Medical fund to remain under curatorship

THE Sizwe Medical Fund remains under curatorship after the Gauteng North High Court ruled that its board was not properly constituted, says the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS).

We are pleased once more that the courts of the land are assisting the regulator to pursue good governance in the medical schemes industry,” says CMS CEO Monwabisi Gantsho.

On Tuesday the court ruled that the board of Sizwe Medical Fund had continued to be improperly constituted and confirmed that the curator, Marshall Ngubekhaya Gobinca, would continue to administer the scheme.

The fund was placed under provisional curatorship in September last year after it emerged that its board of trustees had failed to address allegations of fraud relating to the election of two trustees in December 2010.

Gantsho says the board of the fund had persistently refused to comply with regulatory requirements.

He says all decisions taken by the board since December 2010, including its opposition to the curatorship application of the CMS, had been deemed to be invalid.

Gobinca has been tasked with investigating the alleged irregularities in the governance of the scheme and furnishing the CMS with recommendations as to how to address them within a year.

He is also to ensure that a new board is elected.

The claims-paying ability of the fund remains unaffected by the curatorship. CMS is the regulator of the medical schemes industry.