Questions are mounting as to why the acting head of the Free State Health Department, Godfrey Mahlatsi, has not been held to account for the personal protective equipment (PPE) scandal that rocked the province in 2020 whilst he was still at the provincial Treasury.
In 2020 Mahlatsi was still stationed at the Free State Treasury as the departmental head when the procurement of PPE in the province was centralised to said department. Prospective suppliers were urged to get themselves registered on the department’s Covid-19 database.
As the head of the Finance Department at the time under MEC Gadija Brown, Mahlatsi signed off on the eyebrow raising tender contracts that made national headlines but has not been held liable as the accounting officer for the matter. Instead Mahlatsi was coincidentally moved to the provincial health department in May 2021.
The coincidence here is that the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Finance Department, Monaheng Mokoena, was also moved to Free State Health after he was flagged by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) in their February 2021 report for his alleged role in the awarding of lucrative tenders to individuals allegedly linked to former Free State Premier, and suspended ANC Secretary General, Ace Magashule. These allies included the owner of an unregistered Bloemfontein car wash and chisa nyama; and the organiser of the largest music and cultural festivals in the province.
The Step Up News SA team published a piece confirming Mokoena began working at the provincial health department in March 2021, 1 month after the report was released.
The SIU report Mokoena was implicated in found that there is no evidence Magashule’s affiliates received the lucrative multi-million rand tenders owing to their close relationship with the former Free State Premier. The value of the tenders go up to over R 4 million in one instance. However two of the suppliers, including the chisa nyama were however found to have not been registered with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) as Valued Added Tax (Vat) vendors and it is this that was the companies and Mokoena’s downfall. The SIU says it has reported that matter to Sars.
When probed about the investigation, Mahlatsi told Step Up SA News that: “the matter has been handed over to the tribunal scheduled to sit in August 2021 and we trust that the judgment will be issued. The department has requested the affected official to respond to the findings of the SIU and the SIU will in turn advise”.
The Free State Treasury has declined to comment on the matter, stating that the matter is “still under investigation” by the SIU. The office of the Free State Premier, Sisi Ntombela, has not commented despite media queries being sent.
All this aside the question persists, as the individual who signed off on the contracts, Mahlatsi has not been held liable. He is not facing any charges and was instead shifted to a different department altogether, why?
Meanwhile in June, Mokoena resigned from his position at the health department allegedly due to his tense relationship with Mahlatsi. This is yet to be confirmed by the parties.
According to source from Health, medical professionals were shocked when PEC resolved to centralize PPEs to Treasury: “We were shocked when we were told the PPEs have been centralized to Treasury because Department of Health is the custodian of all Health Protocols. For instance how do you expect Treasury to ensure IPC (Infection, Prevention and Control) protocols are adhered to? You guys are not asking the right questions, last year 21 companies supplied gowns that were not sterilized. Do you know what that means? It means frontline workers who used those gowns could have cross infected others but no one cares about us”.
Another source at Treasury told Step Up SA News there has never been a political will to hold anyone accountable “If you look at Gauteng, Premier Makhura acted swiftly and people were placed on precautionary suspension, even Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane acted but in Free State its business as usual because their fingerprints are all over. This has always been the case with Free State, very indecisive”.
Another source close to the IPC told Step Up SA News IPC is only good in apologies “Show me one thing that the IPC did since the structure was formed? They apologized to Metsimaholo residents and from there nothing. They will not do anything, they are weak, they are very weak. State Capture showed how people lost their jobs at the hands of heartless politians at Human Settlement few years ago while others died due to depression why is the IPC not reinstating those who are alive and continue to be unemployed? They are weak”.
IPC’s Oupa Khoabane did not respond to Step Up SA News Questions.
This is developing story.
when was the questions sent to me? I have never received any questions from Step Up
That’s what FRee State has become for the past 9 wasted years