The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on the Northern Cape MEC of Health to ensure that legal fees paid by the state to cover the corruption court cases of former Health HOD, Dr Dion Theys, be urgently recovered.
The state paid over R6, 303 million rand to fund Theys’s legal battles. This includes R409 221.33 for pre-trial costs, R1 647 071.15 for trial, R3 249 228.78 for High Court costs and a further R998 323,30 to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Theys has been in and out of court over the past couple of years. In August 2023, he was convicted of contravening Section 86(1) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), having irregularly concluded three lease agreements for nursing accommodation. The Kimberley High Court dismissed his appeal in December 2024. Theys was also arrested in relation to two separate multimillion-rand personal protective equipment (PPE) cases. They were struck off the roll in December last year. The prosecution indicated its intent to reinstate the charges.
According to a parliamentary response by the National Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, the former acting HOD, Riaan Strydom, approved the decision for the provincial department to cover the legal costs of Theys. Motsoaledi further indicated that the national department was made to understand that this matter was taken by the Premier to the Legislature for discussion, and it was agreed that if the person who was charged loses the case, they will pay back the money.
The DA has on countless occasions probed the matter of Theys’s legal fees in legislature committees and during question time sessions. At no time, however, did the legislature serve as a rubber stamp to approve the state’s decision to carry the costs thereof.
The out-of-pocket health department, which can’t even cover all its monthly expenses, cannot afford to protect criminals and their illicit dealings.
The DA has written to the Health MEC, Maruping Lekwene, to determine when the process to recoup the legal costs of Theys will commence. We are also still waiting to hear the fate of Theys, whose provisional redeployment within the health department was conditional on winning his appeal.
It is high time that internal disciplinary action be taken against Theys and that he must be made to pay the price of corruption and pay back the money.