I write this opinion piece with a very heavy heart and burning outrage. The recent outcome in the protracted legal battle between the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, the Acting Director-General of the Department of Military Veterans, and Zeal Health Innovations (Pty) Ltd represents far more than a single flawed tender. It is a searing indictment of systemic rot, maladministration, and the complete absence of accountability that has come to define the Department of Military Veterans (DMV). As a Member of Parliament serving on the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans and the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, and as someone who has dedicated my life to the struggle for justice and the dignity of our liberation veterans, I cannot remain silent.
The facts of this case are as damning as they are familiar. In 2015, the DMV awarded Tender DMV/SES/001/2015 to Zeal Health Innovations for the provision of healthcare and wellness services to military veterans. The tender was meant to address critical needs of our veterans, yet from the outset it was marred by irregularities. The High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Pretoria, in its 2022 judgment, meticulously exposed the rot. The contract price exceeded the available budget allocation, in direct violation of section 38(2) of the Public Finance Management Act. Proper tender evaluation processes were not followed. There were material irregularities in the composition and functioning of the bid committees. The court declared both the interim and main contracts unconstitutional, unlawful, and void ab initio.
Yet, despite these devastating findings, the matter did not end with accountability. Instead, through subsequent appeals, the focus shifted to whether and how much the department should still pay Zeal Health Innovations for services allegedly rendered. An innocent contractor may be entitled to some compensation under principles of just and equitable relief, but that cannot and must not obscure the fundamental outrage: senior officials who presided over this irregular tender have faced no consequences. Mr Tsepe Motumi, who was Acting Director-General at the time, was later rewarded with a position as ministerial adviser. Mr Kopano Peter Lebelo, who chaired the Bid Adjudication Committee and signed off on the award as Chief Director of Supply Chain Management, has escaped scrutiny. Other officials implicated, including Messrs. Kebotlale, Mrolo, and additional members of the bid committees, who continue to operate within or around the system, without facing criminal investigation or disciplinary action.
This is not justice. This is impunity dressed up in legal technicalities. While our veterans continue to suffer from inadequate healthcare, housing backlogs, and the denial of basic benefits, those who facilitated a multi-million-rand irregular tender walk free. Payments under this tainted arrangement, now being adjudicated, risk becoming another chapter of unauthorised, wasteful, and fruitless expenditure, compounded by years of interest. The Auditor-General must be given the full quantum immediately. A criminal case must be opened. Every official involved must be held personally liable.
What makes this case even more egregious is that it is not an isolated incident. It is symptomatic of a deeply entrenched pattern of maladministration, wrongfully adjudicated tenders, and outright corruption that has plagued the Department of Military Veterans for more than a decade. Time and again, we have seen tenders awarded in violation of procurement laws. We have witnessed the manipulation of bid committees, the bypassing of proper evaluation criteria, and the enrichment of connected individuals at the expense of veterans who sacrificed everything for our freedom. The DMV was established precisely to honour and support these heroes. Instead, it has too often become a feeding trough for tenderpreneurs and a monument to bureaucratic failure.
Consider the broader picture. Our military veterans, many of them elderly and frail, still battle for recognition, pensions, housing, and medical care. Parliamentary oversight visits to SANDF bases and DMV facilities repeatedly reveal decay, underfunding, and broken promises. Corruption scandals involving defence procurement more broadly — from Denel to other entities — have eroded public trust and diverted resources that should uplift the poorest of the poor. The Government of National Unity has done little to arrest this decline. In fact, the culture of impunity has been allowed to fester.
As an MK veteran myself, I know what it means to fight for liberation. I know the price paid by those who stood on the frontlines. To see their legacy betrayed by officials who treat public office as a personal enrichment scheme fills me with revolutionary anger. The personal is political. When veterans are neglected while corrupt elements thrive, it is not just maladministration — it is a continuation of the very injustices we fought to overthrow.
The time for hand-wringing and reports is over. Decisive action is required. I call for an immediate, independent forensic audit of all DMV procurements since 2015. Every official implicated in the Zeal Health Innovations tender — from Mr Motumi and Mr Lebelo to Kebotlale, and every bid committee member — must be subjected to criminal investigation by the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority. Those found to have acted corruptly or with gross negligence must face prosecution and be barred from any future public office. The full extent of wasteful expenditure must be declared to the Auditor-General without delay, and recovery processes instituted where possible.
Furthermore, Parliament must exercise its oversight muscle with renewed vigour. The Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans must summon all relevant officials and demand full disclosure of every document related to this and similar tenders. The Joint Standing Committee on Defence must investigate the systemic failures that allow such scandals to recur. Radical economic transformation is not a slogan — it is the only path that can dismantle the networks of patronage and corruption that continue to undermine our democracy.
We cannot continue to betray the very people who made our freedom possible. The Zeal Health Innovations scandal must become the catalyst for a thorough cleansing of the DMV. Accountability is not optional; it is the minimum requirement of a government that claims to serve the people. Those who have presided over this outrage, and the broader pattern of which it forms part, must be held to account. History will not forgive us if we fail to act.
Our veterans deserve better. South Africa deserves better. The struggle continues.
