Publications
Partners
Disgraced former Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital boss Dr Nozuko Mkabayi has landed a top job in the Gauteng health department despite the health ombud’s damning report on her poor performance in her previous position.
Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko revealed in a written reply to the DA's questions in the provincial legislature that Mkabayi is now the acting director responsible for HIV and AIDS/STI/TB (HAST) and earns the same salary as a hospital CEO.
Over a year ago, the then health ombud Professor Malegapuru Makgoba recommended that Mkabayi be removed as CEO of Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital after she went absent without leave for almost 100 days while the hospital was declared unsafe.
READ: Award-winning hospital dilapidated after decades of neglect
Mkabayi was transferred out of the hospital after it was found that, between her appointment in January 2021 and March last year, she had spent only 182 days at work, missing a further 98 days for no reason.
She was removed following a year-long investigation that revealed chaos at the country’s second-largest maternity hospital, sparked by a grievance from 55 staff members of the neonatal ward in June 2021, who stated that the ward was overcrowded, with up to 80 patients and only 35 beds.
At the time, the EFF lamented that Mkabayi had a decorated history of "failure, incompetence and maladministration during her tenure as director of the department of health in the Eastern Cape".
DA member of the legislature and spokesperson for health in Gauteng, Jack Bloom, said the MEC also revealed in her answer that no disciplinary action had been taken against Mkabayi despite the health ombud’s findings.
He said:
Bloom said Mkabayi notoriously suspended Dr Tim de Maayer who bravely exposed these conditions, and she only backtracked after the public outcry.
READ: Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital a neglected mess, health ombud finds
He said:
Bloom said the other big disappointment was that the department had received no feedback from Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi's office, which was supposed to appoint an independent forensic and audit firm to investigate the hospital.
He said this was yet another example where a cadre was protected at the expense of patients, saying they called for the full implementation of the health ombud’s report to ensure accountability and decent treatment of mothers and children at the Rahima Moosa hospital.
Khutso Rabothata, Gauteng department of health spokesperson, said there were internal processes unfolding but, due to the employer-employee confidentiality clause, they could not issue detailed information to the media on this matter.
