Mpuma health scam widens
2005-01-10 13:11
Zenzele Kuhlase
Nelspruit - The trial against a former hospital technician accused stealing an x-ray machine in what is believed to have been a province-wide scam in Mpumalanga, was postponed on Monday when he asked to study the case docket.
The theft is believed to be part of a wider scam involving the large-scale theft of state hospital equipment and medicine, which has already cost Sibongile Manana her post as Mpumalanga's health MEC.
Health department head Riena Charles also lost her job.
On Monday, the Nelspruit regional court gave former Rob Ferreira hospital technician, Deon Terblanche, until April 18 to study the case docket.
Terblanche will then be expected to plead and the trial will then begin.
His bail of R7 000 was extended.
Terblanche's co-accused, local medical company director John Cornish, has already confessed to knowing that an x-ray machine he bought from Terblanche for R600 000 was stolen from government.
Cornish has pleaded guilty to theft and implicated Terblanche, a senior technician at Rob Ferreira hospital, as the mastermind behind the theft.
Cornish is expected to be sentenced this month when his probation report is ready.
R20m tender scam
Two other accused, Matikwane hospital manager Richard Ubisi and Barberton hospital's Dr Patrick Jiyare, have both turned state witness and agreed to testify against Terblanche.
Cornish previously told the court that he bought the x-ray from Terblanche and intended to resell it for a profit to Dr Jiyare.
Terblanche's wife, Lara, has meanwhile been named in an unrelated R20m tender scam involving Charles, who is also currently on trail on multiple fraud and corruption charges alongside her brother-in-law Percy Siboza.
The two scams were uncovered as part of a wider police probe that netted 16 private sector doctors, state pharmacists, and hospital managers for medicine theft, tender fraud, and other irregularities.
The highest profile thief is Dr Nkate Mamoepa, brother of foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa, who is paying of a R20 000 fine for theft.
The medicine theft syndicate is believed to have been at least partly responsible for chronic medicine shortages that endangered patients' lives at all major provincial hospitals between 2001 and 2002.
- African Eye