IHAWU - Independent Health and Allied Workers Union

09/10/2025

IHAWU RESPONDS TO GENERAL MKHWANAZI REMARKS ON POLITICAL-AFFILIATED UNIONS AND FEDERATIONS

Date: 9 October 2025

The Independent Health and Allied Workers Union (IHAWU) aligns itself with the remarks made by General Mkhwanazi regarding trade unions and federations that are associated with the ruling party.

Unions and federations that are affiliated with the ruling party and serve its interests rather than those of workers have become a cancer eating away at the progress of our democracy and the struggle for economic emancipation. Such alliances compromise the independence of the labour movement, silence genuine worker struggles, and turn unions into instruments of political convenience.

Trade unions exist to represent and defend the rights of workers without fear, favour, or political influence. When they become extensions of political parties, they lose their integrity, their purpose, and the trust of the very workers they claim to represent.

IHAWU calls on workers to reflect critically on the organisations that speak in their name and to demand accountability, transparency, and independence from leadership structures. The liberation of workers must never be compromised or traded for political proximity. True worker power lies in unity, integrity, and independence.

Issued by:
Independent Health and Allied Workers Union (IHAWU)

Media Enquiries:
Lerato Mthunzi
Spokesperson – IHAWU
media@ihawu.org.za
0658230082

06/10/2025

INDEPENDENT HEALTH & ALLIED WORKERS’ UNION (IHAWU)
MEDIA STATEMENT
06 OCTOBER 2025

IHAWU CONDEMNS CONTINUED NEGLIGENCE AND LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY FOLLOWING FIRE INCIDENT AT CHARLOTTE MAXEKE HOSPITAL

The Independent Health & Allied Workers’ Union (IHAWU) notes with deep concern the recent statement issued by the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) regarding the fire at the female psychiatric ward of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. While the Department reports that no injuries occurred, this reassurance offers little comfort in light of recurring safety failures and persistent leadership negligence at the facility.

Charlotte Maxeke Hospital has become a symbol of the crumbling state of public health infrastructure in Gauteng. Four years after the devastating 2021 fire that forced the partial closure of the hospital and disrupted essential services, it is unacceptable that the same facility remains vulnerable to another incident. This recurring problem highlights the Department’s inability to learn from past mistakes and its continued failure to uphold basic safety standards.

FAILED LEADERSHIP AND A CULTURE OF PROTECTION

At the centre of these repeated crises is Dr. Gladys Bogoshi, the Chief Executive Officer of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, who has presided over numerous safety and operational failures since her appointment.

IHAWU is deeply alarmed that Dr. Bogoshi, who previously served as Acting CEO at Tembisa Hospital following the suspension of Dr. Lekopane Mogaladi after the Health Ombud’s damning report into the death of Shonisani Lethole during the COVID-19 period, continues to hold senior leadership roles despite a history of mismanagement.

Instead of enforcing accountability, the Gauteng Department of Health continues to recycle compromised leaders between facilities. This practice perpetuates a culture of impunity and erodes both staff morale and public confidence. The ongoing protection of senior officials, even in the face of repeated failures, is a betrayal of health workers and of the communities that rely on public healthcare.

SYSTEMIC FAILURES CONTINUE

The recent fire once again exposes the Department’s disregard for the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the National Building Regulations. The absence of functional fire detection systems, sprinklers, and regular emergency preparedness demonstrates ongoing negligence.

Fire prevention in hospitals cannot be treated as an afterthought or a post-crisis exercise. The Department’s statement that “no injuries were sustained” trivialises the trauma, fear, and disruption experienced by both staff and patients. It also fails to address the fundamental question of how such a situation could occur again after significant public funds were reportedly spent on safety improvements.

IHAWU DEMANDS:
1. Immediate Suspension and Investigation of the CEO
Dr. Gladys Bogoshi must be placed on precautionary suspension pending an independent investigation into administrative negligence, governance failures, and her role in the ongoing safety lapses at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital.
2. Independent Forensic Inquiry
A full, independent investigation must be launched immediately, and its findings must be made public within 30 days.
3. Comprehensive Fire Safety Audit
The Gauteng Department of Health must conduct and publish a province-wide audit of fire safety systems, staff training, and emergency procedures in all public hospitals, with urgent attention given to psychiatric and high-risk wards.
4. Transparency in Infrastructure Spending
The Department must provide a detailed account of all funds allocated and spent since the 2021 fire and outline a clear timeline for the completion of outstanding safety and compliance work.
5. An End to the Recycling of Compromised Leadership
IHAWU calls for a complete review of leadership appointment processes to ensure that competence, integrity, and accountability guide all senior appointments in the health sector.

The continuing crises at Charlotte Maxeke and other public hospitals in Gauteng are not the result of chance but of chronic neglect, weak oversight, and political protectionism. Health workers cannot continue to risk their lives under unsafe conditions while those responsible face no consequences.

IHAWU calls on the Gauteng Department of Health to act decisively to restore safety, integrity, and accountability within public health facilities. Failure to act will leave the union with no choice but to mobilise its members and the broader healthcare community to demand justice through lawful collective action.

Issued by:
Independent Health & Allied Workers’ Union (IHAWU)
Contact:
Lerato Mthunzi
📞 065 823 0082
📧 media@ihawu.org.za
🌐

A united, militant and democratic front of healthcare and allied workers, fearlessly defending the dignity, rights and wellbeing of those who serve at the heart of our health and social development department.

30/09/2025

MEDIA STATEMENT
Independent Health and Allied Workers Union (IHAWU)
Date: 30 September 2025

Tembisa Hospital Crisis Runs Deeper Than CEOs, SIU Exposes the Lie: Tembisa Scandal Was Political All Along.

The Independent Health and Allied Workers Union (IHAWU) welcomes the findings of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) into corruption and maladministration at Tembisa Hospital. These findings confirm what we have consistently warned: the crisis at Tembisa Hospital was never the doing of one CEO or one CFO. It is the product of entrenched political interference, corrupt procurement networks, and systemic collapse within the Gauteng Department of Health.

Over the past decade, Tembisa Hospital has been managed by several CEOs, both permanent and acting:
• Dr Lekopane Morwamogale Mogaladi was appointed CEO from March 2016. He led the hospital during the Health Ombud’s investigation into the death of Mr Shonisani Lethole.
• Gladys Bogoshi, then CEO of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital, was appointed Acting CEO in early 2021 following Dr Mogaladi’s suspension.
• Dr Ashley Vusi Mthunzi was appointed Acting CEO on 22 April 2021, made permanent CEO from 1 July 2021, and later suspended in August 2022.

In addition to the above, there is also Lerato Madyo, who served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the Gauteng Department of Health Head Office. She was suspended in August 2022, together with Dr Ashley Vusi Mthunzi. 

This revolving leadership where both CEOs and the CFO have been subject to suspension demonstrates that the crisis at Tembisa Hospital cannot be reduced to the failings of one or two individuals. Successive leaders, whether full-time or acting, were entangled in the same web of political interference and systemic corruption. The attempt to scapegoat hospital management while protecting higher-level political actors was always a strategy to deflect blame.

The consequences have been devastating for workers, patients, and communities:
• Healthcare workers have been silenced and demoralised in a climate of fear.
• Patients are denied dignity; lives are lost because essential resources are misdirected.
• Communities lose trust in a public health system captured by corrupt elites.

IHAWU therefore reiterates its longstanding demands:
1. End political scapegoating – Accountability must extend beyond those carefully positioned as scapegoats. Politicians and departmental leaders who orchestrated the corrupt systems must face justice.
2. Decisive action on SIU referrals – The National Prosecuting Authority and law enforcement must act urgently and without favour. Delays are denials of justice.
3. Protection of whistleblowers and workers – Those who expose wrongdoing must be protected, not persecuted.
4. Structural overhaul of healthcare governance – Procurement, financial oversight, and accountability systems must be strengthened so that hospitals truly serve the people.

The SIU findings confirm what we have said all along: the crisis in public healthcare is political, not individual. The leadership of Tembisa Hospital CEOs and the Departmental CFO were never the root cause but were caught in a dysfunctional system. We were right to resist the narrative of individual blame, and now those in power must be held accountable.

It is time to confront the real sources of corruption and restore the public health system to serve communities with dignity, integrity, and care.

Issued by:
Independent Health and Allied Workers Union (IHAWU)

Contact:
Lerato Mthunzi
IHAWU Spokesperson
0658230082
info@ihawu.org.za

30/09/2025

Uniform Allowance Update - Northwest

24/09/2025

19/09/2025

MEC under fire as health facilities buckle under pressure - Juta MedicalBrief

Grappling with huge staff shortages and shrinking budgets – like public healthcare facilities across the country – Gauteng's Health Department is further crippled by damning audit outcomes and legal lashings in the courts.

Opposition parties are calling for the resignation of MEC follwing the latest audit outcomes, announced this week, which Treasury warned that it was the only department in the province with non-compliant outcomes across every single audit area – due to a lack of effective internal controls.

The department's weak internal controls, irregular expenditure and mounting accruals drew sharp warnings from Treasury, reports City Press.

Critics argue that Treasury’s warning and the MEC’s defence emphasise a department that has long been at the centre of governance controversies, where progress on paper has yet to translate into improved service delivery.

Releasing the 2024/25 provincial audit outcomes, Gauteng Treasury & Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile said that provincial departments.

Grappling with huge staff shortages and shrinking budgets – like public healthcare facilities across the country – Gauteng's Health Department is further crippled by damning audit outcomes and legal lashings in the courts. Opposition parties are calling for the resignation of MEC follwing the la...

16/09/2025

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSDB64v2v/ Comrades, too many of our nurses and health workers remain trapped in unions that exist in name only – unions that cannot bite, cannot fight, and cannot defend their members when the storm comes. Time and again, when workers are in deep waters, they run to IHAWU for help, even if they are not members – and we never turn them away. This is proof that IHAWU is not just a union on paper, but a fighting force built on solidarity, courage, and action. I therefore urge all workers in Health and Social Development: do not wait until you are drowning to seek real protection. Choose IHAWU, join a union that truly defends its members, and together let us build the power needed to transform our workplaces and restore dignity to the working class.