Johannesburg - The Gauteng government has vowed that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) would act swiftly against some of the 102 companies that were awarded multimillion tenders to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) despite not operating in the medical sector.
Some of these companies were allegedly given tenders but had only registered on the government's Central Supplier Database (CSD) when Covid-19 had already reached its peak in Gauteng and across the country.
They included Olee Telecoms Solutions, which specialises in mobile applications and software project management.
A list published on the provincial government’s website at the weekend, as mandated by President Cyril Ramaphosa, showed that the company was awarded R79.4million to supply PPE but was only registered on the government database on June 25 this year.
Ikusasa Telecoms, which only specialises in communication, was also awarded R36.5m to provide PPE. It was, however, recorded on the government’s database last month (July 17).
On Monday, Ikusasa celebrated a month on the government's supplier database.
Contacted for comment, Ikusasa owner Nkanyiso Khumalo refused to give specific details of how his company qualified for the tender. An official at Olee Telecoms Solutions in Midrand refused to speak to Independent Media, saying company director Abi Sibidi was not available to comment.
According to Gauteng government spokesperson Thabo Masebe, a circular previously published by the National Treasury indicated that entities that qualified for the tenders should be those that operated in the medical field and that they be selected by departments only after due diligence.
“Every deviation from the set rules of emergency procurement should have been reported to Gauteng Treasury. We wanted companies that were already trading in the field. So the SIU is expected to check all that,” Masebe said.
Peter Matsose of PEO Information Technologies, a company which specialises in information communication technology and business field, appeared unfazed by Masebe’s explanation.
Matsose confirmed that his core business is ICT but qualified for a R30m PPE contract.
“I was given a request for quotation. My core business is ICT but we also venture into other sectors. I delivered on the contract. I invoiced the Gauteng Health Department after delivering the service,” said Matsose.
Some companies that also secured tenders operate in the advertising and marketing fields. One company was listed under events management.
Other companies swopped their roles and provided cleaning detergents to the government.
The list published also included companies whose sole mandate was to extract coals, while others had their identity rooted in the mining and engineering sectors.
These irregularities in the allocation of tenders were identified in April by the Gauteng Audit Services (Gas).
In May, Gas asked Gauteng Premier David Makhura and the Health Department to cancel the contracts and payments made to the rogue companies.
This was confirmed by Makhura, but the full published lists showed that officials defied Makhura at all costs and had continued to dish out purchase orders to companies while SIU investigators were on site.
The total budget of the Gauteng provincial government was R2.1billion and Health received the largest share of R1.9bn of the Covid-19 budget.
The Gauteng Department of Social Development received R79.6m while the Department of Infrastructure Development was granted R58.4m.
Education received R15.7m and Makhura’s office R8.4m.
Economic Development was allocated R997332 of the Covid-19 budget.
Community Safety was given R1.5m, and Agriculture and Rural Development was allocated R5.4m.
The departments of e-Government and Sports, Arts and Culture each received R1.1m.
Roads and Transport was allocated R579517 and Human Settlements R363532 while Provincial Treasury received a paltry R81930 to fight Covid-19.
Masebe said any irregularities would be dealt with by the SIU.
“The publication of the report by the Provincial Treasury is in keeping with our commitment to clean, transparent and accountable governance. The report does not say anything about the ongoing investigation by the SIU. The SIU is continuing with its investigations and, as reported previously, the scope of investigation covers all Covid-19 related procurement,” Masebe added.
Political Bureau