Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

22 April 2025

2 minute read

Action SA has demanded an urgent investigation after patients at the Tembisa Hospital were evacuated when a fire broke out on Saturday afternoon at the hospitals’ accident and emergency unit.

The party’s health spokesperson Emma More says that although the cause of the fire is unknown, they have established from a previous report that “none of the 37 hospitals in Gauteng are fully compliant with the occupational health and safety” standards. The Tembisa hospital was listed amongst those struggling with compliance of safety standards.

Problems of “dilapidated infrastructure, non-compliance, poor management, and leadership” are contributing to the current problems in public hospitals. Tembisa Hospital is considered a “corruption household” for which Action SA plans to be the “watchdog”. As they await the outcome of the investigation into what caused the fire, with inflating prices, they are concerned as to the “reparation costs” facing the hospital.

Emma stated that in the case of the fire that broke out a few years ago at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital, “no-one has been held responsible, accountable, jailed, and charged.” She says that Action SA is charging the MEC with the responsibility of holding hospital CEOs accountable. “It cannot be business as usual,” when the public is dealing with multiple challenges of poor service delivery.

The Tembisa Hospital will not be receiving any new patients. Aside from poor health services, the hospital cannot divert patients to other hospitals because of the logistics of transportation and other complications. We need to focus on “transforming our institutions” through quality services and infrastructure development, says Emma.

Action SA advocates for all political parties and government entities to be involved in upholding set standards, monitoring issues of overcrowding, enforcing inspections and compliance, as well as improving the quality of services. 31 years into democracy, Emma says that as Action SA, they feel we should come together to “fix Gauteng for our people,” because “health is life,” and active, well people contribute to the economy.

Listen to the full interview with Ml Sulaiman Ravat here.