Pretoria - The search and seizure operation at the offices of the Limpopo Department of Health in Polokwane over the multi-million rand Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) scandal will yield enough evidence to make arrests soon.
This is according to the head of criminology at the University of Limpopo, Professor Jaco Barkhuizen.
The Hawks stormed the department’s building and barred employees and officials from leaving while they confiscated their laptops and cellphones.
Speaking to Pretoria News yesterday, Barkhuizen said it meant that the law enforcement officials got a tip-off that there was incriminating evidence in the devices.
He said: “The reason why the Hawks would take cellphones and laptops is evidentiary values. There is potential evidence in these tools that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Hawks want to access before it can be deleted.
“Someone must have tipped them off that there would be evidence on these devices.
“That is also the reason that they didn't allow employees to leave while they were searching, so that people cannot erase this incriminating evidence before the court order was enforced.
“Usually this type of search and seizure operations are backed by a court order or some form of legal document.
“The operation is to safeguard incriminating evidence that will play a role in the court cases that will follow soon and this means there is some sort of prima facie evidence.
“The Hawks don't just go into a place willy nilly; so there must be some evidence that they were looking for which they got,” he said.
Last week, Hawks spokesperson Captain Matimba Maluleke confirmed that there was a search and seizure at the department.
Although Maluleke could not confirm what the operation was about, the Pretoria News can reveal that it was about the investigation into allegations of corruption related to the PPE procurement.
Head of department Dr Thokozani Mhlongo has since resigned amid an investigation and a disciplinary process over the R125 million scandal.
The chief financial officer, Justice Mudau, and several other officials have also been implicated in wrongdoing over the matter, after the SIU and suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane earlier this year recommended that there be an investigation and criminal charges.
The SIU report, which found irregularities in the awarding of the Limpopo PPE contracts, also implored Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba to take action against implicated officials.
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa is also confident that the Hawks’ raid will uncover incriminating evidence.
In a statement through its provincial chairperson Lesiba Monyaki, it welcomed the raid, saying this was a step in the right direction.
Monyaki said: “We hope that this is a step in the right direction in terms of identifying officials implicated in corruption activities related to the procurement of PPEs.
“We hope that the Hawks will accelerate their investigation, leave no stone unturned, and arrest all the implicated officials.”
National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union’s provincial secretary Moses Maubane echoed Monyaki’s views, also calling for the law to take its course.
He said: “We appreciate the interventions done by law enforcement but we are worried that it could be too little too late.
“It's also our belief that all that was confiscated there was working tools and the officials did the right thing to uncover evidence and arrest those who will be fingered.”
Pretoria News