Health department denies Tembisa Hospital CEO was facing charges when appointed

The Gauteng Health Department has refuted claims made by Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng spokesperson for health Jack Bloom that the now suspended Tembisa Hospital CEO, Dr Ashley Mthunzi, was appointed as head of the hospital last year while facing a disciplinary hearing.

Bloom alleged that in a written reply on 15 September 2021, he was told that Mthunzi was facing a disciplinary hearing based on misconduct and was given a final written warning.

Department claims Mthunzi did not face disciplinary hearing

“The Department would like to categorically state that at the time of his appointment Mthunzi was not facing any disciplinary charge or action,” said the department in a statement.

Mthunzi is now suspended – together with chief financial officer Lerato Madyo – over the improper procurement and payment of service providers at Tembisa Hospital totaling R850 million.

The Gauteng Health Department has dismissed Bloom’s allegations, saying if his claims were true, it would have disqualified Mthunzi from being appointed as CEO at the hospital.

“The Department dismisses any assertion that the appointment of Mthunzi was dodgy and wishes to state on record that his appointment followed an open and transparent recruitment and selection process.

“On 15 September 2021 the then acting head of department signed a report prepared by an internal investigator recommending that Dr Mthunzi and other officials should be given final written warning(s) without applying the audi alterum pattern rule (which is the principle of hearing the other side in any matter),” the department said in a statement.

The department said that the investigator did not follow the appropriate process when he recommended that Mthunzi and other officials be given written warnings.

DA visit to Tembisa hospital

Bloom on Wednesday visited Tembisa Hospital to inspect the R1.5 million items that the hospital bought.

This comes after a News24 report alleged that the hospital spent almost R850 million on dodgy payments, including almost R500 000 to purchase 200 pairs of skinny jeans. This amounts to R2 500 being spent on each pair.

Mthunzi has since denied these allegations and said that the money was used to buy suture material. He said a coding error was to blame – the code for skinny jeans should have been a code for monocryl sutures.

“I signed for suture material. We’ve got proof that the invoice was for suture material and what we received was suture material,” Mthunzi told Radio 702.

Bloom was also at the hospital to check the armchairs and handtowels that the hospital allegedly overspent on.

“There are no skinny jeans, cloth handtowels or leather armchairs at the Tembisa Hospital – this is what I found when I visited this morning to check whether these items reportedly bought for R1.5 million had actually been delivered.

Bloom said instead of 100 armchairs that were supposed to be in the ICU and high care wards, he found adjustable-height chairs without side-arms.

“When I pointed out that these were definitely not the leather wingback armchairs that were recorded as being bought for R5000 each, they again said it was a ‘coding error’,” said Bloom.

Bloom claims that Tembisa Hospital is using this year’s budget to help pay for “the massive splurge of suspicious payments last year”.

“Meanwhile, the hospital has 849 official beds, but has squeezed in another 351 beds to treat 1 200 patients, with an overall budget of R1.7 billion, of which R1.2 billion is spent on personnel,” he said.

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