Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za
4-minute read
01 October 2025 | 11:00 CAT

📸Cancer patients and activists during a march to the Gauteng Department of Health on 30 April 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo: OJ Koloti/Gallo Images)

A stark warning has emerged about the state of healthcare in Gauteng, where systemic failures within the provincial Health Department are putting lives at risk. The ongoing court battles over cancer services highlight deep-rooted issues of governance, oversight, and corruption.

Activist Professor Mark Heywood explained the urgency of the situation: “In 2021-2022, the Cancer Alliance, a network of 30 organisations, went to court to ask for urgent access to treatment for people on a very, very long waiting list at Charlotte Hospital and Steve Biko Academic Hospital. That waiting list numbered 3,000 people at the time.” Despite multiple court judgments ordering the Gauteng Health Department to act, Heywood notes the department has sought to delay implementation through legal technicalities, “literally prolonging the pain, and, as a matter of fact, prolonging the death because people with cancer are dying all of the time due to denied access to treatment.”

The department’s refusal to acknowledge the backlog of patients has led to a new court appeal, set for early October. Heywood warns that cancer incidence is growing, yet the healthcare system continues to fail patients in desperate need of care.

Professor Alex Van den Heever from the Wits School of Governance attributes these failures to entrenched, top-down corruption: “There is systemic corruption that has been operating within the Department of Health since around 2006. The people in leadership positions have no real interest in providing patient care. Their primary interest is in transferring state assets and funds to private interests.” According to Van den Heever, leadership changes have little impact because new MECs bring teams aligned with the same corrupt networks, perpetuating a culture where accountability is minimal and patient welfare is neglected.

Heywood stresses the need for urgent intervention, describing the situation as requiring a “thorough and radical” overhaul. He adds that while the health workforce is dedicated, the problem lies with those “who rule over the healthcare system and use it for reasons other than providing healthcare services.”

Both guests agree that the size of procurement budgets and discretionary powers make health departments particularly vulnerable to capture, and that similar patterns of corruption extend across other provincial departments and large public entities.

The Gauteng Health Department now faces mounting pressure from the courts and civil society to address these failings, implement governance reforms, and restore trust in a system that, for many, has become synonymous with neglect and mismanagement.

Listen to the full interview on Sabahul Muslim with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.