The current head of the Free State Health Department, Godfrey Mahlatsi, is in cuffs for alleged tender fraud.
It was reported that the 52-year-old Godfrey Mahlatsi handed himself over to authorities on Friday morning on charges of contravention of the Public Finance Management Act and was released on a R5000 bail, in connection with alleged tender fraud amounting to over R8 million.
Mahlatsi allegedly paid R8 million to companies which submitted false and forged invoices for services that were never rendered.
Mahlatsi appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Friday as a result, and he also applied for bail. He is an accused, alongside 16 other officials, including his predecessor, David Motau.
Following Motau’s arrest in the latter half of 2021, the former HOD was promptly suspended from his role as the registrar of the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA).
According to reports, the alleged fraud took place between 2011 and 2015, involving several service providers. It’s alleged the invoices the department used to pay out over R8 million to said service providers, were falsified and forged.
It is further alleged that there is no evidence that the service providers in question carried out the work after they received millions from the Health Department.
The court heard that Mahlatsi failed to prevent wasteful expenditure incurred by the department. It’s alleged that during the course of regulatory audit at the Health Department in Bloemfontein, a team from the Auditor General’s office requested information on certain payments to service providers.
They subsequently queried procurement processes and an internal investigation followed. The probe revealed that false or forged requests for payment advice were submitted between January 2011 to December 2015.
“What actually happened is that he is only facing 44 counts of contravention of Public Finance Management Act. Because as HOD or accounting officer, he had the responsibility of ensuring that what the state alleges happened at the Department of Health is not happening. Even after they were notified by the Auditor General, they did not take any action against those that they alleged to have committed criminal offences in relation to the charges they are facing currently,” says Phaladi Shuping, Free State NPA Spokesperson.
Mahlatsi will join 16 other accused persons who were arrested in August last year. They include former Free State Health HOD, Dr David Motau.
“Further investigations revealed that Mr Mahlatsi was part of the old group where he was the accounting officer of the Department of Health,” Phaladi explains.
Mahlatsi appeared in court with his legs shackled. His case has been postponed to the 14th of March, when he will appear with the other accused.