A former Health Department secretary in Mpumalanga was the subject of a Hawks raid last week, during which several luxury cars and a Sandton home allegedly tied to a dodgy R5m personal protective equipment (PPE) contract were seized.
The raid netted a R1.5m house in Sunninghill and a Toyota Quantum, a Hyundai truck, and a VW Golf – worth a combined R1m.
News24 reports that in 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic that sparked a PPE delivery feeding frenzy, the director’s secretary from the Mpumalanga Department of Health, Sanele Sanderson, allegedly colluded with two service providers to fake PPE purchases and deliveries, the supposed suppliers being paid for products that were never delivered.
Investigations by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, or the Hawks, revealed that after receiving the payments, one of the service providers bought a house costing R1 500 000 in Barberton in Mpumalanga.
The property was then registered in the company named Zanderson Establishment, whose sole director was the former secretary’s daughter, Yolanda Sanderson.
The house was later sold for the same amount. Shortly thereafter, the family bought another home in Sunninghill, Johannesburg, which was then registered to a company called SS Umoya under the name of former secretary Sanele Sanderson.
The head of the Mpumalanga police unit, Major-General Nico Gerber, said the Hawks were continuing the investigation, and that benefits derived from proceeds of crime, as was the case in this matter, would be traced, forfeited to the state, and then sold to recoup the financial losses.
The scale of PPE corruption in South Africa during the pandemic was staggering, with the SIU reporting that more than R30bn was spent by state institutions between April and November 2020, with R13.3bn of that under investigation for irregularities.
Investigations covered 1 774 PPE contracts, revealing widespread misconduct across various departments and municipalities.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Mpumalanga Health under investigation by Special Investigating Unit
SIU reveals businessman as ‘critical player’ in R600m PPE tender scandal
Watchdog flags concerns over R20m Limpopo Health tender
Limpopo health chief resigns amid multimillion rand PPE tender probe