The Sizwe Medical Fund Board of Trustees has suspended the principal officer, Linda Gabela, pending the outcome of a disciplinary enquiry.
The Chairman of the Sizwe Medical Fund, Mr VM Melane said in a communique to stakeholders; “In the interim, Mel Pohler will be acting Principal Officer for all operational requirements to ensure that the business continues to operate as usual. Ms Pohler has the full support of the Board of Trustees who are committed to getting the business through this period.
“Sizwe continues to enjoy an excellent A+ credit rating by independent rating agency, Global Credit Rating (GCR), and a higher than required solvency ratio of 32,1% according to last audited figures”, continued Melane.
Reporting for Business Day on 10 December 2010 Tamar Khan said:
The Council for Medical Schemes has asked the South Gauteng High Court to place Sizwe Medical Fund under curatorship, in a bid to counter alleged governance failings at the medical scheme.
The council is a statutory body charged with regulating the medical schemes industry. It placed Protea Medical Aid Society under curatorship last year, and Pro Sano in 2007.
The council’s registrar, Monwabisi Gantsho, emphasised that Sizwe was in good financial health and could pay its members’ medical claims. Sizwe has just less than 162000 beneficiaries and had a solvency ratio of 38% last year, well over the statutory minimum of 25%, according to the council’s latest annual report.
The council’s concerns centre on alleged governance failings, uncovered during an inspection of the scheme ordered by the registrar. Its trustees have “let the principal officer run amok” and allowed her to make decisions that should have been the competency of the board, its head of compliance, Stephen Mmatli, said. “We want to find out why… did they get something to keep quiet?”
He said Sizwe’s principal officer, Linda Gabela, had made decisions on procurement, investments and membership issues that should have been made by the board. “The trustees were just puppets; everything was driven by the (principal officer),” he said.
The council had decided to seek curatorship of Sizwe because the scheme had blocked its attempts to probe its affairs, said Mr Mmatli.
If the court agrees, the board of trustees will be removed, and a court-appointed curator will take control of the business of the scheme. The council has asked the court to appoint Joe Seloane as curator. He was curator of Pro Sano — its curatorship was lifted by the Cape High Court last month and now has a new board of trustees.
In an affidavit filed as part of the application to place Sizwe under curatorship, Dr Gantsho said the scheme had breached the Medical Schemes Act by failing to ensure its board had 10 trustees (it has seven); by running a benefit option that was not registered with the council; by doing business with unregistered brokers; and by failing to maintain proper procurement systems. An investigation by PricewaterhouseCoopers found purchase orders and requisitions could not be found for payments made in 40% of the transactions it sampled.
Proposals received after tenders had closed were considered for business, and there was no record of a declaration of interests by members of the tender adjudication committee.
Mr Mmatli said the council was also concerned about an investment Sizwe made in an institution called Tswalo Investments , which offers funeral cover. The Medical Schemes Act does not allow schemes to invest in such products, he said.
Tswalo Investments was “in shambles” and the council was worried the scheme might not get its money back, he said. The scheme had invested at least R12m in Tswalo, possibly more.
Ms Gabela said Sizwe had conducted “an extensive legal review” of the findings of the council’s investigation and would oppose its application for curatorship on the basis that its findings were “either not factually or legally sustainable”.
The fact that nervous medical aid members are now considering jumping ship cannot be seen as a good omen for Sizwe. One cannot help but compare the members concern over alleged wrongdoing with the alleged wrongdoing of many of our politicians. Maybe the politicians should realise that their wrongdoings also directly influence the continued financial stability of South Africa as a whole.
Of course our family are members of Sizwe and we are also considering most strongly jumping ship as a result of this suspension of Linda Gabela PLUS the fact that Sizwe reversed certain orthodontic treatments AND trying to get Sizwe to respond to any queries with regard thereto is impossible.
So, Sizwe, just so you know we are now also in the unfortunate position to not be able to access cheap medicine and medical care owing to the death of the Longhair’s father recently so now YOU are carrying an additional financial burden from our family as well! Not that you bothered to even recognise or acknowledge our community spirited actions to save YOU money and keep our premiums down whilst Neil was still alive!
Alan Straton
Latest posts by Alan Straton (see all)
- South African Artist MARTHINUS Releases Debut Single - 6 November 2026
- MARTHINUS Releases Heartfelt Debut ‘i miss us not trying’ - 6 November 2026
- LaserWeeder Hire Runs Laser Units for SA Vegetable Growers - 6 November 2026
- HandPrinter Art Runs Linocut Workshops and Beginner Kits - 6 November 2026
- Feature Equipment Adds AM.CO.ZA Tooling and Laser Spares Shelf - 6 November 2026
We have to date had great service from them,yes we have had 3 members of our family in hospital for major problems. Cost them a small fortune.Thanks Sizwe, let’s hope your problems can now be a thing of the past.