Gauteng Health Department defends delay in acting on Tembisa Hospital case

The Gauteng Health Department has defended its delay to act in cases of alleged corruption.

The department has suspended the Tembisa Hospital Chief Executive Officer Ashley Mthunzi.

This after he allegedly signed contracts that went to companies that had no experience in health.

This allegedly happened during a time when the rate of coronavirus infections was high.

Half a million rand was apparently spent on a consignment of skinny jeans for young girls. Mthunzi argued that the skinny jeans were purchased erroneously instead of procuring surgical equipment.

Tembisa Hospital pins ‘skinny jeans’ invoice to a typing error: 

These development’s follow the gunning down of the department’s senior official and whistleblower Babita Deokaran last year.

The Gauteng Premier’s spokesperson Vuyo Mhaga says: ” We needed to make sure that whatever the decision that we take is legally binding and sound. Because you can rush it only to find out you have no case out of technicalities and then you don’t get the results that you need. We believe that we now have grounds to take action, that’s how we are operating.”

“We don’t necessarily shoot from the hip. We must always be guided by the law, so that in the long run, we don’t bungle it up, on the basis that we wanted to rush,” adds Mhaga.