Gospel singer Xolani Jwaga’s events company received more than R1.4m of the R50m spent in allegedly corrupt procurement initiated by suspended Tembisa Hospital chief executive Ashley Mthunzi, reports the Mail & Guardian. 

Despite a criminal investigation, which started in August, into how Gauteng’s health facilities had been looted, the modus operandi of initiating vanity purchases below R500,000 has continued, with two companies being paid R499 480 each in October for sports facilities at Pholosong Hospital in Tsakane, Ekurhuleni.

The sports facilities include a football pitch – a gravel patch with weeds growing out of it and goalposts on either side.

Next to the pitch is a netball court which workers at Pholosong said was a ‘pointless purchase because the hospital is in need of beds and wheelchairs, not sports facilities’. 

XPJ Events, owned by Jwaga, and Kgang Tswelopele Construction were the two companies paid in October to create the sports facilities, with the invoices signed by Pholosong acting chief executive Nthabiseng Makgana.

The payment of invoices to dodgy companies comes after a M&G investigation last year into the activities of Mthunzi and his alleged associates at Pholosong.

The investigation revealed splitting projects to keep amounts below R500,000 was common at the hospital, an example being the August 2021 building of a guardhouse at the main gate, given to R&A Building Supplies and Siyakhula Supplies for R497,915 and R498,500 respectively.

The directors, Ockert Britz at R&A and Lynette Schoeman at Siyakhula, said there was nothing untoward about the two firms getting work at the hospital, reports the M&G.

The Pholosong transactions included R475,000 awarded to Jwaga’s events firm in December 2020 to host a music concert at Pholosong at the height of the Covid‑19 third wave.

In April, Jwaga also received R498,000 to paint corridors at Pholosong.

In August, Kgang Tswelopele was paid R498,450 to install vinyl floors at Far East Rand Hospital.

Jwaga has denied being involved in any sport facility project, saying he did not know of a company called Kgang Tswelopele. He also denied organising a music concert at Pholosong, saying: ‘I didn’t do a music concert; I did a closing function and acknowledgement of employees.’

On the other maintenance contracts he received, Jwaga said: ‘I was happy with the jobs (I did) and did them according to the specifications.’

Kgang Tswelopele director Mandla Makhubela said the football pitch was completed in September but his company had not done the markings on it yet. He added that, as far as he knew, he was the only contractor for the football pitch.

He knew nothing about split projects.

Full Mail & Guardian report