The Limpopo department of health has been dragged into the dock of public accountability after lawmakers accused it of recycling the same explanations for service delivery failures year after year, a bureaucratic loop that has left audit outcomes stagnant and confidence shaken.
In one of the most stinging rebukes yet, the provincial standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) likened the department’s repeated submissions to over-the-counter painkillers handed out for every illness, regardless of severity.
The criticism was aimed squarely at health MEC Dieketseng Mashego and head of department Dr Ntodeni Ndwamato, with the committee raising concerns about continued non-compliance with public finance legislation and persistent audit regressions.
“Every family and every individual is affected by the services of this department. That is why it is important that they get their finances right,” remarked Limpopo Scopa chairperson Esther Mokoele.
“We want this department to get a clean audit because it receives a major share of the provincial budget. If the department can get a clean audit, we will know that most of the budget in the province is utilised correctly.”
However, it was her “Panado” analogy that cut the deepest.
“You are raising the same issues from [various financial years]. It’s four times that you cut and paste on this issue. In the past, our grandparents would go to the clinic and come back to say, ‘they are just giving us Panado.’ You know the nurses. Every ailment can be treated by Panado. Is this your Panado?” asked Mokoele.
She cautioned that the department was treating chronic weaknesses, such as revenue management, asset control, and performance records, with the same generic response.
“Revenue management, asset management and performance record, it’s all Panado because it can deal with everything, and that is what worries us. It can deal with regression; it can also deal with the issue of tracking and so on and so on,” she said.
Mokoele stressed that repetition without reform erodes credibility.
“When you go through these documents and you see something word for word repeating itself three times or four times, you start not taking it seriously. That is our concern… Is there any proof that you can provide in your file that you have instituted consequence management?”
DA committee member James Smalle echoed the frustration, pointing to what he described as a worrying disconnect between the state attorney and departmental officials.
“I’m trying to understand, where is the miscommunication? The billing of senior counsel or advocates is as low as R1 200 per day and as high as R22 000 per day. They hover in that space, and at the end of the day, it is you who foots the bill,” he said.
The stakes are high. According to the department’s 2024/2025 annual report, it is facing 1 806 legal claims dating back to 2014/2015, many crawling through the courts. The register currently has 1 806 cases that are waiting for court processes to be finalised.
In the 2024-25 financial year, six cases were finalised by the courts and settled.
“The amounts claimed in total are R30.7-million and R7,7-million was awarded by the court and settled. The payment rate is therefore 25%,” noted the department.
Mokoele revealed that law enforcement agencies such as the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) lamented that crucial files were disappearing from the offices of the department.
“The Hawks and the SIU were here, where you are seated. They said, ‘The challenge with health is that we don’t get information. The files disappear like nobody’s business,” Mokoele said.
“The Hawks and the SIU come to the department and search for a file, and the file is not there. They don’t say you don’t keep records. They go missing. That’s why you don’t win cases… and you pay so many millions.”
