Come 16 May Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) can expect to be informed of what expert investigators found when delving into corruption at 1 Military Hospital.
The Thaba Tshwane medical facility, once called a jewel of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) by a previous JSCD co-chair, is managed by the SA Military Health Service (SAMHS), commanded by Surgeon-General, Lieutenant General (Dr) Ntshavheni Maphaha. It has been undergoing a repair and maintenance programme (RAMP) which has apparently seen R1 billion plus spent over more than a decade with seemingly no worthwhile outcome.
Following a late March visit by representatives of Parliament’s three defence oversight committees, 1 Mil is again under the microscope.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) National Assembly (NA) public representative Carl Niehaus went as far as calling Defence and Military Veterans Minister Angie Motshekga a liar for giving false information in Parliamentary question answers about the hospital. He has gone as far as Parliament’s Ethics Committee with an official complaint supported by a sworn affidavit.
National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament (MP) Nicholas Gotsell went a different route after seeing for himself the sad state of 1 Mil. He was the prime mover behind a JSCD decision to move forward “a crucial briefing” by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), better known as the Hawks, to 16 May.
The change in dates, he said, was part of his party fighting for answers about “R1 billion ploughed into 1 Mil vanishing and corruption going unchecked”.
“This is a breakthrough in the fight for accountability. It is high time that this matter, which has festered for years in the shadows of the Department of Defence (DoD), is finally dragged into the light of Parliament,” a statement has him saying notwithstanding the “so-called refurbishments, 1 Mil remains a gutted shell”.
“The hospital’s emergency theatres, radiology units and pharmacy are still incomplete. It is a disgraceful symbol of waste and criminal neglect.
“A forensic report implicated senior DoD officials in corruption, yet no one has been held accountable. No disciplinary action. No arrests. No justice.
“At the DA’s insistence, this critical matter is now the second item on the [upcoming] term’s agenda so Parliament can get to the bottom of this billion Rand scandal.
“South Africans,” he added, “also deserve answers on why the SIU and DPCI investigations have taken so long to yield consequences”.
Gotsell maintains “there is an alarming trend in the DoD for wasting and squandering eye-watering amounts of tax-payer money without accountability”. As an example he cites “the multi-billion Rand Operation Thusano scandal” with Cuba that saw irregular COVID-19 medicine purchases and unlawful contracts.
“Those responsible for turning 1 Military Hospital from a life-saving hospital into a monument to corruption must finally face the law,” Gotsell concluded.
