Covid-19 tender team has lots to answer for

High-ranking civil servants put in charge

The work of a team put together to evaluate, adjudicate and award the controversial Gauteng Covid-19 tenders has come under sharp scrutiny.

The team, which comprised 19 members, was responsible for deciding on who got the R2.2bn tenders for personal protective equipment (PPEs) that are at the centre of alleged corruption.

The team put together in April included several highranking civil servants from provincial departments and the Ekurhuleni metro.

They were divided into three units, namely; the bid adjudicating committee, bid evaluation committee and buyers.

The Gauteng government centralised the procurement of all Covid-19-related items, including PPEs with the department of health.

Gauteng department of health spokesperson Kwara Kekana said the department had been procuring on behalf of all provincial departments and their respective entities.

A R125m PPE tender awarded to Royal Bhaca Projects, a company owned by Thandisizwe Diko, the husband of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko, has sparked a fallout over alleged corruption. Khusela, who is friends with health MEC Bandile Masuku and his wife Loyiso, has since taken a leave of absence from office after the scandal.

Kekana said the three teams were established for all Covid19 supply chain management.

The bid adjudicating committee, which recommended companies to be awarded contracts, was made up of nine members which included the department’s senior officials, including recently resigned former chief finance officer Kabelo Lehloenya.

Other members of the team were the department’s chief operations officer, an acting deputy director-general, several chief directors in the department and a director of supply chain in the department of planning, monitoring and evaluation, according to Kekana.

The bid evaluation committee had five members, including two from the department of education and a senior manager for procurement from the Ekurhuleni metro, Mashudu Matakanyi. Matakanyi, the only official in the team outside the employ of the provincial government, referred questions to the committee’s chairperson when asked about his role.

Another five-member team of buyers was tasked with sourcing quotes from potential suppliers. The five buyers were officials from the departments of health, education and roads and transport.

“The committees were appointed by the department of health’s head of department but buyers were seconded by different departments following a request from the department,” Kekana said.

She said the Covid bid adjudicating committee was responsible for making recommendations on tender awards to the accounting officer, while the bid evaluation committee was responsible for evaluating quotations received and also making recommendations.

Kekana said the committees would meet on an ad-hoc basis.