Health department’s new interim head ‘won’t apply for post’
Three scathing reports on her performance in the same job in KZN
It’s official: Dr Sibongile Zungu, seconded to the province in July by health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize to assist in the fight against the coronavirus, has been unveiled as the health department’s acting head of administration.
The interim appointment comes amid recent revelations that Zungu was being investigated by the Hawks over allegations she contravened the Public Finance Management Act while she was KwaZuluNatal’s health administration boss between 2009 and 2014.
Zungu, who now heads the provincial Covid-19 project management unit, will on October 1 take over from outgoing superintendent-general Dr Thobile Mbengashe, who will assume a new role as adviser to premier Oscar Mabuyane.
Zungu’s three month appointment as acting SG was announced on Tuesday by health MEC Sindiswa Gomba.
Gomba said Zungu, a clinical adviser to Mkhize since 2019, would assume the SG position until December as Mabuyane is expected to have made a permanent five-year appointment to the lucrative position by then.
Though the Hawks confirmed the investigation, it is not clear what the alleged contravention is related to.
However, a public protector report released earlier this year slammed her and her former colleagues in KwaZulu-Natal for their roles in the “procurement of four mobile health units leased by the department between 2012 and 2017 at a grossly inflated price of R61m”, according to a Daily Maverick report.
Zungu also received a scathing review in a 2014 Ndaki report, a probe headed by Professor Fikile Ndaki to investigate allegations of mismanagement, corruption and nepotism, made by the union Nehawu against Zungu.
The union accused her of spending R310,000 on cellphone calls and data while abroad in 2013, which she said at the time was as a result of roaming network charges.
The Ndaki report has never been made public, but it was on the strength of its findings that the then KwaZulu-Natal premier, Senzo Mchunu, decided he would not renew Zungu’s contract, according to the Daily Maverick.
Gomba said the provincial government was unaware on any controversy or pending investigations against Zungu “as no one had informed us of such”.
“We understand that she has not been charged for anything. She has been in the province since July, and no one ever came forward then to say there were issues around her, but when this acting appointment comes, then there is a lot of noise.”
She added: “She has indicated that she is not even interested in applying for the position, but is only assisting us until we find someone to take over.”
Gomba said Mbengashe’s post has already been advertised and a selection panel established, and that they were hoping the process of finding a new SG would be completed “in a short time”.