Report on corruption finally released

DETAILS of a special investigating unit report on corruption within the Gauteng health department that was quietly shelved, have been revealed by civil society organisations keen to expose corruption amounting to about R1.2 billion.

Section 27, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Corruption Watch yesterday made public the 122-page report documenting widespread corruption and gross financial mismanagement within the department from 2006 to 2010.

They are now calling for swift and firm action against former health MEC Brian Hlongwa and other implicated officials, as well as intervention by the Asset Forfeiture Unit and other authorities, who have been asked to respond by June 27.

The original investigation was commissioned by a presidential proclamation in 2010. Back then, Corruption Watch, the TAC and Section 27 regularly asked the Special Investigating Unit for updates on the progress of the investigation, but were met with silence.

The report was eventually presented to then-president Jacob Zuma on March 29 last year. Yet nothing was made public and no action was taken.

Now, more than a year later and following a Promotion of Access to Information Act request, the Presidency has released the report to Section 27, who have made the damning findings public.

David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch, said the delay in releasing the report had been extremely frustrating. “This has abetted the extraordinary impunity enjoyed by major alleged perpetrators, at least one of whom, Brian Hlongwa, the former MEC for Health in the Gauteng government and now the ANC chief whip in the Gauteng provincial legislature, continues to occupy high political office,” Lewis said.

He said much of the misconduct involved the procurement of goods and services by the Gauteng health department, with the deals benefiting companies and government officials through collusion.

At least another 10 other former officials are implicated in financial misconduct, with a few having been lightly disciplined after disciplinary inquiries, while others were allowed to resign and walk away.

“It appears that the Gauteng government failed to refer any of this conduct to the criminal justice authorities, and quite a few people who were implicated were never investigated, so we will also be following that up,” said Kavisha Pillay of Corruption Watch. The TAC and Corruption Watch had this week written to the Johannesburg Director of Public Prosecutions, where criminal matters from the report were referred for further investigation. – ANA-Health-e News