Durban - TWO senior managers in the Department of Education are in hot water after they were implicated in allegations of corruption in the allocation of contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE).
Findings of an internal investigation by the department implicated two people, who are at the director level, in allegations of corruption and fixing tenders, Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu said.
He was briefing members of the education portfolio committee on the actions the department was taking to address the allegations of wrongdoing or corruption that took place during the procurement of PPE by the department.
“Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu published a report a week ago on the audit findings relating to the procurement of Covid-19 essentials. The department had procured Covid19 essentials to be sent to the district before the lockdown.
“That procurement process was separate from the procurement of the essentials related to the reopening of schools,” said Mshengu.
He said it was in that initial procurement process that the auditor-general had picked up irregularities, including cover quoting by some officials at supply chain management level (two companies, run by one director, quoted for the same item), companies that were not registered with the central database system were awarded contracts, and some companies were not tax compliant or had provided fraudulent BEE scores.
“Based on the AG’s report, we decided to commission an investigation to find out who is responsible for this. The latest report from the HOD, Dr Enock Nzama, as of this Monday, is that we have identified two colleagues at the director level who were involved in these things. The department will be starting disciplinary process against these employees.
“We will act without fear of favour where corruption has been found,” Mshengu said.
He also said that key appointments would be announced soon.
Regarding the department’s chief financial officer position, which has been vacant for years, he said the department had conducted the interviews for the position and the matter was now before the Cabinet.
He said Dr Barney Mthembu who had been acting for several years as the deputy director-general for curriculum management and leadership, had been appointed to the position full time.
Chairperson of the committee, Jomo Sibiya, applauded the department for addressing allegations of corruption.
“With the issue of Covid-19, (the MEC’s actions) show that the department is moving with speed to deal with corruption, officials must desist from being opportunistic. Covid-19 is a crisis, it is not for people to think it’s an opportunity to loot and steal,” he said.
DA committee member Imran Keeka said they welcomed the MEC taking action against officials accused of wrongdoing, however the party believed that “the HOD as the accounting officer in the department should still be suspended”.
“The implicated officials should come forward and state who their handlers are,” he said.
The Mercury