Tembisa hospital audit recommends consequence management for guilty officials

An audit by the Gauteng department of health has recommended that the Tembisa hospital accounting officer should implement consequence management for officials who contravened the laws and regulations.

According to Gauteng MEC for Health Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi, the department’s internal audit and compliance unit conducted a random audit at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital and recommended that control measures be strengthened.

The random audit was sanctioned by the chief financial officer in August 2021 as part of efforts to ensure that the facility adheres to supply chain management (SCM) and financial management policies.

“The aim of the random audit was to advise on best practices on how to improve financial management performance and also to ensure that the hospital gets value for money when procuring goods and services,” said the MEC.

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Among others, the audit covered:

• Testing whether procurement was made using Central Supplier Database systems;
• Orders are placed in line with supply chain management procurement delegations;
• Delivery notes are aligned to resources procured, random checks on procured goods and services;
• Checking whether there was no irregular expenditure, overspending on goods and services, and payments done within 30 days;
• Checking whether the institution has a demand plan and goods are procured in line with that plan; and
• Whether the relevant committees such at the quotation adjudication committee are in place.

Audit recommendations:

The audit found that management should improve the effectiveness of internal controls over Supply
Chain Management (SCM) processes to ensure compliance with SCM prescripts and applicable legislation.
• Management should design and implement a compliance checklist to ensure compliance with laws and regulations
• The accounting officer should implement consequence management for officials who contravened the laws and regulations.

Mokgethi said the audit report has been shared with the CEO and management of Tembisa Hospital for
the entity to act on it.

‘Skinny jeans’ scandal

The hospital made headlines last month following an expose by News24 showing that the hospital purchased 200 pairs of skinny jeans, amounting to R2 500 per pair.

The contract for the jeans was one of the transactions questioned by whistleblower Babita Deokaran. It is suspected to be one of the dodgy deals that led to Deokaran being killed.

However, hospital CEO Dr Ashley Mthunzi denied that the institution spent almost R500 000 on skinny jeans, saying that the money was spent on suture material.

Speaking to Radio 702, Mthunzi claimed that the hospital had not actually purchased skinny jeans. Instead, the R498 000 was spent on suture material.

“I signed for suture material. We’ve got proof that the invoice was for suture material and what we received was suture material,” he said.

Mthunzi claimed it was an admin error for the suture material being mistaken for skinny jeans.

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