Former Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku says he has noted the judgment of the High Court in Pretoria over the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report that led to his dismissal in October last year.
Masuku challenged the findings of the SIU against him, but the court dismissed the application with costs earlier today.
The court found the SIU saw no crime being committed by the former Gauteng Health MEC and that the SIU had no action it could or should take against Dr Masuku.
Masuku was axed in October 2020 after the SIU placed him at the centre of a multi-million-rand tender process of the Gauteng Health Department. The SIU found that Masuku had failed to execute his function in compliance with the constitution and the Public Finance Management Act. The investigating unit said the former MEC had failed in his duty to conduct oversight on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) tenders worth R125 million.
“Dr Masuku further welcomes the conclusion that he is ‘not accused of corruption or nepotism’ and that the so-called ‘findings’ of the SIU are mere opinions that the premier should not have relied upon to make any form of decision against him,” says his legal team in a statement.
Mojalefa Motalane reacts to his client’s failed bid to have SIU report set aside:
The former MEC through his legal team has, however, raised concern that the judgment does not address the matter of executive oversight by executive authorities, which was one of his main contentions.
“Such an oversight by the court does not help to clarify the confusion that exists about the extent and limits of executive oversight. As a result, an opportunity to define a standard and strengthen governance, was terribly missed, especially in the context of the court finding that the PFMA would not have assisted the MEC in stopping any malfeasance,” Masuku’s legal team says.
The legal representatives say they are studying the judgment and an appropriate action will be communicated soon.
In this video below, High Court dismisses Bandile Masuku’s SIU bid with costs:
SIU Spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago, has described the court ruling as a victory for law enforcement.
“We are really given a new lease of life to basically continue investigations that we are doing in Gauteng and all the other provinces. We base everything that we do on integrity and on the evidence before us. We’ve always said our investigations are not against individuals but we work on the basis of evidence and if the evidence leads us to you, we will follow you and get whatever the state has suffered,” explains Kganyago.
