Former HOD, director arrested for Kimberley mental hospital tender fraud

A 65-YEAR-old former head of the Northern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works, Patience Mokhali, and a company director of Babereki Consulting Engineers, Tshego Motaung, appeared before the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday in connection with the construction of the Kimberley Mental Health Hospital.

Both accused persons were arrested earlier on Tuesday morning by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team in Kimberley on charges of contravening the Public Finance Management Act, fraud, corruption and money laundering.

Mokhali was released on R10,000 bail while Motaung was released on R50,000 bail and the case was postponed until July 11.

Hawks provincial spokesperson Nomthandazo Mnisi said that in 2003 the Northern Cape Department of Health, together with the Department of Roads and Public Works as implementing agent, embarked on a project to construct a new mental health facility in Kimberley.

The original contract was valued at R290 million.

"It is alleged that some of the constructed buildings faced possible demolition after R420 million was paid to a liquidated contractor on a project that was originally budgeted for R290 million. It was discovered that the company that was appointed did not have the capacity to render the service and the contract was terminated while money was already paid," said Mnisi.

She added that work on the project was halted, leaving the facility incomplete and unusable, at a considerable cost to the Department of Health.

"Officials allegedly did not follow the normal procurement procedures when appointing the consultant.

"While the mental health hospital was under construction there were issues of maladministration for the years that the project was ongoing. There was no value for money."

The provincial head of the directorate, Major-General Stephen Mabuela, welcomed the arrests and “applauded the investigation team and prosecution team for their diligent work under difficult circumstances”.

"Further arrests are imminent," he added.