The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson has terminated a lease agreement between his department and Medicare 24 Tshwane District for a hospital facility in Pretoria West .

This come after an internal investigation found that the lease could not lawfully be implemented.

The lease was terminated with immediate effect on Friday morning, following allegations raised in a Parliamentary Ad hoc Committee and an investigation by a South African media company.

The reports alleged that Medicare 24 Tshwane District, reportedly owned by Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and where he was previously listed as a director, bypassed standard procurement processes to secure the lease.

Matlala, who has previously secured high-value government contracts, has recently been at the centre of allegations relating to fraud, corruption, and violent crime.

His company, Medicare 24 Tshwane District, previously held a R360 million contract to provide health services to South African Police Service employees, which was later cancelled by National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola.

Macpherson said he instructed the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure to conduct an internal investigation after becoming aware of the allegations.

The investigation found that the lease agreement, entered into in December 2023, could not come into operation because the hospital facility had not been declared surplus to the requirements of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

In terms of the Government Immovable Asset Management Act, 2007, SAPS remains the designated user of the facility. Departmental records further indicate that SAPS continues to require the hospital for service-delivery purposes.

The formal declaration of a property as surplus is a necessary legal requirement before any lease agreement can take effect.

The Department said the lease was terminated to ensure legal certainty and compliance with applicable legislation and governance frameworks, and to prevent any potential waste of public funds.

“As soon as I learnt of the serious allegations raised, I requested a thorough investigation by the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure, which found that the property had not been declared surplus by SAPS and that the lease agreement could therefore not be implemented,” Macpherson said.

“In line with my commitment to ensure that public assets are used for the public good, I instructed that a termination of the lease be issued to prevent any wastage of public funds. As a Department, we can never tolerate the abuse of state resources.”

The Minister said the Department would now launch an extensive internal investigation to determine how the lease was authorised.

He said any officials implicated would be held accountable and that information relating to possible criminality would be handed over to law-enforcement agencies.

“We will now embark on an extensive internal investigation to ensure that any officials who played a role in authorising this lease are held accountable.

”We will also work closely with law-enforcement agencies and hand over any information relating to possible criminality to ensure that those responsible face the full might of the law,” he said.

Macpherson added that decisive action was being taken to address corruption and abuse within the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure, and to ensure that it delivers meaningfully for the South African people.

hope.ntanzi@iol.co.za

IOL Politics 

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