De Lille, DG row takes new twist
Minister accused of breaking rules by meddling in tenders
● Public works minister Patricia de Lille stands accused of meddling in her department’s tender processes, amid claims that she dictated to her embattled director-general Sam Vukela which company to employ to handle their public image.
The Sunday Times has seen a letter De Lille sent to Vukela on July 16 last year, shortly after her appointment by President Cyril Ramaphosa, ordering Vukela to “kindly facilitate the appointment of consultancy company Oryx Multimedia”.
In an earlier letter to Vukela, dated June 29 2019, De Lille instructs the controversial director-general to enlist the services of a company that “specialises in global superior facility and property management for 3 months”.
Government procurement rules do not allow cabinet ministers to actively participate in the awarding of contracts.
The claims came during a week in which Vukela was placed on suspension by De Lille over his role in the alleged inflating of the cost of state-sponsored funerals of three struggle luminaries to R76m in 2018.
But those close to De Lille hit back, describing the claims against her as part of a “fightback” by those opposed to her efforts to clean up the department.
Oryx Multimedia is a well-known PR firm from De Lille’s home city of Cape Town and has done work for the Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu foundations.
“I’ve attached the company profile for your perusal and request the start date to be 1 August 2019,” De Lille says in her e-mail to Vukela in July 2019.
De Lille, who has a track record of fighting corruption, yesterday insisted that the matter had been put out to tender and no contract was issued to Oryx in the end.
Her spokesperson, Zara Nicholson, said: “To address the trust deficit between the department and public, and begin to convey the department’s real work, the minister … required independent strategic support.
“Her team researched media companies and made a recommendation to her. She passed on the recommendation to the DG with a request that he facilitate the appropriate process. An open procurement process was initiated in this regard but no company was successful and the matter was not pursued further.”
Benny Gool, a co-director of Oryx Multimedia, had not responded to requests for comment at the time of going to print.
Turning to the facilities management firm, which was not named in the e-mail to Vukela, De Lille told him she needed the service provider “to assist with a thorough verification of all immovable assets managed by the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure”.
Nicholson said the absence of a proper register “enabled corruption” to flourish in the department, which was one of the challenges identified by the minister after her appointment.
“The minister wanted to appoint independent people she could trust to carry out a critical task without fear, faction or favour. She relied on her support team in her office to look for independent companies and make recommendations on how to finally put together a reliable and credible asset register that would prevent and stop any corruption related to the state’s immovable assets.”
Nicholson said the minister made the recommendation to Vukela, who she expected would facilitate the appropriate procurement process.
He refused to do so. The advice of the director-general of the National Treasury, which she sought, was to order Vukela in writing to appoint a company to do the work, said Nicholson.
“A procurement process and appointment of an independent service provider to undertake this work on the asset register was not pursued.”
Sources in the department said an asset register had been compiled long before De Lille’s arrival. They also said there was sufficient communications capability in the department and no need for outside help.