.

“Psychologically and emotionally, we’re not OK,” she said. “We have a shortage of staff, so nurses were burnt out anyway. Our psychological and emotional states were questionable already because of the shortage of staff. And the fire was traumatic as well.”

Both the employees Sowetan spoke to were on duty in the casualty section on the day of the fire, but have no idea what caused it. However, when they saw the smoke and flames, they quickly moved the patients and their beds to safety.

In August 2021, Babita Deokaran, a senior finance official for the Gauteng health department, was shot and killed after flagging irregularities relating to suppliers and service providers that were conducting business with Tembisa Hospital, resulting in expenditure of about R850m.

In 2021, a fire ravaged parts of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, and again in 2022, another fire broke out at an unused parking area at the hospital.

The Gauteng secretary of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA, Bongani Mazibuko, wondered whether the health department had not learnt any lessons from Charlotte Maxeke, “especially taking into consideration the fact that the accident and emergency unit [at Tembisa Hospital] was recently renovated”.

“We don’t want to speculate, but we are wondering how the fire could have spread so rapidly to the point of destroying the whole accident and emergency unit,” Mazibuko said.

Lesufi said he decided to authorise an investigation into Tembisa Hospital because “from the experience of Charlotte Maxeke, it is very important not to leave anything to chance”.

He said he has requested a report from the hospital, and was keen to hear from the people who were working in the casualty section when the fire broke out. “I have asked the team to give me a full report tomorrow,” Lesufi said yesterday.

The Public Servants Association said the hospital has been on the brink of collapse for months, with internal reports highlighting cracked walls, broken taps, exposed live wires, and serious fire hazards, especially in high-risk areas such as the casualty department. 

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