Bomb scare sends Mpilo board scurrying for cover

There was drama as the Mpilo Central Hospital board was forced to abort a meeting on Wednesday after police said there was a bomb in the institution's boardroom.

The meeting was called to plan logistics for an extensive audit after a preliminary audit showed one of the largest referral hospitals in the country was losing millions of dollars through tender scams.

The CEO Dr Lawrence Mantiziba, operations director Duduza Regina Moyo, finance director Charles Govo and central buying unit chairperson Mxolisi Sibanda were suspended after being implicated in tender fraud by the audit.

Nurses at the hospital told Bulawayo24 News that armed police officers with sniffer dogs flooded the administration block at about 5pm and rushed board members to safety.

The incident is the latest in apparent attempts to block the extensive audit after the hospital's accounts offices were burgled on Sunday night and the keys to the offices of the suspended executives were stolen on Tuesday.

Nurses said the police searched for the bomb for more than an hour.

"Everyone was scared and the whole administration block was evacuated while the dogs rushed all over to find the bomb. The police actually called the acting clinical director while the meeting was in progress and said the board members should immediately leave the boardroom for their safety," said a nurse who asked not to be named.

It could not be determined if the bomb was found as police in Bulawayo declined to comment while national police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba was unreachable on her mobile phone.

Senior officials at Mpilo called on the Ministry of Health and Childcare to swiftly call in auditors so that they complete the forensic investigation before someone got killed.

"There are people who seem prepared to go to any length to prevent this audit from taking place and we believe they know they will go to jail once it goes ahead. We know there is a lot of rot that will be unearthed once this audit goes ahead so we call on the ministry to get it over and done with quickly before these desperate people kill someone, said an official.

In February this year Duduza Moyo asked Dr Mantiziba for a bodyguard alleging that Bulawayo businessman Ashton Mpofu had threatened her after a $3 million tender to refurbish the cancer centre was cancelled.

Mpofu hit back saying Moyo was lying and the contract was cancelled because he had refused to bribe Moyo and Dr Mantiziba.

The revelations led to the board ordering an audit into all tenders issued at the hospital from 2012 to February 2015.

The audit revealed that Moyo was subverting tender procedures to prejudice the hospital of millions of dollars while Sibanda assisted her.

Dr Mantiziba was found wanting as the leader of Mpilo Central Hospital after he was deemed to have failed to put in place systems to prevent fraud.

Govo was implicated in tax fraud after he allegedly paid suppliers without tax certificates or registered companies, going against laid down government procedure.