Nine Tembisa Hospital officials who rigged inflated medical supply contracts are still at work; no disciplinary action has been taken against them, according to News24.
The contracts are part of the R1 billion extraction network flagged by Babita Deokaran, chief director of financial accounting at the Gauteng health department. Deokaran was assassinated after blowing the whistle; she was shot 12 times on 23 August 2022.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) identified the officials who rubber-stamped purchase agreements. The nine officials are D Nobugwana (Admin Clerk), L Mojela (DD Supply chain), V Chako (Physiotherapist), MA Maphumulo (Chief Physiotherapist), NL Kobe (Financial Clerk), DE Monnagotla (Asst. Manager Nursing), P Mtuze (Financial Clerk), V Mtwezi (Food Service Manager) and Dr Radulescu (Medical Officer). These names were revealed by Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko in the provincial legislature in response to questions by DA’s Shadow MEC Jack Bloom.
The SIU recommended the nine officials face disciplinary action, but they remain in their posts. Deokaran identified 217 companies which were investigated by the SIU, but have not been blacklisted by the Gauteng Department of Health. Deokaran flagged more than 1,200.
Over half were syndicates, some linked to powerful figures in the ANC. Nearly 60 used proxy directors and fake addresses, and they account for nearly R440 million.
Nkomo-Ralehoko told the legislature that the process to discipline the nine was still ‘being initiated’.
‘The lack of action is utterly deplorable’, Bloom said. ‘How can they still be at their jobs earning salaries when the evidence against them is readily available in the SIU report made public in December last year?’
Professor Alex van den Heever, chair of Social Security Systems Administration and Management Studies at Wits University, said the slow pace of disciplinary action of ‘such importance to the integrity of the public health system’ was baffling.