Coega tenders health official fired

Health department infrastructure boss Mlamli Tuswa, who was at the centre of a Coega tender row, has been fired.

Health department superintendent-general Dr Thobile Mbengashe said Tuswa had been served with a letter of dismissal on Wednesday.

“The chairperson [advocate Amon Nyondo] made his findings and made a judgment for his dismissal,” Mbengashe said.

“The department regrets the fact that a senior member . . . was found to have failed his duty and to have contravened the [Public Finance Management Act] and Public Services code of conduct.”

Tuswa was found guilty on four of the five charges levelled against him by the provincial health department’s disciplinary committee in December.

Tuswa, who maintains his innocence, said he would be taking the matter on review.

“I am prepared to fight until justice is done,” he said.

Tuswa was found guilty of soliciting a bribe, arranging a R30,000 salary for a friend in exchange for lucrative Coega tenders and paying a Port Elizabeth firm exorbitant rates to change light bulbs at health facilities in the Eastern Cape.

He was found not guilty on a charge of failing to maintain health facilities in the province.

Tuswa is alleged to be the man behind a corruption linkage between the Coega Development Corporation and the department.

The corporation was hired by the department as an implementing agent, but relations between Coega and health department bosses soured after allegations of bullying, bribery and corruption surfaced.

Tuswa was found guilty on the first charge by Nyondo for soliciting a bribe from Shephard Mzinyathi, whose company, Shepcon Group, did work for the department through Coega in 2014.

On the second charge, Tuswa was found guilty of securing a R30,000-a-month job and a vehicle for Mkhuseli Msila through another company, Zamazondo Construction, owned by Nkoliso Flatela.

But Tuswa said not a shred of evidence had been tabled during the disciplinary hearing by any of the witnesses to support the charges against him.

“If there is such evidence please publish it,” he said.

“On record, Flatela submitted that Msila was employed by him as general manager who assisted his company with finance, project management and HR.

“But no monthly R30,000 payment was tabled before the hearing,” Tuswa said.

“Instead, a R32,000 payment was made to Msila as a salary over a six-month period.”

For the fourth and fifth charges, a forensics investigation found numerous irregularities in the financial management of Tuswa’s unit.

A sample of 10 payment batches were found to have not complied with the Public Finance Management Act, while other invoices failed to detail the work carried out.

“The invoices were signed by a professional engineer.

“Secondly, the contractor came through an open tender process handled by supply chain and not [myself], as the report concludes,” Tuswa said.

He said a senior official had explained to the committee how payments worked within the department.

“Her evidence was deliberately ignored in respect of the value-for-money issues. Why was this the case?”

Tuswa said his own evidence and the cross-examination of witnesses were also simply ignored.

“In my considered opinion, the report is nothing more than a sub-standard, lazy summation of what the so-called witnesses were saying in the form of hearsay.

“My honest view is that the chairperson has misdirected himself on this matter.”

Nyondo, who chaired the committee, declined to comment.