Eighteen months ago, a fire engulfed parts of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital in Gauteng. Over 900 patients had to be urgently moved, and crucial medical services came to a grinding halt. Many of the 150 000 outpatients who had relied on the hospital had to wait months for treatment. Doctors pleaded with bungling officials to fix the hospital as a matter of urgency. Then this year, a leaked forensic report revealed that the blaze was an act of arson. But the fire at Charlotte Maxeke is just the latest in a series of controversies bedevilling Gauteng Health. Are these coincidental or is something more sinister at play?