Fed up with the “normalisation and acceptance of corruption”, civic organisation Defend Our Democracy, along with several other representatives, picketed outside the Gauteng provincial legislature last week, focusing specifically on the rot within the health sector.
They brandished placards, some of which read: “Act against corruption”, “United in action against corruption”, and “Justice for Babita Deokaran” (the Gauteng health whistleblower who was assassinated after detecting suspicious invoicing for millions of rands through Tembisa Hospital tenders.
Neeshan Balton of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation told News24 that there was a need “to root it [corruption] out, particularly from the health sector in Gauteng”.
A memorandum was handed over to Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s office, which stated: “We express the concern that many feel about the debilitating public healthcare system, which is under severe strain. It both worries and angers us that our health institutions may be becoming sites of looting, corruption and state capture.
“The crime of stealing from the poor, the ill and the marginalised … to live a lavish lifestyle, is atrocious. It takes a certain kind of depravity to steal money meant for medicine, life support systems, for hospital beds, and for more doctors and nurses to ease the strain on those already overworked in public health facilities.”
Deokaran had tried to stop R100m in “possibly fraudulent” payments, and had flagged other transactions valued at R850m out of Tembisa Hospital. Three weeks before her assassination, she reported the anomalous spending to suspended provincial health department CFO Lerato Madyo and called for a forensic investigation.
The organisation called for an update from the Gauteng government about the SIU investigation into the allegations – Lesufi has said the preliminary SIU report on corruption would be released this week.
Defend our Democracy also asked for other hospitals to be investigated to ascertain the scales of looting: for the government to suspend tenders of any business currently under investigation by the SIU, and for businesses and owners found to be complicit in corruption to be blacklisted.
It also wants public servants guilty of corruption to be fired and to face criminal charges.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Sanco alleges multimillion rand tender fraud at Tembisa Hospital
Tembisa Hospital corruption ‘well-orchestrated’ and ‘meticulously planned’
Tembisa tender ‘big cheese’ linked to Ramaphosa’s family