One of the last suspicious deals murdered Gauteng Health whistle-blower Babita Deokaran red-flagged before her death was R36m in Tembisa Hospital payments bound for companies linked to Hangwani Morgan Maumela, a high-flying property mogul, whose family network includes a dozen firms among the hundreds in the R850m hospital buying spree she had reported to her bosses.
Although Deokaran raised fears that stopping payments could place her life in danger and was reassured that someone would look into the suspicious transactions, no one did, and she was assassinated three weeks later.
Instead of the forensic audit she had pleaded for, the department carried out a randomised compliance audit of all hospitals in the province, scrutinising only a dozen of the 217 companies she had flagged, and found a marked departure from supply chain management prescripts.
No action has been taken against officials, and auditors were withdrawn from the hospital on the day of her assassination. Hospital boss Ashley Mthunzi and department CFO Lerato Madyo were suspended last month.
Sources inside the Health Department described Maumela as “the don” of Tembisa Hospital, with huge influence with management and direct access to its procurement office. At one stage he operated 14 entities, including a security firm and another that appears to provide live entertainment. Nine were simultaneously trading with the hospital.
A News24 investigation has found that the hospital provided a steady source of cash for the 39-year-old, with R35 965 699 in payments destined for his companies in a single month. Records indicate that he supplied medical equipment to the hospital as far back as 2018.
In that time, a family trust – controlled in part by Maumela – snapped up properties in Bantry Bay, Camps Bay, Sandton and Hartbeespoort worth R150m in four years. One is a palatial home set against the hillside in Bantry Bay’s Victoria Road worth R75m.
The payments to the Maumela network – as well as those channelled to a web of shell corporations existing only on paper – will be at the centre of a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe which began last month.
An analysis of purchasing patterns and records obtained by News24 indicates that a scheme to corrupt the procurement system was well entrenched, and the extraction of cash from Tembisa Hospital was enabled or ignored by the uppermost echelons of the Gauteng Department of Health.
Prime real estate
The MHR Maumela Family Trust was established in 2016 and, within two years, acquired a R32m Camps Bay property, Maumela being one of three beneficiaries of this trust. Another is a R13.5-m home in the Pecanwood Estate Golf and Country Club in Hartbeespoort, and in March 2021, he acquired a R13m home in Hurlingham. Three months ago, the trust spent R16m on a stand in Oxford Avenue, Sandton.
In the space of four years, the trust amassed an impressive property portfolio, and while it is unclear whether the trust has other revenue streams, Maumela and a relative – through 12 companies – tapped into a rich cash vein at Tembisa Hospital.
Of the 217 companies Deokaran identified before her death as "possibly fraudulent", 12 link to the Maumela family. In one payment proposal the whistle-blower examined, they were due payments of R36m.
Hangwani Maumela is a director of nine companies, while a relative is at the helm of three firms.
News24 identified six separate transactions to companies in Maumela’s control worth R3m, all valued at between R491 000 and R497 000. Seven of his nine firms trading with Tembisa Hospital operate from a Sandton residential estate. While the entities appear separate and independent, most share the same post office box number.
When Deokaran began investigating massive spending out of the hospital, she listed 1 203 purchase orders processed by Tembisa Hospital in four months, all valued at under R500 000. Goods or services above that threshold require a public tender process. Below that mark, the hospital’s CEO can sign off.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Hospitals’ audit unrelated to Deokaran’s report: Health Department
Gauteng health boss ignored Deokaran’s plea for probe, claims acting HoD
Uncovering the 200 suspicious Tembisa Hospital contracts flagged by Deokaran