Johannesburg - The Gauteng Department of Health says it is disciplining Tembisa Provincial Hospital officials based on a forensic investigation report.
The report by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was made public in December last year, following the death of whistle-blower Babita Deokaran, who was fatally shot on August 23, 2021.
The department said employees who were sighted in the report and those who could have been involved in some of the transactions had been placed on precautionary suspension as part of pursuing the disciplinary process.
While at first the law-enforcement agencies put hospital CEO Ashley Mthunzi in the red zone, it has now come to light that the SIU found no evidence linking Mthunzi to corruption or an unfruitful expenditure during the Covid pandemic.
Mthunzi, who was suspended at the break of the scandal, was not yet in the employ of the hospital when its biggest tender was commissioned. It has also come to light that Mthunzi was not the signatory to any tender and, according to the minutes of the meeting now in the possession of the SIU, Mthunzi was not a part of any official tender discussion. Although this clears Mthunzi, the hospital’s suspension of top officials, some of whom worked at the hospital before Mthunzi was even appointed, means that the SIU is drawing closer to the “real culprits”.
According to department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba, it will further consider its options in relation to those that have already terminated their services.
Modiba said of the nine employees sighted in the SIU report, six were suspended as of July 10, 2023, to enable disciplinary proceedings to get under way, and an investigator has since been appointed to further deal with the matter.
Modiba said the Premier’s Office signed a Secondment Agreement with the SIU to investigate the allegations of maladministration, fraud, and corruption related to the Supply Chain Management processes at Tembisa Hospital, as reported by the Deokaran. According to the spokesperson, the Premier’s Office would investigate the matter pertaining to the CEO and the CFO. Among the recommendations made by the SIU was that “based on the findings in respect of the irregularities highlighted as per the payment bundles received, the SIU would recommend that disciplinary action be instituted against all officials responsible for the adjudication of the various quotations received”.
It now seems as though some officials, Mthunzi in particular, were suspended to “simply get them out of the way”. Strangely, the Gauteng Health Department has still not blacklisted a single company for involvement in corruption, including those implicated by the SIU. This was revealed by Health MEC, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, in a written reply to the DA’s questions in the Gauteng legislature.
According to the MEC, there is a Restricted Supplier and Tender Defaulter Report (RSTDR), but none of the implicated companies are on it because the department cannot record companies on the list but reports the companies for blacklisting through the relevant Treasury.
She said: “A Treasury requirement is that only confirmed cases be reported to avoid litigation, and the department awaits final counsel and SIU reports before reporting the companies.”
DA Gauteng spokesperson for health, Jack Bloom, said there were 93 companies listed on the RSTDR, but not a single one had been put there by the Health Department.
This means that these companies may be linked to people at the Health Department and can still get tenders from Gauteng hospitals, and some hospital officials are used as the “fall guys”.
The Star