South Africa’s health minister Zweli Mkhize has been placed on special leave over a corruption scandal involving an irregular government contract where $11 million was paid to a company connected to two people who used to work for him.
The move was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in a statement from his office, stating that Mkhize was placed on special leave from his job to attend to allegations and investigations around the issue
Zweli Mkhize has been spearheading the COVID-19 response in South Africa, which reportedly has the most cases and deaths in Africa.
South Africa’s Special Investigative Unit is still probing the contract and hasn’t released a report, although Mkhize’s own health department has already found that the contract was “irregular.”
Mkhize has denied that he personally benefited from the contract and claimed he wasn’t involved in its awarding.
Mkhize’s former personal assistant and former spokeswoman are now connected to the Digital Vibes company, which was paid the money to organize media briefings for the minister during the coronavirus pandemic
There are new allegations that Mkhize’s son personally benefitted from the contract and it is one of multiple corruption scandals that have tainted the South African government’s virus response.
In the meantime, South Africa’s minister of tourism would step in as acting health minister,
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