Mamoepa brother up for theft
2002-11-24 07:55
Justin Arenstein and Jabu Mhlabane
Johannesburg - The brother of South African foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa has been arrested as a suspected kingpin in a massive international medicine-theft syndicate.
Police arrested Dr Nkate Philemon Thabo Mamoepa during a series of raids that netted 10 other doctors and pharmacists in Mpumalanga following a two-year investigation by various law enforcement agencies.
Ronnie Mamoepa refused to comment on the issue and insisted the matter had "nothing to do with me".
"I know nothing about this and refuse to get dragged into it. I don't understand why my name should get smeared just because Thabo is my brother," was all Mamoepa would say.
'Too busy for court'
On Friday a second arrest warrant was issued for Dr Mamoepa when he failed to appear in the KaBokweni Magistrate's Court outside White River for alleged possession of stolen goods.
His attorney told prosecutor Simon Fankomo that Dr Mamoepa was "too busy" to attend court.
A one-week stay of execution to November 29 has been placed on the arrest warrant, to allow Dr Mamoepa to appear before court and explain himself.
He was arrested just hours after being appointed as a board director on Mpumalanga's Parks Board (MPB).
The theft and corruption charges against him are also expected to affect his tenure on other public bodies like the National Health Laboratory Service's board of directors.
The charismatic township doctor first rose to prominence in the 1980s by giving free medical help to liberation activists injured by apartheid agents.
Dr Mamoepa's grassroot popularity and political credentials placed him as a contender for Mpumalanga's premiership prior to the 1994 elections, and ensured him an influential advisory role in both Mathews Phosa and Ndaweni Mahlangu's administrations.
Provincial government officials confirmed that Dr Mamoepa was considered health MEC Sibongile Manana's closest confidant, and is himself tipped as a future health MEC.
Caused medicine shortages?
The syndicate Dr Mamoepa allegedly belonged to is believed to have caused repeated chronic medicine shortages at major Mpumalanga hospitals over the past two years, endangering the lives of rural patients and straining relations between state doctors and administrators.
"It's a disgrace. A small group of people in privileged positions appear to have abused their power to enrich themselves at the cost of some of South Africa's poorest citizens," said Mpumalanga provincial health spokesperson Dumisane Mlangeni.
"We lost medicines worth millions of rands and firmly believe the systematic theft triggered repeated crippling medicine shortages over the past two years that endangered the lives of patients."
Special police task team
A special police task team, headed by provincial commissioner Eric Nkabinde, swooped on key syndicate suspects in Mpumalanga's Lowveld region over the week, also arresting two "bag men" who allegedly smuggled the stolen medicines to private practices.
The arrest of Dr Willem Mapanga in Barberton on November 14 was expected to trigger a new wave of raids in the province's Highveld.
The corruption investigation has uncovered deeper rot within the country's rural health system.
The medicine-theft syndicate appears to have deliberately targeted rural or township hospitals in the apparent belief that control systems at these institutions would be weaker than at metro hospitals.
The police raids have already netted suspects at Mpumalanga's deep rural Tonga and Shongwe hospitals, as well as at the province's second largest hospital at Themba in KaBokweni township.
Smuggling drugs to Mozambique?
Government investigators are also still probing similar scams at a string of rural clinics along SA's borders with Mozambique.
Investigators believe the syndicate is taking advantage of the region's unpoliced network of dirt roads to smuggle large amounts of the drugs into Mozambique, where it earns US dollars on the black market.
"These people are getting rich, are profiteering, off medical supplies that are supposed to bring a better life to our poorest," said Mlangeni.
The scam was exposed by an irate Dennilton resident, who used Mpumalanga's corruption hotline to report a local doctor for selling state-issue birth-control pills to private patients.
"My wife was charged R60 a box, despite a large red stamp that warned the medicine was state property and not for sale," said the angry Dennilton man, who only wanted to be known as Sandile for fear of victimisation.
"I immediately called the hotline, but was forced to phone twice more before action was taken. I acted because this medicine was already paid for by the taxpayer, so why should doctors get rich off the proceeds?"
The doctor, who has not yet been arrested, denied consciously selling stolen medicine.
A spokesperson for the police task team, Senior Superintendent Frans Steenkamp, stressed the probe was still very sensitive but confirmed that further arrests are expected.