Premier claims health scams drain department

Gauteng’s health department was broke and mired in corruption and scams, Premier David Makhura said at the Life Esidimeni hearing on Wednesday.

Senior role players such as former health MEC Qedani Mahlangu have testified that the Life Esidimeni contract was terminated due to lack of money.

But Makhura and his finance MEC, Barbara Creecy, contradicted this, saying there was money for Esidimeni’s services and mental-health patients.

Makhura said that one problem with the department was that corruption “siphoned off” billions of rand.

He said that the Special Investigating Unit was investigating lawyers and doctors who he claimed scammed the department through medicolegal claims. Makhura accused doctors and lawyers of “milking the department”.

But he said that the department served a huge number of people‚ which led to financial shortages. “We know it is overburdened from South Africans and other Africans.”

As role players discussed the health department finances, it emerged that it was under financial strain.

Testifying on Wednesday‚ new Gauteng health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa laid bare the severity of the department’s financial problems.

She said: “The Gauteng department of health is in dire financial straits and is unable to pay suppliers year on year.”

At the end of the 2014 financial year, the department’s unpaid bills came to R1.9bn. In 2016‚ R4bn was owed to suppliers and in 2017‚ altogether R6.877bn was owed to the department’s suppliers.

Ramokgopa testified that there were 68‚000 employees in the health department serving 15-million people in the province. In 1999, there were 62‚000 staff to serve 7.25million people.

In contrast to the new MEC’s dire testimony‚ Creecy said that there was money to pay for mental health and that the department was never instructed to stop core services of helping people.

Creecy said that it was wrong of Mahlangu to end the Life Esidimeni contract as the money was there.

MAKHURA SAID ONE PROBLEM WAS THAT BILLIONS OF RAND WERE SIPHONED OFF BY CORRUPTION