News reaching Step Up SA News is that Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela has permanently moved former Treasury HOD, Godfrey Mahlatsi to the Health Department.
Mahlatsi was moved to Health on acting basis in May following Dr David Motau’s resignation.
This publication is in possession of a letter, which was signed off by Premier Ntombela on the 31st of August 2021. The letter shows that Mahlatsi agreed to the transfer.
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 the said department.
Prospective suppliers were urged to get themselves registered on the department’s Covid-19 database.
As head of the Finance Department at the time under MEC Gadija Brown, Mahlatsi signed off 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.
In February 2021 the SIU reported there was no evidence in awarding of lucrative tenders to individuals allegedly linked to former Free State Premier, and suspended ANC Secretary-General, Ace Magashule as alleged.
These allies included the owner of an unregistered Bloemfontein car wash and chisa nyama as well as the organiser of the largest music and cultural festivals in the province.
Interestingly, the Department of Health had a vaccination awareness campaign on the 21st of August 2021, Mahlatsi was accompanied by MEC Montsheng Tsiu and other Health officials at the same car wash that was fingered in the SIU report while Mahlatsi was at Treasury.
When probed about the investigation in July, Mahlatsi told Step Up SA News: “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 Special Tribunal, which sat on the 25th of August 2021, heard an application by the plaintiff (SIU) seeking to recover R39.1m for unsterilized surgical gowns.
Adv Thandi Norman for SIU argued.
“When the quotation meetings happened there were no certificates. No certificates were filed on time and as such were not in compliance with acceptable standards.
A bid that is acceptable is a bid that meets all the requirements. These one do not.”
She continued “The collapse of the procurement policies is also questionable. The SIU is complaining that had it not been the collapse thereof irregularities could have been prevented and that the committees are an important component of the process of procurement.”
This is supported by Nicolaas Hendrik Nepgen in his founding affidavit in which this publication has that Treasury’s Chief Director Assets and Liability Management Tshepo Mabilo received complaints from Department of Health Medical Depot regarding the quality of delivered surgical gowns procured under SCMQ 11/2020: COVID-19. Upon investigation, Mabilo found only three out of 32 service providers supplied the correct surgical gowns as per technical specifications contained in SCMQ 11/2020: COVID-19.
Following the complaints the SIU team under Chief Forensic Investigator Nepgen and his colleague Paul Loeka received documents from Mabilo and among those it was a report drafted by Ms L. Riddles titled “Report on the Validation Process Conducted on Surgical (SCMQ 11/2020: COVID-19”
In the report from Riddles to the Treasury’s bid committee among others she denounced the technical specifications and quality of the gowns and she reported Health complaining that “some of the stock delivered were unidentifiable and the contents of the items are not in accordance of specifications”. She further reported that the boxes were written surgical sterile gowns, but they found non-sterile isolation surgical gowns inside the boxes.
This was not in compliance with technical specifications in SCMQ 11/2020: COVID-19.
It was also reported that the 24th and 25th respondents responded and the 16th responded as having delivered the correct surgical gowns though that was still subject to verification by the SIU.
The final report “Request for Aprroval of Surgical Gowns(SCMQ 11/2020: COVID-19 was drafted by Mr Mahatsi for the attention of HOD of Health Dr Motau on 29 September 2020.
In that report Mr Mahlatsi stated “the items outside the boxes “surgical sterilise gowns” but what was in the boxes was discovered as non-sterile/isolation gowns”.
He requested that the non-compliant gowns be accepted by Dr Motau.
According to our source at health, Dr Motau refused to accept non-sterile gowns.
A reliable source at Health who spoke on condition of anonymity said the only thing Mahlatsi did since he was moved to Health in May is to block employment.
“Well, he blocked recruitment because the department was hiring left right and centre. But imagine if he paid the same attention or at least half to PPEs while he was at Treasury?” the source asked.
Judge Lebogang Modiba reserved judgement in the SIU matter and we will afford all parties involved another right of reply as they all hide behind “this matter is with SIU”.
This is a developing story.
More Stories
Dukwana comes out of hibernation while Premier serves HOD with audi alteram partem
The trip that cost Free State Education millions
Magashule nemises tipped for a top position at Free State Sport, Arts, Culture, and Recreation