Gauteng health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko is steadfastly backing her “chief lieutenant”, former head of department (HOD) for health Lesiba Malotana, defending him as “the best the department has ever had” — despite his having been flagged by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) as a high-risk individual.
The Sunday Times last year reported that an SIU lifestyle audit found Malotana had benefited to the tune of R1.6m in questionable ATM cash deposits suspected to be linked to the R1.8bn looting of Tembisa Hospital. The SIU wants to probe his financial affairs further.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi suspended Malotana shortly after he failed the lifestyle audit. However, he brought him back to work as a senior manager in the department of co-operative governance & traditional affairs this month, as his 60-day suspension period lapsed before charges had been laid against him.
Despite the litany of allegations against Malotana, Nkomo-Ralehoko claimed her former HOD had been “victimised”.
“It’s a pity that it happened to be him who [was] victimised and singled out. [There were] other HODs who were high risk, but they decided to [pull] him aside. I’m happy the premier has brought him back into the system. He is working somewhere, and he is happy where he is now because he will [be able to] make a difference,” Nkomo-Ralehoko told the Sunday Times this week.
It has since emerged that Nkomo-Ralehoko went to great lengths to have Malotana as her HOD when she took office in 2023 and that she asked his predecessor, Dr Nomonde Nolutshungu, to resign to make way for him.
You must always protect a person when he has done good … Unfortunately, South Africans always want to destroy a person
— Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, Gauteng health MEC
Nolutshungu plans to sue the provincial government for R3.7m in damages she suffered as a result of losing her job. She claims she was coerced into resigning by Nkomo-Ralehoko, who promised she would be “taken care of” until she was appointed to a different role. But this undertaking was not honoured.
Nolutshungu, who wants to be paid out in terms of her contract, claims she vacated her role before her contract had expired because Nkomo-Ralehoko wanted to work with Malotana.
Gauteng government insiders say Nolutshungu was left at risk of losing her house and car, and of her children being pulled out of school owing to her failure to pay school fees.
When she was approached for comment this week, Nkomo-Ralehoko said Nolutshungu had withdrawn her damages claim.
Insiders are sceptical about this claimed about-turn, which comes on the eve of the ANC’s Gauteng conference, where Nkomo-Ralehoko is challenging Lesufi for the position of provincial chair.
“She [so desperately] wanted to have Malotana there … that she even told this lady to resign, knowing full well she had no plans to redeploy her. The poor woman ended up losing her livelihood, and now she wants her money,” said a Gauteng government source.
The source said it was not surprising Nkomo-Ralehoko was defending Malotana, because “he knows where all the bodies are buried” and was regarded as her “chief lieutenant” in the department.
In an interview with the Sunday Times this week, Nkomo-Ralehoko said that, while she thought Lesufi’s decision to remove Malotana was “fine”, she felt he had been singled out because of his position at the health department.
It’s false to suggest there has been a failure to institute disciplinary action. The disciplinary process is currently under way. All three officials have already had [some of] their hearings. Malotana’s next hearing is in March. The others have already appeared before the disciplinary committee
— Elijah Mhlanga, spokesperson for Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi
“I think it’s the stigma of the department that [led to] him [being] shifted completely and [moved] outside the system, but he is back now. It’s history. It’s water under the bridge because he is back. I have confidence in him because he is the one person I have worked with who [has helped] me clear this department.
“There is no other HOD who will do better than he has done, including the one I have now, who is still learning the ropes. [Malotana] didn’t [need to] learn the ropes because he had already been in the system for more than 14 years, working in other portfolios. I know he has made his mark.
“I will never do what South Africans always do. You rubbish all the good things a person has done because something has happened to him. I’m one person that doesn’t do that, because I don’t want someone to do that to me. You must always protect a person when he has done good … Unfortunately, South Africans always want to destroy a person,” she said.
Though the Gauteng government said earlier in the week that the precautionary suspensions of Malotana and others had been lifted because the 60-day period during which they should have gone through a disciplinary process had lapsed, Lesufi’s spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said yesterday this process had in fact started.
“It’s false to suggest there has been a failure to institute disciplinary action. The disciplinary process is currently under way. All three officials have already had [some of] their hearings. Malotana’s next hearing is in March. The others have already appeared before the disciplinary committee,” he said.
However, Mhlanga could not explain why they were back at work, albeit in different roles, if the alleged misconduct hearings had started, except to say that the risk of their interfering with the disciplinary process was now minimal.
“Formal hearings have started. [The officials] are back at work because investigations have been completed and only the hearings are in progress. They are working because the risk of interference [in the disciplinary process] is reduced due to the completed investigations. As a precaution, [the officials have been] deployed elsewhere pending the finalisation of the disciplinary process,” he said.
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