GAUTENG HEALTH OFFICIALS TO BE PROSECUTED FOR CORRUPTION

I welcome the disclosure by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi in a parliamentary reply that the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has been instructed to prosecute officials in the Gauteng Health Department who have been implicated in wrongful activities by a forensic report, and that recovery of assets will also be pursued (reply is attached below).

National Treasury commissioned this report by Gobodo Forensic and Investigative Accounting in August last year because the Department was grossly overspending its Goods and Services budget, failed to address concerns by the Auditor-General, was spending R1 billion on consultants, and "many contracts allowed for payment to consultants before services were actually delivered and in some cases, contracts were awarded and payments were made without any subsequent completion of projects."

In one case, "over R200 million was paid for a Health Information System (HIS) and a ‘Smart-Card' system that never materialized."

The findings were that:

(i) the Department did not follow proper procurement processes for a number of significant contracts;

(ii) deviations from the procurement processes were not reported to the Gauteng Treasury as required by the Treasury Regulations;

(iii) there is prima facie evidence that procedures were bypassed to favour certain contractors and sub contractors;

(iv) the Department's Assets Register was incomplete and it was unable to account for assets totalling R61.6 million; 

(v) the Department did not adequately attend to the problems identified by the Auditor-General in prior years; and

(vi) the Department's strategic plan for 2009 to 2010 was incomplete to the extent that it omitted key information required in terms of the Treasury Regulations.

According to Motsoaledi, the report recommends disciplinary action against officials implicated in wrongful actions.

My view is that there also needs to be political accountability in this matter, and the role played by formed Health MEC Brian Hlongwa needs to be thoroughly probed. How could officials have been allowed to get away with so much that damaged the ability of the department to serve the health needs of people in Gauteng?

It's an awful mess that needs to be unravelled

We need to know who benefited financially from this, and all the rot needs to be exposed no matter how politically painful it may be for the ANC.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom, MPL, DA Gauteng Health Spokesman, April 19 2010

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