CAPE TOWN - Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson has vowed to root out corruption within his department.
He launched an investigation into an R800-million tender awarded to three companies to install oxygen infrastructure at hospitals.
Two of these companies did not have approval from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority.
Giving an update on the investigation on Sunday, Macpherson called for a stop to corruption and the mismanagement of public funds.
“This was not a small oversight. It raised red flags about the basic compliance of companies entrusted with delivering life-saving health infrastructure,” he said.
The minister wrote to the Independent Development Trust board on 29 October 2024, requesting a full account of the tender details.
The board delivered an executive summary on 1 November 2024, which lacked key documents such as signed contracts and evidence of proper procurement procedures.
Follow-ups on 5 and 8 November 2024 failed to produce these critical documents.
“By this point, a pattern was becoming evident that suggests to me a calculated refusal to cooperate, or at least a serious disregard for oversight and an alarming lack of transparency from the leadership of an institution meant to be building public trust, and which directly reports to my department,” Macpherson said.
It further emerged on 11 November 2024 that a ghost company, possibly with fraudulent documentation, had been awarded a R428-million share of the oxygen plant tender.
Macpherson says he's received death threats over his investigation into the tender and the fight he has mounted against corruption.
“Let me be clear, I will not be deterred by smear campaigns or political pressure or even threats against my life. My mandate is to clean up the department, and that is exactly what I intend to do, relentlessly.
“And despite the noise and the intimidation we have experienced, we remain determined to reach our goals,” he says.