Pretoria - Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko has admitted that Hangwani Morgan Maumela – a relative of President Cyril Ramaphosa – was a beneficiary of multimillion tenders issued illegally at Tembisa Hospital and various other hospitals in the province.
Nkomo-Ralehoko made the shocking revelation in her written reply to questions by the DA’s Gauteng health spokesperson Jack Bloom in the provincial legislature.
In his questions to Nkomo-Ralehoko, Bloom was under the impression that Maumela’s 12 companies only benefited a mere R36 million, but was shocked after she revealed that it scored contracts worth R381m in the last three years from Gauteng public hospitals.
Bloom had asked her about contracts awarded to 12 companies that got R36m from Tembisa Hospital last year, contracts that murdered whistle-blower Babita Deokaran had identified as “possibly fraudulent”, as well as other suspicious payments totalling R850m.
It was reported in the media that these companies were linked to the Maumela family. Hangwani is a director of nine of these companies, while a relative heads the other three.
All the contracts were under R500 000, and were therefore signed off by the Tembisa Hospital CEO instead of going out to tender.
It has now been revealed that the Gauteng Health Department paid a total of R381.4 m to these 12 companies from April 2019 to date.
Of this amount, R356m came from Tembisa Hospital, R22m Mamelodi Hospital and R2.4m from a number of other hospitals.
Bloom said much of this amount was for medical products, but Nkomo-Ralehoko admitted that “none of the listed companies have SA Health Products Regulatory Authority approval for the sale of medical products”, and she blamed “inadequate processes and oversight”.
At various times, some of these companies were not tax-compliant, or were deregistered for a period.
“They do not look like serious companies that provide real products at decent prices.
He said from available information, it appears that seven of Maumela’s nine companies operate from a single unit in a Sandton residential estate.
“It is very suspicious that none of the hundreds of contracts awarded are over the amount of R500 000 which would require a tender process instead of the CEO signing off on them,” Bloom said.
Nkomo-Ralehoko said that “after a number of assessments it was noted that the process followed could not detect split billing and some compliance issues”.
“When I asked what was being done about the irregularities, she said lamely, ‘the department has now improved the internal controls at the Supply Chain Management process in ensuring that there are reviews to identify split-billing and non-compliance through checklists’,” Bloom said.
Maumela has been identified as a central figure in the Tembisa Hospital purchases last year that Deokaran flagged, scoring R36m in contracts in one month alone.
He also has ties to Bejani Chauke, who is Ramaphosa’s principal political adviser. They are neighbours in a plush Hyde Park, Joburg, complex within walking distance of Ramaphosa’s private residence.
“The SIU (Special Investigating Unit) is already investigating the splurge of Tembisa Hospital payments last year, but needs to extend its probe to all payments made to Maumela’s fishy companies.
“Ramaphosa should authorise this by proclamation if he is serious about cleaning up all corruption in the Gauteng Health Department.
“We need to know whether the products supplied were actually delivered and were of good value,” Bloom said.
Bloom added that he suspected that millions of rand, that should have provided decent services to hospital patients, were wasted.
“It is utterly deplorable that the new health MEC is not blacklisting companies that are seemingly non-compliant with legal requirements.
“She admits there were serious irregularities, but doesn’t commit to any sanction against these companies or the errant officials.
“I will be pressing her to do so,” Bloom said.
He said he would be writing to the regulator to investigate whether Maumela’s companies were legally authorised to sell medical products, adding tough action was needed to root out the rot in this department, not weak promises to do better in future.
Pretoria News