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New CEO of HPCSA charged in R8.7m fraud and corruption case; now suspended

After barely two months at the helm of the Health Professions Council (HPCSA), the new CEO/Registrar, Dr David Motau (54), who formerly headed Free State Health, this week appeared with 13 others in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court in a case that involves charges of fraud, corruption and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act, writes MedicalBrief.

 

BREAKING NEWS – Thursday, 5 August: Acting Health minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has placed Motau on precautionary suspension with immediate effect. She said in a statement: “Dr Motau was appointed HPCSA CEO registrar in June 2021 and his precautionary suspension is necessitated by the seriousness of the allegations and its ramification to ethical dynamics in the health fraternity.”

The HPCSA statement released on Thursday by its Head of Corporate Affairs, Christopher Tsatsawane, reads in full:

The Acting Minister of Health, Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi has placed the HPCSA Registrar/CEO Dr David Motau on precautionary suspension. The decision follows the Department of Health and the HPCSA ‘s receipt of a notice of arrest against Dr Motau.

Dr Motau ‘s arrest relates to his tenure as a Head of Department of Health at the Free State province. The HPCSA has noted the decision of the Acting Minister of the Department of Health. We support organs of state in the execution of their duties”, said Prof Simon Nemutandani, President of the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

Dr Motau has been appointed as the HPCSA Registrar/CEO in June 2021. At the time of his appointment, the HPCSA was not aware of any possible charges which could be pressed against him.

The Health Professions Council of South Africa will provide updates should there be further developments on this matter.

 

Motau, who took over the helm of the HPCSA on 1 June, was arrested over the weekend together with 13 others, reports Volksblad. The charges involve some R8.7m.

Motau and two others have since been released on bail of R5,000 while the other accused were released on bail of R2,000. The case was postponed to 22 September for a high court date.

His co-accused include several government officials working for Free State Health and company directors. The state alleges widespread fraud, falsifying of documents, money laundering and corruption with payments made to the department's service providers between January 2011 and December 2015.

The fourteen accused are each facing fraud, forgery, money laundering, and corruption charges in connection with the submission of falsified invoices to the department by companies between 2011 and 2015 for non-existent services. In total, the face 304 charges, including in relation to alleged contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act.

Hawks spokesperson Captain Christopher Singo said the fraud came to light when the Auditor-General requested supporting documents from the Health Department.

The group is made up of government employees: Motsumi Krisjan Polori (46), Sarah Kenosi Legobate (44), David Motau (54), Sarah Kenosi Legobate(44), Mietje Johns (61), Limakatso Catharine Mabitle (62), Hillary Colleen Kala (56), John Motsemme Chakane (65) and company directors: John Tsietsi Polori (50), Thabo Moeti (39), Mavuso Victor Kwababa (49), Simon Njonga (40), Lebohang Beqezi (37), and Mmalefa Charity Moloi (39). The arrests come nearly two years after the Hawks raided the Provincial Health Department’s headquarters in Bloemfontein.

OFM reports that Free State Health weighed in on the arrest of Motau, its former head.

Free State Health spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, cautioned that “not all the officials in the case were involved in criminal activities and it is important to not fall into a trap of generalisation, which may unduly impact the credibility of the implicated persons”.

Despite making proclamations on the innocence of the current and former officials following their arrest, he says the department “is still being furnished with the charges levelled against each of the implicated officials and only then can they be empowered to clarify the status of each of the officials without meddling with legal processes”.

OFM reports that the department made specific reference to Motau’s case, explaining that “as far as we understand the former departmental head was apprehended for not taking internal disciplinary steps against those who allegedly defrauded the department”. Mvambi says it was Motau who instructed the department’s Chief Finance Officer (CFO) to open a criminal case against the alleged tender fraudsters.

“Motau, however, could not institute disciplinary processes against those involved at the department due to the Hawks having had taken all documentation for their investigation.” Mvambi says despite several requests for the documentation, the directorate did not furnish this to Motau.

Free State Hawks spokesperson, Christopher Singo, has declined to comment on Mvambi’s claims, saying the matter was still with the courts.

At the time of Motau's appointment, the HPCSA wrote in a statement, quoting Professor Simon Nemutandani, the HPCSA President:

“In his previous role as the Head of Department of Free State Department of Health, Dr Motau was a well-respected leader with an exceptional track record. He had achieved substantial strategic and operational progress that we believe will assist the HPCSA in delivering on its mandate.

"Dr Motau has come to the HPCSA at a critical time when the organisation requires a full time Registrar/CEO who will ensure that the HPCSA transitions into becoming a leading regulator. This is also a time when the organisation is evolving its services to online platforms to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency.

Based on his wealth of experience, we are confident that he is qualified to steer the organisation in the desired direction” said Nemutandani.

 

News24 reports that aside from current and former employees of Free State Health department, five businessmen also appeared court in connection with fraud. They were company directors Tsietsi Polori, Thabo Moeti, Mavuso Kwababa, Simon Njonga and Charity Moloi.

They run Tsa Rona Consultancy, Azrago, Land Breeze Trading, Amakholwa Consultancy Training and Zen Communications.

The State alleges that between January 2011 and December 2015 the officials facilitated and approved payments of claims for services that these companies did not render, said NPA spokesperson Phaladi Shuping.

Shuping said the department processed and approved payments to the total amount of R8.7 million in favour of these companies.

The payments were made as follows:

R2 758 978 was paid to Tsa Rona;
Siphilile Investment was paid R125 982;
Azrago received R97 500;
R704 520 was paid into the account of Land Breeze Trading;
Amakholwa Consultancy received R1 508 462; and
Zen Communications got R3 565 868.

 

Ufrieda Ho, writing for Spotlight, says the arrest and charges against Motau are “another blow [to the] already battered image of the Health Professions Council of South Africa”.

Before he was ordered to appear in court, Motau spoke to Spotlight about his plans to reform the HPCSA. On Tuesday, after being charged, he responded to follow-up questions. He maintained that he inherited many of the problems relating to the contracts and tenders, which the state alleges were corrupt deals, when he joined the department.

He was “not aware of the alleged commission of such offences”. Motau also said he is “solely being charged for being in contravention of sections in the Public Finance Management Act” and intends pleading not guilty when he and his co-accused appear in court again on 22 September.

Spokesperson for the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Free State, Phaladi Shuping, said Motau faces 44 counts of contravention of the act and one count of “accepting gratification”.

Motau said he has written to the president of the HPCSA since being charged and the charges “should not follow him to his new role”.

Spotlight notes that theFree State health department was considered one of the country’s worst performing for years. It was placed under administration by the provincial treasury in years largely overlapping with Motau’s time in the key position.

“The department previously told Spotlight it was under administration from 2014 to 2018 – although it was taken out of administration for five days in February 2017, a period in which Motau signed off questionable price increases for a private ambulance company contracted by the department.

“Issues in the province that Spotlight has reported on include the controversial contracts with the ambulance company (currently being investigated by the Special Investigating Unit), the purchase of inferior or inappropriate medical equipment, and the charging of 94 community health workers who held peaceful protests outside the department’s head office, Bophelo House, in Bloemfontein in 2014.”

Spotlight writes further:

Motau also has big plans for the HPCSA, although that future now seems uncertain in light of his court appearance.

Before this week’s events, and before Spotlight was aware of the charges, Motau, in an interview, reflected on his new role at the council.

He called out the “lack of urgency and agility” that has come to define the council’s working culture and which has made it sluggish, clunky and ineffective. It had become so removed from its members and the public that at one point the council simply chose to disable its social media platforms because of all the negative comments it was receiving, Motau added.

Formed in 1974 as a statutory body, the council brings together 12 professional boards. It is meant to protect the public by setting and upholding standards, ethics and a code of conduct for the education, training and registration of practising health professionals. It is also supposed to protect and advocate for its members who have to pay subscriptions to the council to be licensed to work. The HPCSA is funded by these subscriptions. Currently it is described as a going concern and in 2020 collected annual fees of R223,174,168, but its financial statements also reflect growing deficits that more than doubled between 2019 and 2020.

For years the HPCSA has been dogged by poor governance, mismanagement and administrative irregularities. Conflicts of interest keep arising, as do the unsettled issues of possibly unbundling boards from the council, and the need for a clearer delineation of functions between its internal structures.

As far back as the end of 2015, a ministerial task team investigation found senior staff at the HPCSA unfit to hold their positions and highlighted widespread misconduct, irregular expenditure and failure to efficiently manage operations. Drawn-out Special Investigating Unit probes from 2019 finally led to the precautionary suspension, in April 2021, of 16 employees implicated in bribery and corruption in registration processes.

Planning to turn things around

Suspensions are part of the consequence management Motau spoke about as part of how he intends to get the HPCSA’s house in order, while working to improve the relationship with labour – the council’s 265 staff. “It’s your staff who has to implement your strategies and programmes and you can’t do that effectively if you’re standing outside the whole time receiving memorandums,” he said.

Motau said a different relationship means a balance between incentivising and tracking performance and not carrying dead wood in the organisation. “Your staff should feel like there’s a reason why they should get up and come to work each day, but you also have to have signed performance agreements in place for deliverables they must meet. They should feel each day that they have earned their salaries, otherwise they must look in the mirror and ask themselves what they are doing wrong,” he said.

Six weeks into the job, he said he has revived the HPCSA social media platforms – even at the risk of negative comments coming in fast and furious. He said he is working on digitising more of their registration processes and listings to improve the user interface for members and the public.

He had also introduced quarterly staff assessments, hoping to catch problems before they became crises at an annual review. “But if there is a question of clear dereliction of duty and you get to a point where you have to fire someone, then you must not be afraid to do that.”

 

Full Volksblad report: New HPCSA boss charged with fraud (Restricted access)

 

Full OFM report: FS Health weighs in on arrest of former HOD and officials (Open access)

 

Full News 24 report: 12 in court for allegedly defrauding Free State Health (Open access)

 

Full report in Spotlight: Blow to HPCSA as new registrar faces serious charges (Open access)

 

See more from MedicalBrief archives

 

Employees, lawyers in medical negligence scam – Free State MEC

 

HPCSA rapped over 7-year delay in accepting top Swiss surgeon's qualifications

 

AG warns urgent intervention needed to prevent provincial health collapse

 

Free State Health called out by High Court for pursuing unwinnable case

 

Free State Health defies Motsoaledi on ambulance outsourcing

 

 

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