The Democratic Alliance (DA) is planning to open a case against former Gauteng Department of Health chief financial officer (CFO) for allegedly tipping off mastermind behind Babita Deokaran’s assassination.
Deokaran was the the former chief director for financial accounting for the department.
Jack Bloom, DA MPL and shadow health MEC, said the CFO failed to act on the report by Deokaran about possible fraudulent transactions at Tembisa Hospital.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) have recently revealed that several syndicates, crooked officials, and fake suppliers have looted R2-million from the hospital.
Assassinated after raising red flags
These investigations follow the red flags raised by Deokaran on the R850-million corruption at Tembisa Hospital.
“She is the chief suspect amongst the small number of those who could have tipped off the mastermind behind Babita’s murder,” said Bloom.
Bloom had previously released a statement saying Deokaran had raised concerns over possible fraudulent contracts. She asked for an audit to be done. However, the CFO did not do the audit as requested.
He said the department should be completely reformed, free from corruption, in honour of Deokaran.
“I suspect the department deliberately delayed [her] disciplinary process to protect others who were implicated. They should not have accepted her resignation before it was concluded. And her pension should have been frozen to enable recovery of money that may be proven to have been lost because of her negligence.
“An aggravating factor is that [she] was paid more than R3-million while suspended on full pay,” said Bloom.
Department ‘protected culprit’
She was suspended for two years as she faced 13 charges of misconduct, before resigning.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi on Tuesday also immediately suspended the head of Gauteng DoH Lesiba Arnold Malotana.
He has been replaced by Darion Barclay, who leads the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA).
He said Barclay will “ensure stability and continuity in this critical department”. And his appointment highlights the importance of prioritising seamless service delivery, added Lesufi.
