Tembisa Hospital bosses splurged R500 000 on a shipment of skinny jeans – purchased while SA was in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic and just weeks before a third wave strained medical facilities to breaking point, claims a News24 report.

It says the payment for 200 pairs of denims – for girls aged between six and seven – was flagged by Babita Deokaran alongside thousands of other transactions out of the East Rand hospital worth more than R850m.

She was assassinated three weeks later. Today marks the one year anniversary of her killing.

The jeans contract was awarded to an obscure company named Inez Chaste – one of 10 separate business entities controlled by retired soccer star Themba Shabalala and his wife Evelyn.

The couple established a medical supply empire featuring in a broad network of 45 shell corporations – controlled by nine people – which scored more than R110m in contracts from the hospital in two months.

The firms in the Shabalala's stable pocketed R15m.

News24 says its investigation, drawing from a trove of Gauteng Department of Health emails and documents obtained through hundreds of company searches, has revealed a nexus of entities geared to extract cash from Tembisa's coffers.

None has offices or warehouse space and exists only on paper, illegally selling medical equipment, in some instances at vastly inflated prices.

Deokaran's report on ‘possibly fraudulent’ Tembisa deals, in which she called for a forensic investigation and halt to payments, was buried by Gauteng Health Department bosses after she was murdered.

Now companies owned by the former footballer and his wife – with others in the letterbox network – face a probe by the health products regulator which could result in criminal charges, and Special Investigating Unit boss Andy Mothibi said his outfit was ‘considering' investigating them.

Full News24 report