This week, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) held a press-briefing where it laid out an alleged web of corruption at Tembisa Hospital worth more than R2.04 billion, detailing fronting schemes, rigged quotations, money-laundering channels and three primary syndicates, with disciplinary referrals prepared against officials of the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH).

Releasing its interim report, the SIU said the probe currently covers more than two hundred service providers that traded with Tembisa Hospital via thousands of purchase orders. The total value of matters under investigation is expected to rise above the R2.04 billion as additional money flows and related tenders are identified.

According to the report, a network linked to Hangwani Morgan Maumela (a nephew of President Ramaphosa through a previous marriage) has been prioritised for investigation, with hundreds of procurement bundles (combinations of multiple, separate goods or services requirements wrapped into a single procurement contract) under review and dozens of connected suppliers flagged.

A second network tied to a Rudolph Mazibuko is under analysis alongside a third network of smaller syndicates labelled Syndicate X. Together they span well over a thousand procurement bundles worth hundreds of millions of rands.

Investigators estimate that sizeable assets are linked to these groupings and have noted connections to several smaller syndicates that have been traced through shared directorships and bank-account flows.

The SIU says assets approaching R200 million have been identified and seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), including high-value properties and luxury vehicles.

The SIU says the alleged corruption was enabled by officials at Tembisa Hospital and within the GDoH through manipulation of request-for-quotation processes and splitting orders to keep transactions under R500 000 (transactions valued at above R500 000 automatically trigger certain procurement processes and checks).

Bids were routed to non-compliant suppliers outside the Central Supplier Database (CSD), vetting committees and compliance checks were bypassed, and key documentation such as B-BBEE affidavits, CSD reports, and tax clearances were misused or are missing.

On implicated officials, the SIU calculates corrupt payments linked to GDoH staff in excess of R120 million. It has prepared more than a hundred disciplinary referrals covering maladministration and irregular appointments of service providers. The implicated cohort ranges from entry-level clerks to management, with more staff expected to be implicated as the investigation progresses.

The SIU has referred cases to the NPA for prosecution, and to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority for alleged contraventions of the Medicines and Related Substances Act.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has welcomed the SIU’s work but says the credibility test now sits with the police and prosecutors. The party said consequences must be clear and immediate: "Justice at Tembisa Hospital depends on the SAPS investigating and the NPA prosecuting the masterminds behind the looting and Babita Deokaran’s murder."

According to DA spokesperson on Justice and Constitutional Development, Glynnis Breytenbach: "The report by the SIU is worth as much as the paper it is written on without the SAPS and NPA doing their part in bringing those responsible to justice...No more delays, no more failures, no more excuses."

The SIU investigation traces its genesis to the late whistle-blower Babita Deokaran’s alerts in 2021 about unusual spending patterns at Tembisa Hospital. Deokaran was subsequently assassinated. Two years later a presidential proclamation authorised the SIU to examine procurement patterns at the hospital.

The SIU anticipates completing its investigation into procurement at the Tembisa Hospital by November 2027.