Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) president Simon Nemutandani, who already faces a disciplinary hearing for another matter, has been accused of spending more than R122 000 on the statutory body’s credit card between January 2022 and March 2023, with R21 000 of it being doled out at restaurants and on takeaways.
Featuring prominently on the credit card were charges for seafood, while nearly R7 000 was spent at Ocean Basket during the same period: R3 999 was racked up at a hardware store and almost R11 00 on Uber costs.
The lavish spending had been flagged by Nehawu, which claimed the bulk of the expenses could not be verified as work-related, report News24.
Senior HPCSA management sources said there was no register of meetings held by Nemutandani in restaurants and hotels to justify the expenses at those establishments or the steep e-hailing bill.
“And what could one possibly buy from a hardware store that could benefit the HPCSA? There was also an R823 transaction at Clicks. Our meetings are mostly virtual, so how to explain the amount spent on Uber rides, restaurants and hotels?”
The independent body is funded mainly by annual and registration fees it receives from registered practitioners representing the 12 professional boards under its jurisdiction, its mandate being to guide the professions and ensure practitioners uphold and maintain professional and ethical standards.
Another source said: “The other key task … is to discipline unethical practitioners – and we do discipline them, without fear or favour. However, we’re seemingly tolerating unethical behaviour among ourselves.”
A meeting of the professional boards, of which Nemutandani was a member, had been scheduled for 20 June and one of the agendas was the alleged HPCSA credit card misuse.
“Nemutandani will be asked to recuse himself when that item comes up for discussion, but …nothing will come of it,” the source added.
Nehawu, which reported the matter to the council for investigation in March last year, said that the last update it had received was four months later, in July.
In a letter dated 6 July 2023, addressed to the union’s HPCSA branch chairperson Nkhensane Ditshego, HPCSA registrar Magome Masike promised to investigate the credit card issue.
He wrote that the council, at a meeting on 30 June 2023, had resolved that “the registrar be tasked with the investigation of circumstances around the use of the HPCSA credit card by [Nemutandani] and thereafter table a comprehensive report to the council at its next meeting…”
Nemutandani referred questions to Masike, who confirmed receiving the letter, but did not answer direct questions on the progress of the investigation.
In May, City Press revealed that a forensic investigation had found Nemutandani had irregularly claimed and received R910 550 for attending board and subcommittee meetings, despite clear directives from the Minister of Health and National Treasury that as a state employee, he was not entitled to such fees.
He is currently facing a disciplinary hearing, as recommended by the forensic report, but has allegedly refused to cooperate with the investigation and has challenged the HPCSA’s jurisdiction to discipline him.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
HPCSA boss challenges disciplinary process
HPCSA head fights Wits dismissal
HPCSA’s new president ponders the poisoned chalice