Corruption Watch releases report on ‘the critical state’ of SA’s health sector

Corruption Watch has released a report on “the critical state” of South Africa’s health sector, which the organisation said is worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic and the “struggling” sector’s ability “to manage” the “overwhelming challenge” brought by the pandemic.

The organisation said the report, titled X-Ray: The critical state of the health sector in SA, “points to the devastating impact” corruption has on the lives of South Africans who rely on the country’s public health facilities.

The organisation said of the 28,000 complaints lodged with it from 2012 to 2019, 3% pertained to “health matters”.

“Nationally, in the 670 cases of corruption in the health sector, about 52% point a finger at provincial governments, while about 40% level allegations at national government. In the breakdown of provinces, Gauteng leads with 39% of corruption cases and this may be due to Corruption Watch’s strong presence in the province as well as the fact that it is the most densely populated region in the country. The second highest percentage comes from KwaZulu-Natal at 16%, and joint third are Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga at 8% respectively,” the organisation said.

The report highlights corruption trends within the health sector, which the organisation said are:

• The embezzlement of funds, especially when funds are transferred from national to regional entities;
• Procurement of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, including fraudulent and counterfeit equipment and drugs; and
• Nepotism and other forms of favouritism in the hiring and promotion of staff

High ranking officials in managerial positions; administrator and professionals and companies bidding for state contracts or those who have been awarded these are “players” who are “commonly implicated” in acts of corruption, the organisation said.

According to the report, 39% of the most prevalent form of corruption across the country is employment corruption, which includes issues ranging from employees and officials claiming time for work not done, nepotism and favouritism.

Procurement corruption accounts for 22% of the most prevalent form of corruption countrywide, the misappropriation of resources is at 16%, abuse of power at 7% and bribery and fraud at 5%, the report states.

The report states that acts of corruption in the sector include:

• Unjustified price inflation;
• Documents are amended or destroyed to disadvantage competitors;
• Preferential treatment; and
• Officials benefit from kickbacks or solicit funds from companies that win tenders

“Whistle-blowers state that kickbacks are set at 10% levels for contracts worth millions of rands. In some cases, it is claimed that senior officials will award lucrative tenders to companies without those tenders being advertised,” the report reads.

The organisation said it had also learned that money Treasury allocates for particular projects and programmes “is squandered or deceptively redirected to other interests” and that doctors use medication and equipment funded by the state in their own practices.

Furthermore, the organisation said it had learned that officials illegally used vehicles, fuel and accommodation for their personal benefit and that of their friends and family members.

“The outcome of such negligent and corrupt acts is a shortage of medication, equipment that is lost or damaged, and the state paying exorbitant amounts of money to fund the lifestyles of officials,” the organisation said.

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

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