Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
6 December 2024 | 10:00 CAT
2 min read

The Gauteng Health Department has spent R16.7 million on salaries for 10 suspended officials, some for over two-and-a-half years. The Democratic Alliance (DA) criticises the prolonged disciplinary processes and blames the inefficiency on the lack of a permanent Chief Director of Human Resources for six years.

Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, told Radio Islam that suspending employees with full pay during investigations is standard practice, but disciplinary inquiries should ideally be concluded within 2-3 months in an efficient department. “In a normal efficient department that’s what would happen but in the Gauteng health department it doesn’t,” he said.

Key cases include three officials suspended for 992 days each over alleged financial misconduct involving R500 million spent on the Anglo Ashanti Hospital. Among them, Dr. Sifiso Maseko received R4.4 million while under suspension.

Jack Bloom highlighted an extreme case where a Gauteng Health Department staff member was suspended with full pay for over four years—likely a record. But he noted that she eventually left the department, hence why she is not included in the current case.

“In the present case we have no fewer than 3 officials for more than 2 and a half years, one of them during that period got more than R4.5 Million, it is nice money, if you can get it for doing nothing,” he joked.

Bloom expressed no surprise at the prolonged suspensions, citing the Gauteng Health Department’s consistent failures on multiple levels. “It is a symptom of absolute inefficiency in that department,” he exclaimed.

Other suspensions involve procurement irregularities, sexual harassment, and misconduct. Outcomes include four dismissals, ongoing SIU investigations, and pending verdicts for other cases.

Bloom believes corruption cases are intentionally prolonged as a means of protecting the individuals involved. “They don’t want to make a finding, because then they can implicate other people. That has been the experience,” he said.

While the department claims to be waiting for the SIU to conclude its investigations, Bloom argues they could proceed with their own disciplinary actions. He highlights the absence of a permanent Chief Director in Human Resources for over six years as a significant issue, suggesting it is deliberate to allow for mismanagement and misconduct to go unchecked, relying instead on acting officials who lack the authority or stability to enforce accountability.

“The real oversight should be by the MEC for Health. I don’t know how she can tolerate a situation where you shoveling out huge amounts of money of people accused of serious matters who are sitting at home, twiddling their thumbs. The accountability needs to be political,” he said.

Bloom asserts that the current MEC for Health and the Head of Department are unfit for their roles and should be replaced, citing their inability to address the department’s systemic failures effectively. “It is rotten from top to bottom as a department. This is not the only misdemeanor of the Gauteng health department but it clearly shows they cannot conduct speedy disciplinary hearings and end up wasting huge amounts of money,” he said.

LISTEN to the full interview with Ml Junaid Kharsany and Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, here.