The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] is seriously concerned about allegations of contract ballooning at the National Department of Health [NDoH] in relation to the National Health Insurance [NHI] Marketing and Health Communication contract.
Our concern is informed by the recent Digital Vibes scandal which exposed the corruption, fraud, maladministration, mismanagement of public funds and alleged money laundering arising from the irregular awarding and management of the contract by the National Department of Health.
The Digital Vibes scandal was a serious indictment of the National Department of Health and raised significant concerns about procurement, governance and accountability within the department. The scandal occurred at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when healthcare workers were on the frontline, with many losing their lives while working under extremely difficult conditions and amid shortages of essential resources.
When such incidents occur at the national level, the public is left without any confidence at all as to whether the deeply entrenched and systemic corruption engulfing the provincial level, as exposed by the R2 billion siphoned from the Tembisa hospital between 2018 and 2023, would ever be stopped and eradicated through the stewardship of the national department. As NEHAWU, we reiterate our call that investigations must be expanded into other hospitals. We do not believe that the Tembisa Hospital was a vulnerable outlier that was waiting to be taken advantage of by these bestial tender scoundrels. We have reasons to believe that the roughly 207 companies that are implicated in that hospital would stop at nothing in using their expansive tentacles to strangle other health institutions in Gauteng and all other provinces.
The National Health Insurance represents an important mechanism towards achieving universal access to quality healthcare and dismantling South Africa’s deeply unequal two-tier healthcare system. The successful implementation of the NHI is therefore of critical importance to the working class and the broader population. There must be no allegations of corruption, maladministration or financial impropriety surrounding the implementation of the NHI.
It is therefore imperative that the National Department of Health provides full transparency and accountability regarding the NHI Marketing and Health Communication contract. The department cannot afford another communications contract scandal following the Digital Vibes saga, which brought the department into disrepute and exposed serious weaknesses in procurement processes, governance and oversight.
NEHAWU notes that the Minister and Deputy Minister of Health have requested law enforcement agencies to investigate the contracts in question. We welcome this move as an important step towards ensuring that the allegations are properly investigated and that there is full accountability and transparency in relation to the NHI communication contract.
We further call for the investigation to be conducted without fear or favour and for any wrongdoing established through the investigation to be dealt with in accordance with the law. Public resources must be protected, and those entrusted with managing them must be held accountable.
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Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat.
Zola Saphetha (General Secretary) at 082 558 5968; Welcome Mnisi (1st Deputy General Secretary) at 082 455 2897; Baxolise Mali (2nd Deputy General Secretary) at 066 305 0591 or Lwazi Nkolonzi (NEHAWU National Spokesperson) at 081 558 2335 or email: lwazin@nehawu.org.za