EFF WELCOMES THE SIU SPECIAL TRIBUNAL ORDER ON FORMER LIMPOPO
HEALTH HOD DR THOKOZANI MHLONGO.
Thursday, 09 March 2023.
The Economic Freedom Fighter in Limpopo (EFF) is elated to welcome the SIU
Special Tribunal order dismissing, with costs, an application brought by a
former Head of Department of the Limpopo Department of Health, Dr
Thokozani Mhlongo to reconsider an order authorising the Unit to freeze her
pension benefits.
It is crystal clear that Dr Mhlongo resigned while facing disciplinary action so
that she gets away with corruption, despite her alleged contribution to a
wasteful expenditure when she authorised the procurement and payment of
10 000 cell phones to the value of R10 million for COVID-19 household
screening.
The EFF commends the SIU for being unshaken and determined to protect the
public purse by freezing Mhlongo’s pension benefits to recover losses suffered
by the department because of dodgy COVID-19 tenders which resulted in the
department incurring irregular expenditure of more than R182 million.
The unethical, unlawful, and corrupt conduct by Dr Mhlongo must be punished
and followed by jail time. A string of corruption scandals has been the order of
the day in most Limpopo Government Departments, therefore we believe that
the law enforcement agencies will use this opportunity to root out corruption
without fear or favour so that the people of Limpopo can get the service
delivery they deserve.
In a bid to promote clean governance and consequence management, the EFF
calls on Limpopo Government to abolish the tender system and adopt a policy
which does not include contracts with the state. The tender system had failed
to address inequalities and create the much-needed jobs in the province, let
alone the ailing state of public health.
The EFF urges the SIU to fast track its investigations and ensure that all the
financial losses incurred by the Provincial Department of Health relating to the
COVID-19 tender irregularities are recovered through Dr Mhongo’s pension
fund. The money must then be used to address service delivery backlog in the
health sector in the interest of those who rely on public health
