Cape Town – The parliamentary committee on defence and military veterans has summoned the top medical staff of the South African Military Health Service to appear before it following the alleged irregular procurement of Heberon – a treatment of chronic hepatitis – worth more than R260 million.
Cyril Xaba, the chairperson of the Defence and Military Veterans committee, said his committee was seriously concerned by the lack of planning and disregard for regulatory rules and regulation in the procurement of Heberon ® Alfa R (Heberon), which contains the active ingredient interferon alpha 2b, procured for approximately R260.59 million by the Department of Defence.
As a result, Xaba said the committee has resolved to invite the chief of the South African Military Health Service, Surgeon-General Lieutenant-General Zola Dabula, the chief financial officer, Siphiwe Sokhela, the chief of logistics, Lieutenant-General Jabulani Mbuli, and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) to further understand the reasons behind the procurement of Heberon.
“To say we are shocked is an understatement and we need accountability on how such large consignments could be procured outside of the rules and regulations set out to ensure safety, transparency and good governance and that there was value for money,” Xaba said.
He said the committee received a special audit report on Wednesday on the financial management of Covid-19 funds by the Department of Defence from the auditor-general, which highlighted shortcomings such as non-submission of information that resulted in a number of audit limitations; inadequate planning for the procurement of Heberon, without indication of how the department determined the required quantities; a lack of evidence of prior approval by Sahpra for the importation of Heberon; and no post-importation testing and breach of cold-chain requirements, which resulted in approximately 40% of vials’ integrity being possibly compromised.
Xaba said these revelations are an indictment of the department’s procurement processes and those responsible must be held accountable for the lapse.
Also, he said the committee found it unacceptable that the contract used during procurement did not specify the quantity of Heberon required and was only signed after the first delivery had taken place.
“These discrepancies are the reasons why we must investigate this matter further to get to the bottom of it,” Xaba said.
He said the committee concerns were in the context of ensuring good governance and prudent spending of taxpayers’ resources, especially in a department that perpetually complains about inadequate financial resources.
Despite this, the committee welcomed the findings that there were no discrepancies in relation to the allowances paid to the deployed forces (regular and reserve members), as well as the salaries of reserve force members for the period 1 April to 31 July, 2020.
Political Bureau