While many people were affected by Covid-19 in 2020, a Mpumalanga Department of Health official allegedly financially benefited from personal protective equipment (PPE) funding.

Mpumalanga News reports that this has resulted in a high court preservation order for the forfeiture of a property and three vehicles, amounting to millions of rands, against the people involved.

Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson Colonel Magonseni Nkosi says a former secretary in the provincial health department, Sanele Sanderson, allegedly colluded with two service providers in faking the purchasing and delivery of the PPE.

“The director’s secretary engaged herself in alleged fraudulent activities that led to the department suffering a loss of about R5m in 2020,” says Nkosi.

“As a result, the service providers unlawfully benefited from the products that were never delivered,” he adds.

He says Sanderson’s alleged actions resulted in the service providers receiving payment and buying a residential property worth R1.5m in Barberton.

The house was registered under the name of a company called Zanderson Establishment, of which the sole director was Sanderson’s daughter, Yolanda Sanderson.

“The property was later sold for the same amount. Shortly afterwards, the family bought another residential property in Sunninghill, Johannesburg. The house was then registered in [the name of] a company named SS Umoya, directed by the former secretary, Sanele Sanderson,” says Nkosi.

He says investigations conducted by the Hawks resulted in the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court, sitting in Mbombela, ordering the forfeiture of the Sunninghill house and three vehicles on Tuesday.

“The forfeited house is estimated to be valued at R1.5m and the three vehicles, owned by the two service providers, a Toyota Quantum, a Hyundai light delivery vehicle and a VW Golf, are estimated to have a combined value of R1m,” Nkosi adds.

The provincial head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Major General Nico Gerber, says criminal investigations are ongoing.

“Benefits derived from proceeds of crime will be traced, restrained, forfeited and sold to recoup the state’s losses.

“This is a clear example of law enforcement entities working in collaboration with one another. The Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority and the Asset Investigation Section of the Hawks collaborated and ensured the successful forfeiture. This must send a stern message that we will seize assets, no matter how they are disguised, if bought through proceeds of crime. Crime must not pay,” he adds.

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