Eastern Cape health chief Lawrence Boya has been shown the door after the province refused to renew his contract.
Boya has held office as the department’s superintendent general since 2003, when he was head hunted from the Johannesburg Metro.
His contract expired last week, and department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said on Monday it would not be renewed.
Boya was suspended by then provincial health minister Bevan Goqwana in April 2006 pending an investigation into alleged maladministration and insubordination.
Goqwana claimed among other things that in the previous financial year, R10-million not used by the Eastern Cape health department due to underspending had to be redistributed to other provinces.
However, Premier Nosimo Balindlela immediately reversed the suspension and a week later sacked Goqwana himself.
The province’s largely rural health services have historically faced critical staff shortages, underspending, crumbling or nonexistent infrastructure and shortages of essential medical equipment and medicine. — Sapa