The Johannesburg High Court granted the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) a final order stripping Hangwani Maumela of mansions, Lamborghinis and Bentleys.
Slain Gauteng senior finance official Babita Deokaran. Picture: Facebook
The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has demanded that asset forfeiture orders against tender kingpins be matched with prosecutions, supplier blacklisting, and long jail terms.
The foundation warned that stripping syndicates of Lamborghinis and mansions is no substitute for prison cells when billions looted from Tembisa Hospital left infants and patients without care.
Accountability
Welcoming the Johannesburg High Court’s R326 million final asset forfeiture order against the Maumela syndicate, the Foundation stressed that true accountability requires the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to secure criminal convictions and lengthy jail sentences for every kingpin who stripped Tembisa Hospital of healthcare resources.
On Monday, the court granted the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) a final order against corruption‑accused businessman and hospital tender kingpin Hangwani Maumela, seizing mansions, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, and other luxury assets.
It marks a significant step in the State’s effort to claw back proceeds allegedly derived from the sprawling R2.3 billion hospital corruption scheme.
‘Sheer cruelty’
Neeshan Balton, Executive Director of the Foundation, said the “sheer cruelty” of this criminality is laid bare by the seized assets themselves.
“While patients at Tembisa Hospital suffered due to broken incubators in overcrowded neonatal wards, acute shortages of life‑saving ICU beds, and a lack of basic surgical gloves, the perpetrators used blood money meant for public health to fund lives of extreme affluence.
“The final forfeiture order strips the syndicate of a fleet of ultra‑luxury sports cars-including Lamborghinis, Porsches, and high‑end Mercedes‑Benz vehicles-alongside multi‑million rand mansions in South Africa’s most exclusive estates.
“Spending public healthcare funds on personal vanity while vulnerable infants and citizens languish in underfunded hospital wards is an absolute moral failure,” he said.
More needed
Balton added that recovering stolen cash and seizing luxury fleets is a vital step, but deeply insufficient on its own.
“Buying a supercar with money stolen from a dying patient’s healthcare fund is not just corruption; it is a crime against humanity.
“The state cannot allow asset forfeiture to become a mere financial penalty or the ‘cost of doing business’ for these networks. We demand that the NPA put these syndicate kingpins behind bars where they belong.”
Investigations
The Foundation pointed to investigations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and journalists that exposed a massive R2 billion criminal network involving multiple extraction syndicates.
It demanded immediate answers from law enforcement on the status of criminal cases against all of these networks, including the prominent syndicate commanded by Stefan Govindraju.
Investigations revealed Govindraju controlled an armada of front companies that bled R437 million from the hospital’s budget.
Warning
The Foundation warned the state cannot celebrate the forfeiture of Maumela’s assets while kingpins like Govindraju, Rudolph Mazibuko and underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala have yet to face prosecution, conviction and incarceration.
It also slammed bureaucratic blame‑shifting between the Gauteng Premier, Health MEC and National Treasury over blacklisting powers, demanding an immediate blanket ban on all 207 service providers flagged in the Tembisa heist.
Criminal enterprise
Balton said the entire criminal enterprise was exposed through the bravery of Babita Deokaran, who flagged R850 million in suspicious tenders before she was assassinated.
“As South Africa approaches the anniversary of her death on 23 August 2026, the ultimate tribute to her memory cannot be partial financial asset recovery.
“It must be the complete criminal prosecution of every syndicate leader, the blacklisting of their front companies, and the incarceration of the masterminds who funded her murder,” he said.
The Foundation has called on the NPA and the Hawks to demonstrate transparency and immediately release a public update on pending criminal charges and arrests against Maumela, Govindraju and complicit hospital officials who “enabled this systemic looting.”
