Disgraced Tembisa Hospital boss, the late Ashley Mthunzi, was appointed despite critical red flags on his own declaration form.
Mthunzi became a key actor in a R1-billion contract extraction scheme first exposed by Babita Deokaran, signing tainted medical supply contracts with grossly inflated prices and based on forged documents.
Deeply entrenched networks of shell corporations had existed prior to his appointment but had flourished under him.
Deokaran was assassinated three weeks after reporting her concerns. The payments under the scheme were released after her death, and no investigation was conducted.
On Sunday the Public Protector revealed that officials, including the acting head of department (HOD), Arnold Malotana, ignored “material discrepancies”.
Mthunzi had declared, falsely, that he was not a South African citizen. He also declared, correctly, that he faced a misconduct investigation from his previous job.
He was never questioned about these claims, and no background checks were conducted.
Mthunzi died in April 2024 while undergoing a disciplinary inquiry for 13 charges of misconduct.
The damning findings of the Public Protector revealed the way in which senior managers are appointed, with a clear gap in due diligence in the assessment of prospective employees.
The complaint to the Public Protector was filed by the DA’s Jack Bloom in 2022. The Gauteng leadership had denied that Mthunzi was appointed at Tembisa while facing disciplinary action at his previous position as the head of the Pholosong Hospital.
Mthunzi was appointed as acting Tembisa Hospital CEO on 22 April 2021, and was made permanent on 1 July 2021. The Public Protector rejected the health department’s claims that they could not conduct screening due to the of the absence of a service provider during Covid-19. It said that verification of his claims could have been confirmed by his current employer, which was the same department.