Parliament’s Health Portfolio Committee Chairperson Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo says tender fraud syndicates implicated in the R 2 billion  Tembisa Hospital theft have committed treasonous acts and therefore deserve the harshest punishment possible.

He was responding to the Special Investigating Unit report released on Monday outlining tender fraud at the hospital.

The report also implicated Gauteng government officials and employees at the eastern Johannesburg hospital.

The procurement irregularities at the hospital led to the assassination of whistle blower Babita Deokaran, who was gunned down outside her Johannesburg home in August 2021.

Dlomo has called for discussions to consider bringing back the death penalty.

He says, “It’s treasonous to actually get taxpayers’ money dedicated to get better quality of health service and improve the quality of life of our citizens, buy more ambulances and employ doctors, to be used in this way, for buying Lamborghinis for self-interest. It’s a country of democracy, in other countries if you do such a treasonous act, you will actually make you not see life the next day. So, these are actually things that we need to discuss.”

VIDEO | SIU releases interim report on Tembisa Hospital investigation: