Staff Reporter
The Free State Department of Health says its former head Dr David Motau, who appeared in court on Monday facing several criminal charges together with current and other ex-officials as well as some service providers, was never supposed to be charged because he is the one who raised alarm when the impropriety was initially discovered.
Provincial health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi told The Free Stater that the former head of department has been wrongly implicated in the matter because he is the one who instructed the department to lay criminal charges against employees who were found on the wrong side of the law.
“He has been wrongly implicated,” he said.
Mvambi said Motau, 54, is being charged with inability to discipline people in terms of the Public Finance Management Act.
“We are putting things into context, that’s the only thing we are doing,” the spokesperson said, referring to an earlier statement issued by the health department.
Mvambi claimed the police priority crime investigating unit, the Hawks, had treated Motau unfairly by taking an important document that was supposed to be used for the disciplinary hearings of the implicated staff and never returning it.
“They (the Hawks) took the document that he would have used to discipline people . . . because you can’t just discipline people based on no facts. You have got to sit with the documents,” he said.
“They are not giving it back. You write to them as a department and they don’t even reply.
“And at their own discretion, they come back and arrest you saying you have not done what you were supposed to do, yet they disabled you from doing so.”
In the statement, the department said it found it unfair that Motau had been dragged to court for failing to take disciplinary steps against those who allegedly defrauded the department.
It said the HOD actually instructed the chief financial officer to open a case, which was done at the time.
“At some stage of investigations, the Hawks then took all documentation which made it difficult for the HOD to institute disciplinary processes,” the statement pointed out.
“The former HOD formally requested documents but the Hawks did not provide such documentation to him.
“Whilst the matter is subjudice . . . it is important to provide context and not fall into a trap of generalisation which may unduly impact negatively on the credibility of implicated persons without a proper context.
“It is important to note that not all officials in this case were involved in criminal activities.”
Contacted for comment, Hawks spokesperson Captain Christopher Singo confirmed seeing the statement issued by the provincial health department but chose not to comment on it.
“Our role is to investigate criminal cases or complaints brought before us and once we are done, we then take the matter to the NPA for them to implement the charges against those implicated,” said Singo.
“So, if the provincial health department has any information regarding this case, they have to bring that information before a court of law. We cannot really comment much on that statement.”
In its detailed outline prepared for court, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) insists Motau has a case to answer.
It lists a total of 304 charges for all the accused, now numbering 23, including several companies and their directors who allegedly billed the provincial health department for work that was never done.
Motau alone is facing 44 counts of breaching the PFMA.
Some of the accused include Motsumi Polori, 47, and Kenosi Legobate, 45, who are still employees of the department.
The other former employees include Mietjies Johns, 63, John Chakane, 65, Maria Mabitle, 62, and Lebohang Beqeze.
The service providers include Tsietsi Polori, 47, Thabo Moeti, 39, Mavuso Kwababa, 49, Simon Njonga, 40, and Charity Moloi, 39, who were the directors of the companies into which the money was paid.
The companies include, Tsa Rona Consultancy, Azrago, Land Breeze Trading, Amakholwa Consultancy Training and Zen Communications.
The accused are all out on bail ranging from R2 000 to R5 000 and the case was postponed to September 22 for a High Court date.
The case docket, seen by this publication, states that Motau, as the accounting officer of the provincial health department at the material time, had a legal duty not to contravene the PFMA but failed to do so.
“The accused, unlawfully, wilfully, and or alternatively, in a grossly negligent manner, failed to comply with the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act in relation to the capturing, processing and approval of undue payments . . .” reads part of the docket.
The state lists among others that it was the duty of Motau as the HOD to: ensure that the provincial health department had and maintained an appropriate procurement and provisioning system which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective; ensure the effective, efficient, economical and transparent use of the resources of the department; and prevent unauthorised, irregular and/or fruitless and wasteful expenditure as well as any losses arising from criminal conduct.
The NPA says the allegations against the accused are that between January 2011 and December 2015 the officials facilitated and approved payments of claims for services that were not rendered by these companies.
The companies, according to the state, were used by department officials as vehicles to commit the offences because they never rendered any service to the department.
The department processed and approved payments to the total amount of R8.7 million in favour of these companies between January 2011 and December 2015.
At least R2 758 978 was allegedly paid to Tsa Rona, while Siphilile Investment was paid R125 982.00.
Azrago received R97 500 and about R704 520 was paid into the account of Land Breeze Trading.
Amakholwa Consultancy and Zen Communications were paid R1 508 462 and R3 565 868 respectively.