By Setumo Stone
A confidential forensic investigation into irregular travel claims at the National Department of Health has found that government money was spent on trips booked in the names of employees who told investigators they neither knew about nor undertook the journeys.
The Boqwana Burns Incorporated report, which Sunday World can reveal for the
first time, recommended that the department consider disciplinary action against officials, recover R6 280 448.01 in alleged fruitless and wasteful expenditure and refer suspected fraud and corruption to law enforcement agencies.
The final report, dated March 28, 2025, was addressed to Dr Percy Mahlati, the
deputy director-general at the National Department of Health.
It followed an investigation commissioned after suspicious travel transactions involving a departmental trip to Bloemfontein between November 29 and December 2, 2022.
According to the report, three employees – Mashego Mahlatjie, Salome More and Theodora Nemarumba – whose names appeared on travel documentation for the Bloemfontein trip “confirmed that they did not complete the TSI Travel forms”, did not ask the implicated administration official, whose name is known to Sunday World, to complete them on their behalf and “were not aware of the travel to Bloemfontein and did not undertake the trip”.
Yet accommodation had been booked.
Investigators said at least six other bookings the official requested, and another colleague booked at the Protea Hotel in Bloemfontein were cancelled on November 29, 2022 – the day of arrival.
All six were made “without the required approval”.
The investigators also examined a shuttle booking requested for 15 people travelling to Bloemfontein.
According to the report, an identified shuttle company charged the department R303 413.28, including travel agency fees and VAT. But investigators found that “only five people and a minor child travelled to Bloemfontein”. There was no authorisation or approval for the trip.
A passenger had “since 2015, not [been] in the employ of the NDoH”, according to the report.
Together with accommodation of R23 750.50, investigators calculated the Bloemfontein expenditure at R327 163.78, saying it was “fruitless and wasteful expenditure since it could have been prevented had due care been exercised”.
The probe subsequently widened beyond Bloemfontein.
Boqwana Burns ultimately identified R6 280 448.01, which it attributed to transactions including shuttle company bookings, travel agency fees, a personal shuttle, an Avis rental vehicle, a Durban trip and travel connected to the funeral of the mother of a senior department official, also known to Sunday World. The report called on the department to “consider taking appropriate disciplinary action” against the administrator and her colleague for alleged failures to comply with the department’s travel and accommodation policy and the Public Finance Management Act.
It alleged that the administrator failed to obtain approval for travel, failed to compare the shuttle company’s fees before confirming bookings, processed travel without the required approval, exceeded the three-person delegation limit without approval and “approved her own travel”.
The senior official was also identified for possible disciplinary action.
Boqwana Burns recommended that the department consider acting against him on the basis that he had allegedly “acted in a gross negligent manner in the performance of his duties” by failing, in his capacity as chief director for the health sector bargaining cluster, to prevent expenditure amounting to R6 280 448.01.”
The report said the senior official “ought to have been aware of this expenditure before it was incurred” if there had been constant monitoring of the cluster’s budget and expenditure.
It further recommended financial misconduct proceedings against two more employees, including the administrator and the senior official, alleging that they had wilfully or negligently failed to prevent fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
The investigators recommended that the department recover the R6 280 448.01 from the four for their alleged “failure to act in the best interest of the NDoH and to prevent fruitless and wasteful expenditure within their respective areas of responsibility”.
Boqwana Burns recommended that some of its findings be tested by law enforcement.
Citing the legal definition of fraud as an unlawful and intentional misrepresentation causing actual or potential prejudice, the firm recommended that the department consider opening criminal cases arising from travel forms submitted to the travel agency for accommodation linked to the Bloemfontein trip.
It separately described two other transactions attributed to the administrator as “fraudulent”. The report alleged she rented an Avis vehicle for four-consecutive months for personal use, costing the department R175 470.82, and booked
trips to Durban for her fiancé and friend.
It recorded R11 313.48 for a flight and two nights’ accommodation for the friend and
R10 549.56 for the fiancé’s shuttle and flight. “The cost of these fraudulent trips, amounting to R21 863.04 … is a loss to the NDoH,” the report said.
Investigators also recommended that a criminal case be considered after the administrator allegedly failed to provide her government laptop for forensic examination, and later informed the department that it was “lost”.
Another allegation involved R5 200 682 in the shuttle company’s expenditure.
Boqwana Burns said several factors created what it termed a “reasonable suspicion of corruption”, including allegedly excessive shuttle prices, the administrator’s role in the bookings, questions about personal finances, the senior official’s signatures on travel documents and unresolved questions surrounding payment for his mother’s funeral. Investigators noted that all parties implicated acted in concert and in a corrupt manner to defraud the NDoH of R5 200 682.
They also recommended that the department obtain legal advice to recover money from the travel agency, terminate its contract if it had not expired and request National Treasury to place the company on its restricted supplier and tender defaulter registers.
Health Department’s Foster Mohale had this week still not responded to questions due to the unavailability of officials close to the matter.
- A forensic investigation by Boqwana Burns Incorporated found government funds were used for trips booked in the names of employees who denied knowledge or participation in those trips.
- The investigation identified R6,280,448.01 in alleged fruitless and wasteful expenditure related to unauthorized travel bookings at the National Department of Health.
- The report recommended disciplinary action against an implicated administrator and a senior official for violations of travel policies and the Public Finance Management Act, including approval failures and unauthorized personal use of resources.
- Allegations included fraudulent claims such as renting an Avis vehicle for personal use costing R175,470.82 and booking trips for non-employees, totaling R21,863.04 in losses to the department.
- Investigators suggested that the department pursue criminal cases, recover funds, terminate contracts with suspect suppliers, and submit findings to law enforcement due to reasonable suspicion of corruption.
