The former Health and current Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, will be in the witness box at the Bloemfontein High Court when proceedings resume, where he will be probed on his alleged relationship with the deceased and accused number one, Stanley Bakili. 

Most pertinently, it is expected the Minister will be asked on record whether or not he was paid off by the business partners in late 2017 in an effort to help expedite day hospital CityMed’s application to have their hospital bed license amended to allow for more beds. Siemens was the Managing Director of the above-mentioned private day hospital.

Bakili is reported to have stated in an affidavit that he paid Motsoaledi off by depositing R154 000 into the then Health Minister’s bank account in two tranches around November 2017. Motsoaledi has refuted this allegation first via the then health department spokesperson, Popo Maja, in late 2018 to OFM News and again to City Press nearly a year later.

Two government officials and a local businessman have already been asked about the need to involve Motsoaledi in the process of approving hospital bed license applications/amendments in court. The government officials - former Free State Health and Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) MEC, Benny Malakoane, and Pinky Belot both testified that Motsoaledi had no role in the matter, but both Siemens and Bakili expressed interest in speaking to the Minister during their meetings.

The state’s first witness in the trial, 42-year-old local businessman, Sello Matthew Rantso, explained on 31 October 2019 that a moratorium was placed on the awarding of contracts and appointments at the provincial health department from 2013 to September 2017. This would explain the reasons behind the duo’s need to involve Motsoaledi in the matter. Rantso did clarify to the business partners that only the department’s hospital licensing committee and department head, David Motau, would make the decision on CityMed’s application.

As already reported, Siemens was shot and killed on 10 May 2018 in the basement parking area of Preller Square Shopping Complex. It’s alleged he bribed several government officials through Bakili to have CityMed’s application granted expeditiously. He allegedly paid more than R6 million to Bakili before their partnership soured. The CityMed shareholders have alleged they had no knowledge of the deal between the two. Bakili joins Molebatsi Mogoera, Kagiso Chabane, Mojalefa Jali Molusi, Moeketsi Lesia, Clive Tshivenga Karabo Tau and Sizwe Mpati in the dock. They are between the ages of 29 and 56, and include three police officers, a disbarred advocate, an accused in separate double murder cases, and a military man.

OFM News