Parliament - Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha faces tough questions in Parliament over the R378 million tender given by Correctional Services to companies with links to the ruling party.
The National Treasury is probing the tender after it was inflated from R50m to R378m, and procedures were not followed in awarding it.
Masutha, who was to present his department's budget vote on Tuesday, will still face questions from members of the opposition.
The minister and his top officials in the Department of Correctional Services were grilled by the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on the tender a few weeks ago.
Scopa members questioned the inflation of the tender from R50m to R378m.
They also demanded answers from the department's officials on the procedures followed, as the Treasury report questioned the processes of awarding the tender.
However, the department said it would need time to respond to the Treasury report.
On Monday, Scopa chairman Themba Godi confirmed they had decided to put discussions on the tender on hold until the auditor-general had finalised his work on the department.
“We took a decision to put it in abeyance because the department was raising a lot of procedural issues on how the report was done,” according to Godi.
Scopa would wait for the department's books to beaudited by the auditor-general before engaging on the tender again, he said.
The Presidency early last month ordered the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe the awarding of the electronic monitoring system tender by Correctional Services.
President Jacob Zuma asked the SIU to investigate irregularities in the awarding of the tender and payments made.
Zuma also wants the SIU to look at the extension of the tender and improper conduct of officials in the Department of Correctional Services, as well as those from the companies concerned.
The Presidency did not put a value on the tender that is being investigated by the SIU.
News24 later reported that the company given the tender had links to the ANC.
It said some of the company's officials were members of the ruling party.
However, when the department appeared before Scopa, it came under fire from MPs, who questioned irregularities in the contract.
They also demanded answers on the inflation of costs from R50m to R378m in just a few months.
They also said the department had paid for something when it did not have the money.
At the time the department awarded the R50m tender, it had R18m on its budget for the project.
MPs were angry that the department would commit itself to a tender when it knew it had no budget for it.
The Treasury insisted in its report to Scopa that the tender was awarded irregularly and also questioned the escalation of costs.
Political Bureau