The estate of Tembisa Hospital CEO Ashley Mthunzi, who died while on suspension during a disciplinary hearing into a R1 billion extraction scheme, will continue to benefit from his employment, according to News24.
Mthunzi died ten days ago while in service, so his estate is entitled to payments from his Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).
Mthunzi was paid R2.5 million in salary while on suspension. Gauteng Health CFO Lerato Madyo has received nearly R3 million in salary payments while on suspension.
Both were implicated in the extraction scheme exposed by Babita Deokaran, just weeks before her assassination in 2021.
Over 1,000 payments (including 13 orders approved by Mthunzi and Madyo) were flagged by Deokaran in a report as ‘possibly fraudulent’. Deokaran filed the report with Madyo and then moved to stop more than R100 million in payments due to suppliers. Deokaran was murdered 19 days later.
Mthunzi and Madyo 13 misconduct charges related to their endorsing of medical supply contracts with grossly inflated prices, and overlooking a litany of discrepancies, including forged documents.
Within days of Mthunzi’s suspension, the Tembisa Hospital Institutional Labour Caucus (Caucus) released a statement calling Mthunzi’s suspension unlawful, desperate and irrational.
The union issued a veiled threat to the health department that, if it did not ‘engage’, it would risk ‘labour peace, and also, to ensure the hospital continues to run smoothly’.
Shortly after, however, all the unions in the Caucus distanced themselves from the statement, except the Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union. Mthunzi’s wife, Lerato, is the union’s founder and general secretary.
The DA’s Shadow MEC of Health, Jack Bloom, said there had been a deliberate delay in concluding the disciplinary cases ‘as they would implicate senior ANC officials.’
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