Senior Northern Cape Health Department officials were this week granted bail in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court where they face fraud charges.
Former acting head of the Northern Cape Health Department Dion Theys and his co-accused, the department’s chief financial officer, Mosimanegape Gaborone, and its deputy director of finance, Victor Nyokong, were granted R5 000 bail each.
Serial fraudster Theys was arrested on 24 August and appeared in court that day alongside Gaborone and Nyokong, reports Daily Maverick.
Also in the dock were the department’s director of supply chain management, Montgomery Lifa Faas, director of administration in supply chain management Siyabulela Booi, assistant director of communicable diseases Goitsemodimo Dibueng Moseki, retired deputy director of nursing Elizabeth Dibueng Manyetsa, director of the company MKV Investment, Kenyaditswe McDonald Visser, and director of the company Stilofin, Kelebogile Agnes Bogatso.
Faas, Booi and Bogatso were each granted R50 000 bail, while Moseki and Manyetsa were granted R5 000 bail. However, the state challenged Theys, Gaborone and Nyokong’s bail, remanding them in custody until Monday, when they were then released on bail.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) Northern Cape spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane said the charges are linked to a tender awarded between March and October 2020. They are charged with contravening the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), fraud, corruption and money laundering.
The PPE tender case against Theys and Gaborone was provisionally withdrawn on 8 December 2022.
The matter is now back on the roll and ready for trial after investigation by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation and the Special Investigating Unit, working with the NPA’s Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit and Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU).
Also on Monday, the AFU was granted a preservation order in the Northern Cape High Court against the Stilofin director Bogatso.
Visser from MKV Investments has opposed the AFU’s preservation order related to his R4.4m Kimberley property and R2m Bentley Continental GT V8 convertible, which were bought with the proceeds of the Health Department contract.
The arrest and appearance of Theys came a week after his conviction and sentencing by the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for contravening the PFMA, stemming from three leasing contracts totalling more than R13m.
Theys had concluded three lease agreements with JP Hugo Trading, worth more than R13m, without following proper PFMA prescripts and procurement processes.
That trial began on 29 March 2022 and ended on 16 August 2023. Theys was sentenced to a fine of R150 000 or three years in prison, with R100 000 or two years in prison suspended for five years if he is not found guilty of the same offence during the suspension period.
In March 2022, Theys and Gaborone were suspended after being implicated in fraud and corruption relating to the PPE tender. The Northern Cape Department of Health has been without a permanent head since July 2020.
Theys and his co-accused are due back in court on 16 October.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Ex-Northern Cape Health HoD fined for irregular R13m lease deal
Northern Cape buckling under financial stress and no full-time HoD
Second set of fraud charges but Northern Cape Health official still working