Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa’s nephew from his first marriage, Hangwani Morgan Maumela, received almost R400 million from Gauteng hospital contracts that were red-flagged by assassinated whistle-blower Babita Deokaran.
Maumela is said to be an associate and next-door neighbour of Ramaphosa’s chief political adviser, Bejani Chauke, in a Hyde Park security complex.
A legislature reply by Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko estimated the amount gained by companies controlled by Maumela to be R381 million in just three years.
Nkomo-Ralehoko said Maumela’s companies were not registered with the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority.
Deokaran was gunned down in August 2021 after lifting the lid on suspicious contracts between the Gauteng Health Department and politically connected individuals.
Deokaran, 59, had identified the payments to Maumela’s businesses and other companies as “possibly fraudulent”.
As the contracts were all valued under R500 000 each, they were signed off by the Tembisa Hospital CEO, who has since been suspended, and could circumvent the usual tender processes.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya previously distanced the president from Maumela, whose company was reportedly paid R36m in one month by the Tembisa Hospital, while the legislature reply shows the actual amount from Gauteng hospitals to be R381m.
Approached yesterday by the Cape Argus with the updated figures, Magwenya said: “Regardless of what he (Maumela) has been paid, it has nothing to do with the president.”
News24 recently reported Health Department officials labelled Maumela as the Tembisa Hospital’s “Don” who wields considerable influence in the hospital’s supply chain processes.
Nine of his 14 companies did business with the hospital, according to the legislature reply.
The publication reported that Deokaran flagged R36 million in Tembisa Hospital payments meant for Maumela’s companies in a single month, while 12 companies linked to his family members were among businesses that scored R850 million flagged by Deokaran.
But the legislature reply pegs the figure at R381m in work done by Maumela for Gauteng hospitals in three years.
DA MPL and the party’s Gauteng spokesperson on health, Jack Bloom, said: “I asked (Nkomo-Ralehoko) about contracts awarded to 12 companies that got R36 million from Tembisa Hospital last year.
“It is now revealed that the Gauteng Health Department has paid a total of R381.4 million to these 12 companies from April 2019 to date.”
Of the R381m, R356m was paid by the struggling Tembisa Hospital, R22m came from Mamelodi Hospital, and R2.4m from other Gauteng hospitals.
The costs were for medical products, but Nkomo told Bloom “none of the listed companies have SA Health Products Regulatory Authority approval for the sale of medical products”.
“The suspicious thing is that they (the contracts) are all under R500 000,” Bloom told the Cape Argus.
“And there is no blacklisting of the companies and no disciplining of officials.”
Bloom said all the companies were letterbox companies.
Although the link to Ramaphosa was casual with regards to Maumela being related to him, the question was “how much of this money found its way to the ANC?”
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is already investigating splurges at the Tembisa Hospital, but Bloom called for the investigation’s net to be cast wider and to include Maumela.
“A response is required by the president and an even stronger reply by the provincial government.”
Attempts to reach Maumela proved futile as his companies have no business profiles or contact details on either social media or online. Chauke could also not be reached.
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za