National Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has promised to fast-track the matter of corruption in the Digital Vibes tender as a matter of urgency and promised that all officials implicated will be served with suspension letters before the end of business on Thursday.

Addressing the media following the release of the much anticipated report from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), Phaahla said his department wished to fast-track the matter so that more focus as directed towards the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as other department work.

The SIU report found that former Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize’s department awarded a R150-million contract, in 2019, to Digital Vibes to provide communication services for government’s National Health Insurance and, later, its Covid-19 response.

Irregular expenditure amounting to about R150-million, and fruitless and wasteful expenditure of between R72-million and R80-million, were incurred by the Department of Health (DoH), according to the findings.

The report also revealed that former acting director-general of the DoH Dr Anban Pillay, should be criminally prosecuted for financial misconduct.

“We have noted that there are serious allegations against a number of departmental senior officials, notably that of our deputy director-general responsible for health regulations and compliance, Dr Anban Pillay, who at the time of the awarding of this contract was the acting director-general, when the contracts of communication were awarded to the company Digital Vibes,” said Phaahla.

He promised that Pillay would be out of the office by the end of the day.

The department has also completed the review of the Ngubane and Co. report and the SIU report that outlines possible misconduct by nine officials.

The Minister reported that three of the nine officials mentioned in the report, were not employed by the DoH but were from the Government Printing Works, and the departments of Home Affairs and Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

DoH acting director-general Dr Nicholas Crisp has written to the director generals of the Government Communication and Information System Department, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the CEO of the Government Printing Works to inform them of actions taken by the DoH.

"I've spoken to the implicated officials over the phone and the lawyers are currently preparing the letters for [precautionary suspensions]. These incidents shouldn't happen. But sometimes people are sucked into a process, willingly or unwillingly, and unable to get themselves out of the process, or don't realise soon enough that the process is flawed,” he said.

Phaahla said whistleblowing was still an important factor in bringing about justice in government.

“We fully understand the public concern and interest in this matter because it involves allegations of misappropriation of public funds in the middle of a major fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which has so far cost the country substantial spending of unbudgeted funds, as well as costing many, many lives - we have already passed 87 000 recorded lives lost from this Covid-19 - and also livelihoods,” he said.

Phaahla promised that the SIU would be briefed on the process taking place within his department.

He assured that his department was committed to clean governance and asked South Africans to have confidence in the department, promising that it would do everything in its power to handle the matter guided by the public service code of ethics.

He apologised to South Africans for the devastating saga in his department and promised that nothing would be swept under the carpet.

He said it was not just a question of image, with the matter having brought shame to his department, but also a question of not letting the matter affect the capacity for service delivery within the DoH.

“We take very seriously the evidence gathered by the SIU and have noted the view that there may also be scope for criminal charges. These SIU findings will guide us in looking into the alleged conduct of officials in the report and assessing disciplinary steps, corrective and preventative interventions,” Phaahla said.