Delivery of PPE to schools derailed

SMMEs in parts of the OR Tambo district have vowed to stop “outside” companies from delivering personal protective equipment (PPE), hand sanitisers and water tanks to 600 schools in the region until their own services are used.

A truck delivering PPE and sanitisers for schools in the Ingquza Hill municipal area was chased away from Lusikisiki yesterday.

Ingquza Hill Business Chamber public relations officer Mlamli Galela said the actions of business owners were not meant to start a war with the government.

All they wanted was to be allocated some of the work as local businesses.

“We met with the district director of the OR Tambo Coastal [district of education] on Tuesday where we voiced our complaints,” he said.

“We found out that companies from Johannesburg and East London have been appointed to deliver sanitisers and PPE.

“Why not us? Supplying sanitiser is not a specialised job. All you do is buy these sanitisers and distribute them to the schools.”

Galela said after their meeting on Tuesday, they received word that a truck had arrived with PPE and sanitisers in Lusikisiki.

“We just told the driver that he must leave and we escorted him out of town.”

The country’s Grade 7 and 12 pupils return to school on Monday, and the provinces have been delivering safety equipment to places of learning.

Nyandeni SMMEs chair Lwazi Macingwane said while an advert had gone out for companies to register on the education department’s database for delivery of protective clothing and sanitisers to schools, they were “shocked” to discover that only three companies had been appointed to do the work in the Eastern Cape, none of them from the OR Tambo district.

He said provincial education bosses had not followed proper supply chain management requirements as the tender was not advertised.

He said many local SMMEs were battling to survive and had not received a cent from the state’s financial schemes meant to provide relief to businesses.

“These companies must stop. If they push on, we will show them we mean business,” he said.

Port St Johns Business Chamber secretary Andile Manitshana said they had received complaints from their members.

Approached for comment yesterday, provincial education spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani said he was busy finalising a media statement on the matter.

The Dispatch had not received the statement by print deadline.