Johannesburg - The Department of Social Development delivered 80 000 litres alcohol-free hand sanitisers to a number of its welfare facilities across the country.
Minister Lindiwe Zulu explained in a written reply to Parliament that the non-alcohol sanitisers were supplied to substance abuse facilities.
The department feared that the addicted people admitted at the facilities for rehabilitation would use the alcohol sanitisers for a fix.
Only alcohol-based sanitisers were known to be effective against germs that spread the novel coronavirus.
The World Health Organization and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention recommended 70% alcohol in sanitisers.
Replying to questions by the DA’s Alexandra Abrahams, Zulu said that facilities with zero-risk of abuse were supplied with sanitisers containing alcohol.
“The non-alcohol sanitisers were procured for substance abuse facilities to prevent the likelihood of misuse by the inmates.
“It should, however, be noted that even alcohol-based sanitisers were procured for other facilities which do not face a risk of abuse by the beneficiaries,” said Zulu.
The 80 000 one litre alcohol-free hand sanitisers were procured at a cost of R6.7 million from an unnamed supplier. The national department made the procurement.
Zulu did not seem to have the names of the facilities that were supplied alcohol-free sanitisers. Abrahams asked her the name of each welfare facility that received these sanitisers.
But Zulu only replied that the national department bought the sanitisers and provincial departments had distributed them.
“The national Department of Social Development procured the sanitisers, which were distributed to facilities by provincial departments,” she said.
Outrage ensued in July after it emerged that 10 schools in the Alfred Nzo District, Eastern Cape, were given sanitisers with alcohol levels that ranged from 4.1% to 57.6%.
One of the schools, the Makaula Senior Secondary School, at the time had 204 learners and staff testing positive for Covid-19.
The Eastern Cape Education Department announced intentions to sue the supplier for “defrauding” it.
The department commissioned Rhodes University’s pharmaceutics professor Roderick Walker to probe the sanitiser after it became suspicious of its quality.
Data released by Zulu’s office last week showed that the social services sector also suffered considerably due to Covid-19.
A total of 33 employees of the department succumbed to the virus, 13 of which worked at the South African Social Security Agency.
There were 1 555 confirmed cases across the provinces. Offices were closed down 239 times due to cases.
The Star