Motsoaledi Sends Warning Message to those who stole from Tembisa Hospital

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says he will not rest until all the money stolen from Tembisa Hospital has been recovered and those implicated in the corruption scandal are arrested.

Motsoaledi made the remarks on Friday during his visit to Mankweng Hospital in Limpopo, which recently made history following a groundbreaking surgical operation to separate the conjoined twins at the rural public health facility.

He was accompanied by Limpopo Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba, Provincial Health MEC, Dieketseng Mashego, and other senior health officials.

Recovering the money

The health minister said he would never tire of answering questions about Tembisa Hospital.

“Tembisa Hospital, you know very well we’ve answered this question many times, but I won’t tire of answering it. We are going to continue  working with the SIU [Special Investigating Unit], with NPA, and coincidentally, the person who discovered this, as head of SIU, is now the head of NPA.
He knows whom to charge. We are going to work together.

“I said, I won’t rest until at least 90% of the money they’ve stolen, we have recovered it. I’m saying 90% because they’ve already chowed some of the money. But, fortunately, you know, they bought Lamborghini. We’re going to get those Lamborghinis back. You know, they bought all the, you know, the things that are not necessary, because it’s not their money, we want them back,” Motsoaledi said.

Lamborghinis

In September 2025, the SIU obtained a preservation order to seize supercars from the Omar dealership in Witbank, linked to corruption-accused businessman and tender kingpin Hangwani Maumela, and connected to the alleged R2 billion looting at Tembisa Hospital.

The supercars include two Aston Martins, two Ferraris, and a Rolls-Royce.

The SIU seized the vehicles from the dealership following the raid at Maumela’s Sandhurst home, where three Lamborghinis were seized in October last year.

This followed an operation by the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) last year. The AFU confiscated around R400 million in assets, including luxury homes, four Lamborghinis, a Bentley, and a boat.

However, in February 2026, former Special Tribunal president Judge Margaret Victor ordered the conditional release of five luxury cars seized during an investigation into a looting scandal.

Victor found that the SIU Unit failed to disclose material facts in its original application and imposed strict conditions for the vehicles’ return to balance the dealership’s rights against the state’s need to preserve assets pending forfeiture proceedings.

Warning

Motsoaledi said that all those implicated in the Tembisa Hospital corruption scandal will not be spared.

“Some of the people involved there are working for the state. We have got their pension money. Yes, we are going to apply through all the right channels so that their money must be taken away. I’m sure you are aware. One of them was so scared, he brought the money back the money.

“An ordinary worker in a hospital brought 13 million back. I’ve been working for 42 years, and I don’t know if 13 million is anywhere in the world,” Motsoaledi said.

Employee

The health minister was referring to Zacharia Tshisele, a former employee at Tembisa Hospital, following an extensive investigation into procurement irregularities that uncovered a massive corruption network involving multiple officials and service providers.

Tshisele and a police official attached to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks, were arrested in November 2025 in connection with bribery and corruption linked to the healthcare facility.

The arrest followed the SIU’s uncovering of evidence that Tshisele received unlawful gratification from various service providers at the hospital between January 2020 and September 2023.

In November 2025, Tshisele paid R13 530 904.27 to the SIU, representing a portion of his ill-gotten gains.

Bring back the money

Motsoaledi warned others who benefited from corruption at Tembisa Hospital to return the money they had stolen.

“We are encouraging the others. Please bring that money back before we come for you, because you are definitely going to go for them.

“Some of them have built houses. We are going to apply to the State to go and fetch those houses. We will never rest, because this is people’s money, it’s your money, it’s also my money, because I pay tax,” Motsoaledi said.

Corruption

The investigation into the Tembisa Hospital corruption was precipitated by the receipt of a report from the late Babita Deokaran, who was assassinated on 23 August 2021 and who was the Chief Director: Financial Accounting at the Gauteng Department of Health.

Deokaran’s report detailed suspected procurement irregularities within Tembisa Hospital’s Supply Chain Management.

In October, The Citizen reported that Maumela splurged on a R52 million Pagani Huayra Roadster, one of the rarest cars ever built, using the ill-got millions from Tembisa Hospital through dubious and corrupt contracts.

The Pagani Huayra Roadster, one of only 100 in existence, built in Modena, Italy, was among Maumela’s R208 million car-buying spree in less than two years, through a syndicate of more than 40 shell companies.