MIAMI, United States.- The South African Minister of Defense, Thandi Modise, will present before Parliament the results, so far, of the investigation into the million-dollar purchase of drugs against COVID-19 from Cuba last year.
According to a newspaper report Politics WebModise agreed to release preliminary results of the report after a Promotion of Access to Information Act request was filed.
In August 2021 Modise, then newly appointed South African Defense and Veterans Minister, said heads would roll after a purchase worth 214 million rand (equivalent to more than $14 million) was revealed. to Cuba of unregistered drugs against Covid-19.
Almost seven months later, the report assures that the South African Military Command Council, under the orders of Generals Shoke Dabula and Mzikayise Tyhalisi, obtained the unregistered Cuban drugs even though he was breaking the regulations acquisition and importation of medicines.
The generals, quoted by the press outlet, did not adhere “to the provisions of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) and the Procurement Guidelines of the PFMA”, which means that the first three deliveries of the drugs Cuban drugs (Heberon Alpha R 2B, known as Interferon Alpha 2b) were “fraudulent.”
According to the report, “the parties involved went ahead with this agreement fully aware of the acute financial constraints of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the South African National Defense Force (SANDF). Fortunately, the CFO took the brave step of refusing the second and third installment payments.”
The office of the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) classified the four orders “as irregular, unsuccessful and wasted spending. This, by extension, means that all the contracts under Operation Thusano were irregular.”
Responsibility now rests with the Department of Defense and the SANDF, the report says, who must take disciplinary action against all those involved in the scandal, and, if necessary, file criminal charges if it is found that the law was violated.
“Whether the efficacy of the drug is good or not is beside the point. The point here is who authorized this outside of the Department of Health. The acquisition process must be followed. I can’t wake up tomorrow and say I want a helicopter and that’s it,” Modise said last year when the millionaire purchase scandal was uncovered.
“There are processes that must be respected. There’s no way heads won’t roll. We are not going to excuse things, because we will be setting a bad precedent,” she added.
The South African health products regulator requested last December 2021 that the Defense Force return the Heberon Alpha R 2B to the islandor the government would confiscate and destroy the drug.
As was known at the time, this was the first time that the regulator had made such an order after the investigations into the scandal began.
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