This was not my first time visiting Tembisa Hospital in the East Rand and it was definitely not the first public hospital I’ve set foot in.
I first visited the hospital in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic when I covered an on a site inspection of the hospital with Parliament.
What I saw then was not unusual in South Africa’s public health system: overcrowding, shortages of medication, and outdated or broken equipment.
Tembisa Hospital was not unique in its struggles. Many public hospitals across the country are struggling and falling apart.
What we didn’t know what the time that there was orchestrated syndicates working with officials in the hospital to extract whatever cash they can.
A short while after I visited my routine report on Tembisa hospital that barely raised any flags, there was reports of the murder of Babita Deokaran, a senior Gauteng Health Department official and whistleblower.
That’s when I became particularly interested in Tembisa Hospital.
We came to know after her death that Babita had raised the alarm about irregular spending and dodgy tenders at the hospital.
Through the hard work of my journalism colleagues we found out that 12 days before Babita was murdered in 2021 she wrote this message to her boss: “Morning CFO I am just worried that the guys in Tembisa are going to realise we are not releasing their payments and know that we on to something. Our lives could be in danger.”
She was in fact murdered for blowing the lid on an extraction syndicate that overcharged the hospital through a series of negligible payments.
Now, four years later- the picture is clear.
The Special Investigating Unit released its first report into allegations of corruption at the Tembiss hospital and it confirmed what Babita risked her life to expose.
R2 billion was siphoned from Tembisa Hospital.
Money meant for medicine, beds, and patient care was instead used to fund supercars, mansions, and extravagant lifestyles.
After watching the jaw-dropping press conference of the SIU that detailed how three cartels with the help of 15 hospital staff pillaged the hospital, I decided to go to the crime scene.
Walking through the hospital today, the scars of corruption and neglect are everywhere.
The façade still shows blackened marks of the arson attacks earlier this year that forced the closure of its Accident and Emergency department.
Yes, there have been some upgrades in the last year but step further inside and it feels as if you’ve been transported back to the apartheid era.
The Theatre Department is separated from the main building, so patients are wheeled through open air between wards. I can’t imagine what this must feel like during Winter.
Peeking through the windows, you see outdated equipment, some rusting with age.
The long queues, which is so familiar across South Africa’s public health facilities, snake down corridors here too.
Many patients told me how they spend the entire day waiting for care.
This “small” hospital has just 846 beds which is barely enough for the community its meant to service.
Some say the R2billion looted through corrupt procurement, fraudulent purchase orders and plain theft could fund the hospital’s running cost for a year.
There’s no doubt it could have fixed the shattered windows of the derelict hospital.
As I watched frustrated sick people waiting for care, I kept thinking of how brazen these politically connected cartels were in their unfettered corruption from 2018 until 2023.
The SIU’s investigation has unravelled a vast web of syndicates.
Shell companies were set up, officials inside the hospital were recruited, and tenders were manipulated to ensure the money kept flowing out of Tembisa and into private bank accounts.
As SIU head Advocate Andy Mothibi explained:
“An analysis of 2 207 procurement bundles has revealed serious maladministration and procurement fraud. Key officials from the Gauteng department of health and Tembisa Hospital are accused of benefitting from corrupt payments that facilitated the irregular appointment of service providers, involving money laundering and fraud through fronting and the use of false Supply Chain Management documentation.”
Hangwani Maumela- the relative of President Cyril Ramaphosa through marriage- was at the centre of one of the three cartels and he benefited to the tune of more than R800 million.
This helped finance an absence lifestyle which included half a billion rand worth of assets including:
* Property in Bantry Bay, Cape Town, Western Cape
* Property Hartbeestpoort, North West
* Two properties in Sandton, Gauteng
* Property in Zimbali Estate, Ballito, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
* Two Twin Towers property, Cape Town, Western Cape
Motor Vehicles
* Lamborghini Urus Aventador SVJ
* Lamborghini Huracan STO
* Lamborghini Aventador Ultimate Coupe,
* Lamborghini Urus
* Bentley Continental GT V8
* Isuzu D Max
* A multipurpose trailer Badger Fibreglass CC
* Regency 250 LE boat
The reaction from patients was heartbreaking.
Many told me they have become so used to long waits and limited access to healthcare that when they finally do get help, even the most basic care, they feel grateful.
That’s the reality: lowered expectations in a broken system, while others got rich off their suffering.
You can see the consequences of corruption in Tembisa. People died because of neglect. Whistleblowers were silenced and corruption continues to rob ordinary people of dignity and care.
The SIU report simply stands as a fact finding report. There must be expedited criminal investigations and speedy trials.
These cartels have blood on their hands and must be dealt with as such.
