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ActionSA Limpopo notes the swift action by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) that led to the preservation order  from the Special Tribunal to freeze pension benefits of former Limpopo Department of Health’s Head of Department, Dr Thokozani Florence Mhlongo. 

This after the SIU investigations had “uncovered irregularities in the appointment of service providers Clinipro (Pty)Ltd, Pro Secure (Pty)Ltd, and Ndia Business Trading (Pty)Ltd for the supply and delivery of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) items, which resulted in the Department incurring irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure of approximately R182 million”. 

What surprised many people in Limpopo earlier this year in June, was the sudden resignation and departure of Mhlongo. The provincial government issued a short statement announcing her resignation without any further explanation, a strange phenomenon indeed.  

The investigation further revealed that the former HOD authorised the purchase of 10 000 cellphones, costing the Department a staggering  R10 million at a time when our people were dying of Covid. It is a shocking yet typical tale of government officials looting state resources during the most vulnerable time in history. 

ActionSA congratulates the SIU for the outstanding work it has done in investigating this matter so thoroughly that it persuaded the Special Tribunal to authorise the preservation order. 

We call upon the Limpopo Provincial Government to take the citizens of Limpopo into full confidence about this episode and ensure that those that are involved in this plunder get the book thrown at them This matter cannot be conveniently shoved under the carpet. 

We urge the Mathabatha Administration to be accountable and treat this matter with the prioritization it deserves. 

Issued by ActionSA Limpopo Provincial Chairperson Sello Lediga