Official probed over wife’s state tenders
Popular DJ denies being part of spouse’s contracts
A senior Eastern Cape education department supply chain management official has been suspended for allegedly colluding with companies doing business with the state.
Senior admin officer Malibongwe “Blomzit Avenue” Blom is also being investigated for allegedly failing to declare possible financial interests with some of the department’s service providers.
The department also confirmed Blom was investigated for not declaring that his wife’s company was getting work from the department.
“He has been suspended pending investigations into allegations that he failed to declare possible financial interests in service providers,” said the department’s spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima.
But yesterday, Blom told Sowetan’s sister newspaper Daily Dispatch his wife had been receiving tenders from the department long before they even met.
“I did not even know her at the time. She was working with her cousin in their company,” Blom said.
Blom, who is a popular East London DJ, denied that he had any hand in influencing tender processes to his wife’s benefit.
He said he declared their relationship during the current 2018-19 financial year.
“I was never part of any procurement processes in the contracts she entered into with the department,” Blom said.
The department has now instituted a board of inquiry into allegations of employees colluding with service providers and allegedly receiving kickbacks.
“The proceedings took place on [last] Thursday and Friday. The final report from the board is expected within 10 days. The superintendent-general will consider the recommendations of the board, and issue his instructions,” Mtima said.
He said they would only know how many employees had colluded with service providers once the inquiry was over.
Last month, two officials were suspended after it emerged they were part of an alleged syndicate that processed payments to service providers even though they had not rendered any services. The officials allegedly received kickbacks.
One of the officials has since resigned from the department, which indicated that it had embarked on a process of recovering the funds. It has also announced that it would blacklist the alleged service providers.
The Dispatch last month also reported that two firms providing legal services for the department were directly linked to legal services director Eddie Scheun. At the time, Scheun declined to comment and referred questions to the department.
It was discovered that his brother’s firm and that of his former employer were contracted by the department to deal with legal matters on behalf of the department.
This prompted the department’s superintendent-general Themba Kojana to institute an investigation into the matter.