Mamabolo confirmed receipt of the report, compiled by specialist attorneys Adams & Adams, on March 25. He told News24 at the time that he would only release the findings after the contractors had submitted their own representations, which would form part of his findings.

On March 2, five people sustained minor injuries when part of the roof near the hospital’s main entrance collapsed. Workers from a privately-owned company were repairing a leaking section of the roof at the time.

Mamabolo said the contractor had removed concrete stones and placed them on a part of the roof that could not handle the weight. The contractor needed to be held accountable, Mamabolo said at the time.

DA MPL Jack Bloom called for an urgent infrastructure inspection at the hospital. A report dated 2012 contained warnings of structural problems in the building, he said.

He wanted to know how the contractor was appointed, and recommended that future maintenance be made the responsibility of the hospital’s management.

According to the infrastructure department’s website, the Gauteng government planned to spend R42bn on socio-economic infrastructure programmes in the next three years.

Shortly after the collapse, two anonymous sources told News24 that another section of the hospital, a dental clinic run by the University of the Witwatersrand, had been cordoned off because part of its ceiling, which collapsed in January, had still not been repaired.

One worker said Mamabolo’s statement that the rest of the building was safe was not true.

A worker said when staff arrived at the dental clinic on January 23, they found a part of the ceiling had caved in. DM