The troubled Sizwe Hosmed medical scheme – whose members are mainly in the steel, automative, transport and coal industries – is embroiled in a fresh battle with a curator appointed to run the affairs of the financially stressed scheme.
Its board of trustees has approached the High Court in Pretoria to challenge the suitability of curator Lebogang Mpakati over an alleged failure to declare insolvency and disclose that she was placed under sequestration by a court.
Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Luyolo Makwabe, is taking aim at Mpakati’s financial standing and alleged failure to disclose a provisional sequestration order granted against her over an unsuccessful failure to recover an amount of R2.3-million that the curator apparently overcharged in a separate business rescue matter.
Makwabe argues in the court papers that someone who has been placed under sequestration should not be entrusted with the control of another entity’s funds.
At the heart of the dispute is an amount of R3.6-million that Mpakati, through her company Indalo Business Solutions, charged to oversee the business rescue process of Catai, a logistics company that was in financial distress.
The disputed amount of R2.3-million is said to have been paid in excess of the fees allowed under regulation 128 of the Companies Act, which prescribes set tariffs for business rescue work.
A court subsequently placed Mpakati under provisional sequestration.
According to Makwabe, the judgment clarified that Mpakati did not dispute receiving fees above the prescribed tariffs. He said the ruling found she had advanced a false defence and had misappropriated funds.
The excess amount was pursued by Catai’s liquidators in March 2023. When the debt remained unpaid, Catai applied for Indalo’s liquidation, with proceedings commencing in January last year.
A writ of execution was later issued against Mpakati in August last year, but the Sheriff of the Court was unable to recover any assets after being informed that there were no disposable assets at Indalo’s premises.
Makwabe further claims that Mpakati failed to disclose the sequestration order on at least four occasions after being appointed Sizwe Hosmed curator. He noted that nearly R2.8-million was spent on legal fees between September 2025 and mid-January 2026 and her legal representatives, Maluks Attorneys, were also paid R4.8-million in the same period.
“Of particular concern are two rounded, high-value payments of R1-million, and R1.2-million made in addition to seven other invoices processed on the same date,” said Makwabe.
In August last year, the Registrar of Medical Schemes brought an urgent application for the provisional curatorship of the Sizwe Hosmed scheme, which is the eighth-largest open scheme medical aid in the country.
Mpakati was appointed provisional liquidator on September 4, tasked with investigating the scheme’s financial position.
The Council for Medical Schemes was forced to intervene after the scheme’s solvency ratio dropped sharply from 49.4% in 2021 to 25.45% in 2022, and subsequently fell below the 25% statutory minimum ratio for schemes of this kind. By mid 2025, the scheme’s solvency ratio had worsened to between 6%–7%, prompting urgent intervention by the council.
The financial woes began in 2021 when Sizwe Medical Fund merged with Hosmed Medical Scheme. The merged entity had a solvency ratio of 36.5%. However, a year later, the solvency ratio had dropped to below the 25% threshold required for medical schemes to be deemed financially healthy.
Khaya Buthelezi, a spokesperson for Mpakati, told Sunday World the curator was aware of the application brought by the trustees of the scheme and was in consultation with its legal team to oppose the court action.
He described the allegations as inaccurate and unsubstantiated, saying Mpakati would defend herself in court.
“The curator can confirm that she has disclosed the sequestration matter to the Council for Medical Schemes and continues to discharge her duties of building the (the Sizwe Hosmed scheme) with diligence and integrity, despite persistent malicious attacks the administrator and trustees.”
Khandan Msibi, CEO of 3Sixty Health, the scheme’s administrator, called on the council to remove Mpakati, accusing her of working against the success of Sizwe-Hosmed. He said a sequestrated curator could not be trusted with handling the scheme’s funds.
