Johannesburg - SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said in October 2022, the SIU obtained a preservation order from the Special Tribunal to freeze the former head of the Limpopo health department Dr Thokozani Mhlongo’s pension benefits and interdicted the Government Employees Pension Fund from paying out or transferring any benefits due to Mhlongo.
This is after Mhlongo allegedly unsuccessfully approached the Special Tribunal to reconsider the order.
“The SIU applied for preservation orders early in its investigations when it uncovered prima facie evidence against officials until it was proved otherwise. This makes it easier for the SIU to recover financial losses suffered by the State when the need arises.
“The SIU approached the Special Tribunal to freeze the pension benefits of Dr Mhlongo after she resigned with immediate effect in June 2022, in the face of a disciplinary hearing that emanated from SIU investigations into the affairs of the department relating to the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Kganyago said.
Kganyago added that the SIU approached the Special Tribunal to freeze the pension benefits of Mhlongo after she resigned with immediate effect in June 2022 instead of a disciplinary hearing.
He said the SIU investigations also uncovered irregularities in the appointment of service providers Clinipro Pty Ltd, Pro Secure Pty Ltd and Ndia Business Trading (Pty) Ltd for the supply and delivery of PPE items, which resulted in the department incurring irregular expenditure and/or a fruitless and wasteful expenditure of approximately R182 million.
“Furthermore, the SIU investigation revealed that Dr Mhlongo, as the accounting officer, allegedly exposed the department to wasteful expenditure when she authorised the procurement and payment for 10 000 cellphones to the value of R10m for Covid-19 household screening.
“The department could only manage to distribute 388 of the 10000 cellphones between September 2020 and March 2021, and the cellphones were distributed without the required screening application, an SIU investigation revealed. After the physical counting of cellphones in storage by SIU investigators in March 2021, the department distributed 9588 cellphones to community health workers for Covid-19 vaccination without the required application installed.”
The Star