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Limpopo R182m PPE probe leads to pension freeze for former health head Dr Thokozani Mhlongo

Limpopo R182m PPE probe leads to pension freeze for former health head Dr Thokozani Mhlongo
Tamsin Metelerkamp
By Tamsin Metelerkamp
27 Oct 2022
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The Government Employees Pension Fund has been prohibited from paying out pension benefits to Dr Thokozani Florence Mhlongo, former head of Limpopo’s health department. This comes after an investigation into irregularities in the department’s appointment of PPE service providers during the pandemic.

The pension benefits of Dr Thokozani Florence Mhlongo, former head of the Limpopo health department, have been frozen following a preservation order granted by the Special Tribunal to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

The order, issued on 13 October, prohibits the Government Employees Pension Fund from paying out any benefits to Mhlongo, “pending the final determination of civil proceedings… for recovery of damages or losses and disgorgement of profit derived from unlawful contracts and secret profits”. 

It further states that civil proceedings are to be instituted within 60 days of the granting of the order.

“The SIU welcomes the preservation order granted by the Special Tribunal. This is a continuation of the implementation of the SIU investigation outcomes and consequence management to recover assets and financial losses suffered by state institutions and… to prevent further losses,” stated an SIU press release from Thursday, 27 October.



Mhlongo resigned from her post as health department head in June this year, according to the SIU. At the time, she was facing a disciplinary hearing as a result of the SIU investigation into the department’s procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic.

Just two months before Mhlongo’s resignation, the Public Protector issued a report on “allegations of maladministration, procurement irregularities and nepotism” in the awarding of tenders for the supply of PPE by the Limpopo health department.

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According to the report, the allegation that the Limpopo health department did not follow due processes in the procurement of PPE had been substantiated.

Mhlongo was found to be in contravention of the Public Finance Management Act for — among other things — making or permitting an unauthorised, irregular or wasteful expenditure, and failing to exercise the power to prevent unauthorised expenditure.

The report stated that remedial action had to be taken against Mhlongo and all supply chain management officials involved in the procurement of PPE.

SIU investigation


The SIU stated that its investigation had uncovered irregularities in the department’s appointment of three service providers for the supply and delivery of PPE: Clinipro Pty Ltd, Pro Secure Pty Ltd and Ndia Business Trading (Pty) Ltd.

The irregular expenditure amounts to about R182-million.

“Furthermore, the SIU investigation revealed that Dr Mhlongo, as the accounting officer, allegedly exposed the department to a wasteful expenditure when she authorised the procurement and payment of 10,000 cellphones to the value of R10-million for Covid-19 household screening,” according to the SIU.



The health department distributed 388 of the cellphones between September 2020 and March 2021. However, the required mobile application for Covid household screening had not been installed on any of the devices.

In March 2021, SIU investigators counted the number of cellphones still in storage. Thereafter, a further 9,588 devices were issued to community health workers — again without the screening application installed.

Maverick Citizen asked Willy Mosoma, the spokesperson for Limpopo’s premier, about the investigation into Mhlongo’s conduct and the freezing of her pension benefits, but was referred to the provincial department of health for comment.

Spokesperson for the department, Neil Shikwambana, told Maverick Citizen, “We can’t comment on the issue because it is an issue between the SIU and Dr Mhlongo.”

Past procurement issues


In 2019, the Limpopo health department came under scrutiny for awarding a three-year, R16-million tender to an aeromedical company, Buthelezi Emergency Medical Services, that was under investigation by the SIU in the Free State and North West.

At the time the tender was awarded, the company did not have the certification required to provide an aeromedical service from the Polokwane base in Limpopo, according to a Spotlight report. It was therefore unable to provide the service.

News24 reported that there had been allegations of impropriety around the tender-awarding process, and that Mhlongo and chief financial officer, Joseph Mudau, had been accused of receiving kickbacks.

Shikwambana told Maverick Citizen that the department did not “remember any report from the SIU that implicated the [former head of department] on the tender for aeromedicine”.

Maverick Citizen asked the SIU about the outcome of its investigation into Buthelezi Emergency Medical Services, but had not received a response at the time of publishing. DM/MC

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