Motsoaledi told MPs that when Daily Maverick broke the stunning news a fortnight ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered him to probe the matter and submit a report to him within 14 days.
On top of that, the global fund set up to fight HIV, TB and malaria, which is funding the oxygen supply project at the 55 public hospital, has also resolved to send its own team to SA to investigate the matter.
“When this story broke out, it disturbed all of us, including the president who wrote me a letter [asking me] to present to him a report within 14 days,” Motsoaledi told the National Assembly, sitting in a makeshift marquee in Cape Town.
The IDT is managing the oxygen supply tender on behalf of the department of health, in its capacity as an implementing agent of the department of public works. “For this reason, it’s the minister of public works, minister [Dean] Macpherson, who is investigating this issue — but I talk to him every day about it, including even today, to get to the bottom of this,” added Motsoaledi.
The health minister said the Global Fund, which funds health projects in South Africa to the tune of R10bn every three years, was also conducting its own probe into the oxygen tender to ensure its money was not being “wasted”.
“In the aftermath of Covid-19, they were worried when they heard stories that in some hospitals, they were short of oxygen for patients who needed it. That’s why they decided that part of the money must now be used to put oxygen plants in 55 hospitals, so that in future those hospitals will no longer issue tenders for oxygen by be self-sufficient.”
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