Gauteng government to lay criminal charges over R2bn Tembisa Hospital fraud

CapeTalk and 702's Africa Melane is joined by Elijah Mhlanga, spokesperson for the Gauteng Provincial Government.

Listen below:

The Gauteng Provincial Government say it will press criminal charges against those fingered in the R2 billion fraud exposed at Tembisa Hosptial in Johannesburg.

The SIU released an interim report detailing its investigation into corruption at the facility. 

It revealed that syndicates siphoned R2 billion from Tembisa Hospital through fraudulent tenders.

Mhlanga says the evidence against those involved is damning:

ALSO READ: R2bn extracted from Tembisa Hospital by syndicates exposes the scale of systemic corruption in SA

"The good thing is that they were also able to trace the monies from the department itself onto people's pockets and onto the things they bought - cars, property and all those things."

- Elijah Mhlanga, Spokesperson - Gauteng Provincial Government

"So that tracing is important because it is going to help the law enforcement agencies to use that information as evidence in the court  - so we are going to press criminal charges, others will undergo disciplinary action."

- Elijah Mhlanga, Spokesperson - Gauteng Provincial Government

The probe was prompted by whistleblower Babita Deokaran, who flagged irregular tenders at the hospital in 2021.

Deokaran was assassinated outside her home in Winchester Hills in August of that year.

Melane asks where the shortfalls are in the system that allow fraud on such a scale to take place in one facility.

"The problem is, when people work as a syndicate they make their corruption look normal, because everyone in the system makes the system looks like it has complied."

- Elijah Mhlanga, Spokesperson - Gauteng Provincial Government

"We're still trying to understand how it is that year after year this corruption was not being picked up either through audit or reporting."

- Elijah Mhlanga, Spokesperson - Gauteng Provincial Government

ALSO READ: NPA seizes R325m in assets linked to Tembisa Hospital fraud