PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has placed Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize on special leave pending the outcome of an investigation into his alleged role in the awarding of an R150 million communications tender to a company headed by two of his aides and associates.
The president said this period of special leave will enable the minister to attend to allegations and investigations related to controversial contract between the Department of Health and Digital Vibes.
“The Special Investigating Unit is investigating this matter and the President awaits a report on the outcome of this probe,” Ramaphosa said in a statement on Tuesday.
Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane will serve as acting Minister of Health until further notice.
Mkhize told reporters in the Northern Cape on Tuesday that he had suggested to Ramaphosa to go on special leave.
“We have not discussed the issue of resignation. We have discussed the issue of special leave pending the report of the SIU (Special Investigating Unit). I raised it with the president,” said Mkhize.
Mkhize told reporters that he had written to the ANC integrity commission, indicating his willingness to appear before it, but a date has yet to be set for him to do so.
“I have written to them to say there is information we need to collect. We have not got a date set, but that is going to be done,” he said.
The health department awarded a contract to Digital Vibes in 2019 for work on National Health Insurance (NHI) and then extended it to include work on the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Concern about the contract was first flagged by the auditor-general in December, prompting the health department to commission an investigation by tax, assurance and advisory firm Ngubane, which found the contract had been irregularly awarded, in contravention of the Public finance Management Act.
The contract is currently being investigated by the SIU, which is expected to finalise its report by the end of June.
Daily Maverick, which first broke news of the questionable contract in February, subsequently reported that Digital Vibes paid for a car registered in Mkhize’s son’s name and paid maintenance bills at a house owned by his family trust.
Sunday Times reported on May 30 that Mkhize had personally signed off on the contract, an allegation he denied on Tuesday.
Last week, Mkhize declined to appear before parliament to answer questions about the matter, on the grounds that his legal advisers had told him not to do so because it was still under investigation by the SIU.
