A group of cyclists, probably training for the upcoming Ride Joburg race, started slowing down as they reached the corner of Killarney Road and Oxford Avenue.
“Your neighbourhood is beautiful,” said one of the cyclists to a couple strolling past them.
“We are also not from here,” the couple protested, albeit with knowing smiles. They needed not to explain further as one of the cyclists, who had figured out that they had arrived at the front of the famous three-storey house, whipped out his mobile phone and started taking selfies in front of the gate.
“Is this the house?” someone in the group of cyclists asked, her voice betraying excitement. In a flash, all the others had their cellphones drawn, ready for action.
Under normal circumstances, the myriad of private security companies that patrol the ultra-wealthy suburb would have arrived to shoo them away after accusing them of disturbing the peace and invading the house owner’s privacy.
But these were no normal circumstances and the well-heeled of Sandhurst had known neither peace nor privacy ever since the Special Investigative Unit, with media crews in tow, had descended on the home of alleged Tembisa Hospital corruption kingpin Hangwani Maumela and seized luxury Italian sports cars, SUVs and other luxurious items amounting to millions of rand.
The Tembisa Hospital corruption scandal has further fuelled public scepticism about the idea of NHI – with some fearing that the system aimed at bringing about universal access will just end up collapsing all hospitals, private and public, while lining the pockets of the corrupt.
Since then, it is said, the street has been frequented by passers-by, some on foot, others on bicycles, but mostly in cars, who cannot resist the urge to see for themselves the now infamous house.
This is not out of the ordinary.
A couple of years ago, when KwaDakwadunuse – the private homestead of the then president, Jacob Zuma - was in the news for the controversial “security upgrades” that cost taxpayers over R200m, it was not uncommon for people driving between Kranskop and Nkandla to make pit stops a safe distance from the house just to admire the view and take pictures.
Human nature, curiosity, go rata ditaba, being a maMgobhozi? You be the judge.
However, although these passers-by may gaze in awe of the architectural design genius of those behind the construction of Maumela’s mansion – or that of any other figure accused of corruption – the conversation soon shifts to the nub of the matter: how the money that made the mansion, and all the wealth that was within it, possible was made. Who has had to suffer so that others can live in this comfort, this opulence?
It was the famous Latin American journalist and historian Eduardo Galeano, in his celebrated book, Open Veins, who – while explaining how US and European exploitation had resulted in his home region’s underdevelopment − said: “Our defeat was always implicit in the victory of others; our wealth has always generated our poverty by nourishing the prosperity of others – the empires and their overseers”.
The courts are yet to test the correctness of the SIU investigation’s findings that Maumela is one of the three syndicates said to be behind the looting of about R2bn from the hospital. According to the SIU’s report, the man was the largest beneficiary, having secured tenders amounting to R816m through dozens of alleged front companies.
Public hospitals, especially in Gauteng, are under tremendous pressure due to reduced budgets, rapid population growth and staff shortages. As a result, they are not fully able to deliver on their mandate to provide quality healthcare to citizens.
Citizens who can afford to are turning their backs on the public healthcare system in droves – preferring to spend exorbitant amounts of their hard-earned incomes on private medical aid schemes and privately owned hospitals.
Those who can’t, however, have no other choice but to settle for inferior and sub-standard service – sometimes at a risk to their long-term health.
Attempts to make access to the country’s health system more equitable by providing universal healthcare coverage through the National Health Insurance (NHI) are facing stiff resistance mainly from a middle class that has become wary of all things “public” due to the near-collapse of the system caused, largely, by corruption.
The Tembisa Hospital corruption scandal has further fuelled public scepticism about the idea of NHI – with some fearing that the system aimed at bringing about universal access will just end up collapsing all hospitals, private and public, while lining the pockets of the corrupt.
Hence some would rather stick with the current and dual health system even though it is clear that it is not working, unsustainable and going against the direction most of the progressive world is taking.
But how can we really blame them?
Cases such as the Tembisa Hospital scandal severely weaken the argument for universal and equitable access to health. Yet, without universal healthcare, the majority will forever be condemned to unnecessary suffering, preventable deaths and general poverty.
Hence, when looking at the mansions and assets of those accused of stealing from hospitals and other institutions supposed to service the poor, one cannot help but borrow from Galeano and say: Our poverty is implicit in their wealth.
Sowetan
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.