The Gauteng Health Department’s chief financial officer has been suspended following alleged tender irregularities.
The provincial health department revealed in a statement that Ndoda Biyela was suspended following allegations of irregularities relating to procurement processes in the department.
However, the department did not to provide further details regarding which procurements were involved.
“An investigation is underway to test the veracity of the allegations,” the department said in the statement.
Biyela was suspended with full pay pending the outcome of the process.
Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital’s chief financial officer, George Mahlangu had been appointed the department’s acting officer.
According to reports, Biyela’s suspension was allegedly suspected to be related to a linen contract awarded in May last year to Emperor Commodities for R5.1 million without going out to tender.
In 2012, the provincial government introduced a strategy to address weaknesses in the health department including late payment of suppliers and accumulated debt.
After receiving a qualified audit in that year – due to the auditor disagreeing with the disclosure of information in the financial statements or the audit being limited in scope – the health department said one of the initiatives to ensure that the department received a clean audit was the appointment of a chief financial officer.
For the 2014/15 financial year, the health department received the second largest allocation of the Gauteng Provincial Government’s total budget.
The department was allocated R31.5 billion, increasing by nine percent from last year.
