Alterations to the Mmabatho Nursing College lie at the center of the suspensions which were made in late April and early May.

The first batch of suspensions the department, led by MEC Madoda Sambatha, reveals two of its directors spearheading Infrastructure Planning and Delivery respectively, stand accused of hiking the price of the modifications to the college which began in November 2015.

According to the department the alleged culprits made use of the contract price adjustment clause in the contract between the parties, to pay the contractor close to R11 million in additional funds. According to the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) the contract price adjustment clause aims “to establish tender prices at the date of the tender based on known cost and to deal with the subsequent cost escalation risk separation”. In other words, the clause accommodates escalating cost prices.

The latest suspensions, which were made last week, are that of the department’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Director responsible for Supply Chain Management. It’s alleged they inflated the price of a security tender.

The department says this is evidenced in the difference in the service price listed in the provider’s appointment letter, versus  the price contained in the successful service provider’s initial bid. The department does not state how much the difference in the price is, but stresses that it has “caused the department serious financial losses”. The provincial health department says the suspensions mark the beginning of their investigation into the matter.

This isn’t the first time that senior provincial health department officials have been accused of corruption. On 13 January the embattled head of the health department, Thabo Lekalakala, was officially axed from the position after he was found guilty in disciplinary proceedings instituted in 2018, on numerous charges pertaining to gross misconduct.

Lekalakala spearheaded the provincial health department’s controversial deal with Gupta-linked medical supplies company, Mediosa. The Indian company pocketed R30 million as a down payment for a single mobile clinic in this deal. The company later received a second payment of R180 million. The former health HOD is reported to have gone on an all-expenses-paid overseas trip with his wife and another couple, mere days after the department made the controversial payment.

In a joint sitting of the Health and Social Development Portfolio Committees, as well as the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) in February 2018, probing the deal, it was revealed then-Premier Supra Mahumapelo and Health MEC Magome Masike authorised the trip which was not funded by the government.

 Sambatha has alleged Lekalakala admitted to misleading Masike and Mahumapelo regarding the trip. The former health head was suspended in April 2018, pending further investigation. While the arbitration court overturned the prolonged suspension in November 2018, employees at the provincial office prevented him from returning to work, staging protests outside the provincial health department headquarters. He and MP Wendy Nelson are also facing separate fraud charges in relation to Lekalakala’s 2014 appointment to the head of department position, while Nelson was Finance MEC in the province.

OFM News