News24 reports that the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), together with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), has secured an order from the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria allowing it to not pay out any pension benefits to its former CEO Joyce Mogale.  

The order was granted on 5 March 2020 and directed the pension fund and its administrators to not pay out funds that might be due to her, pending the finalisation of a damages claim against her.  Mogale and chief financial officer Sikhumbuzo Zulu were fired in May last year, following "procurement irregularities" worth R200 million.  Then in August last year, a damages claim was instituted against Mogale and another former official of the NHLS in the Johannesburg Labour Court for about R236 million.  SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago advised that in terms of Section 37D of the Pension Funds Act, a pension fund is empowered to deduct any amount that a member owes to his/her employer in respect of any damage caused to the employer by reason of any theft, dishonesty, fraud or misconduct by the member.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Riaan Grobler at News24

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