Defence Minister Thandi Modise has admitted that the department made a mistake in buying a so-called COVID-19 vaccine from Cuba.
Modise briefed MPs on Thursday on the findings of a ministerial task team that investigated claims of fraud, corruption and misuse of state money.
Parliament’s defence committee has lauded a military official, who’s apparently since retired, who it said blew the whistle on the illegal importation of the treatment called heberon.
Modise told MPs that the findings of the task team’s probe would be implemented.
The drug was imported without authorisation from the relevant local authorities, like regulator Sahpra, under the watch of former Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
The debacle cost government millions.
The parliamentary committee also applauded the department’s chief financial officer, Siphiwe Sokhela, who queried the procurement of the supposed vaccine.