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HOD dismissed due to Gupta contracts

───   14:06 Fri, 17 Jan 2020

HOD dismissed due to Gupta contracts | News Article

The controversial multi-million rand contracts between the Gupta-linked company and the North West and Free State governments respectively, are some of the reasons for the dismissal of the Health HOD, Thabo Lekalakala.


He was dismissed for the second time after being found guilty on five internal charges, including fake information on his CV and the contract between his department and Mediosa.

OFM News previously reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the Special Investigating Unit the go-ahead to investigate lucrative contracts in the Free State and the North West Health Departments. The NW department paid R30 million rand upfront to the company Mediosa. An investigation into the contracts showed that the Free State also paid R10 million upfront.

Mediosa Health Director, Inish Merchan, admitted to receiving the R30 million in advance from the government to start the business. He added that the money was for tax and equipment, amongst other expenses.

The minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, in 2018 called for the dismissal of Lekalakala and the termination of the Mediosa contracts. He said that Mediosa is using the government as an ATM machine. However, the then premier of the North West, Supra Mahumapelo, said those utterances by Motsoaledi were wrong. He said the interim report he received from the department about the contract with Mediosa had no Guptas names. Mahumapelo added that the people who told the minister that Mediosa belonged to the Guptas had misled him.

Meanwhile, Lekalakala, his wife and a friend were alleged to have received a five-star holiday trip to India by the Guptas after the contract was signed. Mediosa went into liquidation and its mobile clinics, mobile X-Ray equipment, and ambulances were auctioned after not paying salaries to its employees, owing companies and individuals large amounts of money in the same year.


OFM News/Marvin Ntsane

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