Cape Town - One SMME with no website or online presence, received just under half of the R682.5 million that the provincial government spent on personal protective equipment (PPE).
This from supplying just one of the 13 provincial departments, according to the latest Procurement Disclosure Report.
Masiqhame Trading 1057 CC, which made R322.8 million, supplied over 95% of the Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) PPE in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, between April 1 and July 31.
It operates out of a residential address in Edgemead and has no website.
The tender is one of those being investigated by the SIU as part of a nationwide investigation.
Asked about the department’s relationship with the company, WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the department had an existing contract with Masiqhame Trading 1057 CC for the supply of cleaning, gardening and electrical supplies.
“It is a contract of convenience, and orders for supplies are placed as and when needed.
“The contract was concluded in 2017, through a competitive bidding process, and is awarded for a period of three years. It expires on September 30. The National Treasury instructions, issued in terms of the emergency procurement for Covid-19 protective materials, required departments to honour/utilise their existing contracts. The department placed orders for the required goods using the existing contract with Masiqhame. Although Masiqhame is our contracted supplier, all products were sourced from various local manufacturers. Note, this is a single contract, the individual orders are listed in the provincial procurement report released recently. There are not multiple contracts with the same company for Covid-19-related materials,” said Hammond.
ANC provincial spokesperson for education Khalid Sayed, who had raised the issue of the contract with Education MEC Debbie Schäfer in the legislature on August 28, thinks the deal needs to be investigated.
“It is too convenient for WCED to hide behind a single contract concluded pre-Covid and the lockdown period,” said Sayed.
“This matter must be fleshed out to see what transpired and to get better benchmarks for incidental supplies next time round. In the light of so many bad stories flying around, the money must also be followed to check for all sorts of deals or kickbacks,” said Sayed.
Good MPL Brett Herron said the department was not being straightforward about the tender.
“The department must explain why this one company is getting all of the contracts. Eleven other companies shared the remaining procurement to a value of R220 000,” said Herron.
Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier said the Province was doing everything possible to mitigate risks.
“As soon as there are any alarm bells that indicate potential abuse, these are immediately raised for the relevant accounting officer to investigate and take the necessary action,” said Maynier.
Cape Argus