Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson has ordered the expansion of the scope of the forensic investigation into the PSA Oxygen Plant project to include Health Department officials.
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In a dramatic turn of events, officials from the Department of Health are set to face scrutiny over their potential involvement in the awarding of a controversial R800 million Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Oxygen Plant tender.
This follows the decision by the Department of Public Works to broaden the scope of the initial investigation conducted by audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) into the tender that was managed by Independent Development Trust (IDT) on behalf of the Health Department.
The independent investigation comes months after a prior probe uncovered irregularities in the IDT's contract awarding practices and several of its officials were implicated.
No officials from the Health Department had been fingered for wrongdoing because the investigation did not focus on their role in the awarding of the tender.
Democratic Alliance MP Michele Clarke has pushed for answers, recently directing parliamentary questions on the matter to Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson.
Clarke’s inquiries focused on whether a specific senior health official was under investigation regarding their involvement in a R428 million contract for the installation of PSA oxygen plants across 45 public hospitals.
She also sought clarity on the leadership of the investigation and the status of any disciplinary action taken.
Macpherson, in a written response released this week, confirmed that he had instructed the relevant division within his department to broaden the scope of a forensic investigation that originally focused solely on the IDT.
This expanded probe will now scrutinise the roles of Department of Health officials involved in the tender awarding process following a request by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
“The investigation under way will examine the roles and conduct of all Department of Health officials who participated in the awarding of the tenders, rather than focusing on any specific individual,” he said.
Clarke had previously inquired whether Motsoaledi's department was investigating a specific senior official in connection with the tender.
Motsoaledi had responded at the time that PWC only investigated IDT staff, and Macpherson had informed him that Health Department Director-General Sandile Buthelezi was interviewed by the investigators, but they did not make any recommendations about him.
He had subsequently asked Macpherson to request PWC to extend their investigation to include all officials from the Health Department who were involved in the matter.
“Consequence management for health officials will be guided by the recommendations that will be provided in the report, which is awaited from the DPWI,” said Motsaledi about four months ago.
Macpherson confirmed this week that PWC has been reappointed to conduct a more comprehensive review of the actions of Health Department officials connected to the PSA Oxygen Plants tender managed by the IDT.
“The investigation is currently at execution phase,” he said.
“Any consequence management against Department of Health officials will be informed by the findings of the investigation once finalised. The process has not advanced to that stage,” said Macpherson.