Union vows to block return of KZN prisons head
● Prisons and police union Popcru will approach the courts to seek an interdict if a problematic former prisons boss in KwaZulu-Natal is reinstated.
Rumours are rife in the province that Mnikelwa Nxele, who was fired in August, is on the verge of making a comeback.
The former regional commissioner of correctional services is at the centre of a report compiled by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which probed the award of contracts for the supply of food, toiletries and other services for prison inmates in the province.
Contacted for comment, Nxele said he wasn’t aware the SIU had finalised any report. “All I know is the president, some time last year, made a proclamation, but I’m not aware of [the existence] of any report.”
The Sunday Times has seen the report, which details how the contracting for goods and services on behalf of the department was manipulated to favour suppliers with low scores during the procurement process.
This was in respect of the supply of food, other perishable goods, toiletries, catering equipment and coal to a number of prisons, including Stanger Correctional Centre and prisons in Empangeni, Kokstad, Pietermaritzburg and Ncome.
In almost all the investigations carried out by the SIU, contracts for the supply of services were manipulated to favour bidders that came second during final scoring. The contracts were awarded in 2015, and Nxele, as regional commissioner at the time, headed a “sub bid adjudication committee”.
The deputy regional commissioner deputised him on the bid adjudication committee, while three other correctional services officials at director level and one area co-ordinator made up the rest of the committee that made the final decision on the disputed contracts.
The SIU investigated 19 contracts involving about R100m of goods and services.
It found that though the bid evaluation committee recommended successful bidders based on price, which accounts for 90% of the score, and broad-based BEE, which accounts for 10%, the sub bid adjudication committee chaired by Nxele overturned those decisions and instead awarded the contracts to suppliers who scored lower.
The SIU recommended that Nxele and others involved be charged with misconduct.
Nxele was named by whistleblower Angelo Agrizzi at the Zondo inquiry into state capture as having accepted monthly payments of R50,000 from African Global Operations (formerly Bosasa).
He spent most of 2019 on suspension and was dismissed in August following an internal disciplinary hearing into counts of misconduct unrelated to the bribe allegations.
But insiders in the department said he often boasted about how his “connections” in the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal would fight for him to be reinstated.
“There is a political pushback from some in the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, they are pushing for his reinstatement. Remember that as commissioner your largesse is huge, you can dish out patronage,” said an insider, who asked not to be named.
Popcru spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said the union had been tipped off that the department was planning to reinstate Nxele, and would oppose this move at all costs.
“We requested the [department] to give us an undertaking they will not reinstate him, failing which we will have no other option but to interdict the reinstatement and review that decision.”
Mamabolo said they had not seen the SIU report but were not surprised by its recommendations, given the prevalence of serious tender irregularities in the province.
Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the department supported the proclamation that led to the SIU investigation, and would “follow necessary processes, as legislated, should there be detrimental findings and officials implicated”. “The department did co-operate with SIU investigators and will continue to provide support where necessary,” he said.
He refused to respond to direct questions from the Sunday Times about Nxele.
Nxele also refused to comment on rumours of his reinstatement.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said they had forwarded the report to national commissioner Arthur Fraser. “We expect them to implement the recommendations,” he said.
There is a political pushback from some in the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, they are pushing for his reinstatement Correctional services insider