After the Bell: Tembisa Hospital and the shocking cost of corruption

You would think, after everything that has happened over the years, that numbers and corruption would not shock me anymore. I mean, you and I lived through the State Capture era, which cost us at least R49-billion. 

But even I had to stop for a minute when I saw the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) had confirmed that at least R2-billion had been stolen from Tembisa Hospital.

I think the reason for my shock is that it is such a small institution. It only has about 840 beds. 

Now, if you look at the country as a whole, stealing about R50-billion kind of makes sense. I mean, the Guptas literally had the President in their pocket and that brought them immense power.

But it brought them immense power across an entire country.

Tembisa Hospital is something different: R2-billion is twice what we paid for the entirety of the Zondo Commission. It’s also twice what McKinsey paid back for the “work” it did at Eskom.

At the same time, I cannot imagine a single company operating in South Africa today that could survive losing quite so much money in such a short period. The SIU says this probably happened between 2018 and 2023 – that’s not a long time.

I have to say, while people do steal from the companies they work for, it’s nothing like that amount.

One person was able to steal about R8-million from Grindrod over eight years before getting caught. And she was only able to do it because she was a finance clerk.

But even just R1-million a year got her caught.

The only time corruption gets into the billions in corporate South Africa seems to be when it’s related to accounting scandals. And you know the names – Steinhoff and Tongaat.

But they happened, first because they were big enough, and second through accounting scandals. The common feature was that the CEO was able to fiddle the numbers.

What I just don’t get at Tembisa Hospital is how the Gauteng Health Department didn’t catch it sooner. How it took a Babita Deokaran, at the cost of her life, to see what was happening and to try to do something about it.

Again, in any ordinary company, if the costs of one section had jumped the way they did at that hospital, someone would have gone to investigate.

This, then, really shows you that something strange happens in the government. 

For decades the Gauteng Health Department has been a disaster. And  the way it manages its money is central to the problem.

Just two weeks ago, health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko claimed that they were making progress in complying with the Auditor-General’s policies. But in reality, as News 24 reported, the department failed to comply in all audit areas, and less than 40% of its invoices were paid within 30 days.

I have a horrible feeling in my stomach when I read that. Because it means that no one is keeping a proper eye on how the department is spending money. Worse than that, I bet the three syndicates at Tembisa Hospital probably didn’t have to wait beyond 30 days for their fake invoices to be paid.

And frankly, the evidence shows that Nkomo-Ralehoko and others didn’t want swift justice in this case.

When the corruption at Tembisa Hospital first came to light, the CEO at the time, Ashley Mthunzi, was suspended. More than a year later he had still not faced a disciplinary inquiry.

How is that even possible?

Mthunzi has since died, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we never really understand what happened. 

I also have to ask: how was it that journalists, and particularly News24’s Jeff Wicks, were able to report on how the money moved around with such accuracy, long before the SIU really got going?

I realise the SIU has a higher standard, but still, this has taken a long time. And what they published today was only an interim report. We’re still some way from a final report.

We all know what needs to happen now.

The SIU needs to finish its work and the National Prosecuting Authority needs to charge people and we need to see them in court.

Instead, I bet we will get a lot of hand-wringing from those who are sort of in charge. We will see Panyaza Lesufi making some kind of nonsensical promise, Nkomo-Ralehoko will claim that things have changed now, the President will once again be “shocked” to see this that happened on his watch.

But will anything really change?

Eight hundred and forty beds. Two billion rands. 

I still can’t believe it. DM