SIU has R1.6bn in health cases

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has instituted more than R1.6bn in healthrelated civil action cases in the high court and the SIU special tribunal. The total amount under litigation by the SIU is R79.2bn, said its head, Andy Mothibi.

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which investigates and prosecutes corruption, malpractice and maladministration by organs of state, has instituted more than R1.6bn in healthrelated civil action cases in the high court and the SIU Special Tribunal.

The total amount under litigation by the SIU is R79.2bn, SIU head Andy Mothibi said on Friday. Sixty of these cases involving R66.1bn are in the high court and 144 cases involving R13.1bn are in the Special Tribunal.

The R1.6bn in health-related civil cases instituted includes about R500m that is linked to a probe into the affairs of the office of the state attorney regarding medical negligence claims and legal service claims, the SIU said in a statement on Friday.

The SIU was mandated by a proclamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 to investigate allegations of corruption related to the state attorney’s office. The allegations included collusion between state attorneys and legal practitioners to defraud the state.

The SIU noted that 18 legal practitioners who allegedly assisted the office of the state attorney in rendering legal services regarding medical negligence claims for the Gauteng and Eastern Cape departments of health are being investigated.

The Health Sector Anti-Corruption Forum (HSACF) also provided an update of investigations into various entities in the health sector and the state attorney’s office. It estimated the potential cash or assets to be recovered from the wrongful procurement of legal services by the office at R4bn.

An amount of R1.6bn was the estimated potential cash or assets that could be recovered in cases of maladministration by the state attorney’s office regarding claims against the police for wrongful arrest or detention, assault or malicious prosecution.

The HSACF was established by Ramaphosa in October 2019 after the 2018 presidential health summit. It consists of various stakeholders such as civil society, law enforcement agencies, health sector regulators, government departments and the private sector.

It is chaired by SIU head advocate Andy Mothibi.

One of the recent civil cases instituted by the SIU is that against advocate Hassan Ebrahim Kajee, who appeared in the Johannesburg regional court on April 3 on charges of fraud.

He was appointed by the state attorney to represent the state in various matters and is alleged to have inflated invoices for services not actually rendered and overcharged for alleged services rendered. It is also alleged that he billed the state attorney’s office for more hours worked daily than actual hours in the day and invoiced for work on different matters simultaneously.

The SIU is pursuing a civil case in the Special Tribunal against Kajee to recover about R27m in damages the state suffered, because of the alleged corrupt and collusive relationship between him and the former head of the Johannesburg state attorney’s office Gustav Lekabe, who is alleged to have briefed Kajee in many matters in which the applicant charged for legal fees not actually rendered, doubled-charged for similar work done in a specific matter and double-invoiced the office of the state attorney.

Allegations of corruption against state attorneys have also been made in medico-legal cases. Treasury has grown increasingly concerned about the ballooning medico-legal claims against the state, and the risk these pose to the public purse. Provinces reported contingent liabilities (the cost if all claims were successful) of R120.3bn in the 2021/22 fiscal year, most of which were for severe birth injuries such as cerebral palsy.

In July 2022, Ramaphosa gave the SIU the go-ahead to probe allegations of graft and maladministration at national and provincial health departments, specifically focused on the billions in medical negligence claims that have crippled the health department’s budget. Health minister Joe Phaahla has noted that some legal firms had already been referred to the SIU.

TREASURY HAS GROWN CONCERNED ABOUT THE BALLOONING MEDICO-LEGAL CLAIMS AGAINST THE STATE