R400 million ‘rip-off’ for tablets

Gopolang Moloko

The Eastern Cape education department plans to fork out more than R400 million to lease 55 000 tablet devices for Grade 12 pupils, in order to allow them to complete the school year, but this deal has raised some eyebrows.

Chief among these is why the department doesn’t simply purchase the tablets outright, saving millions of rands and cutting out the middleman.

Another aspect of the deal, which was revealed in the Eastern Cape legislature, is that the tablets are expected to be returned after a three-year term, while purchasing the items would obviously mean they remain the property of the department.

According to the Daily Despatch, the deal with a Pretoria-based IT group is said to be worth hundreds of millions.

Although exact details around the contract remain sparse after numerous calls to the department went unanswered yesterday, the price of each tablet is approximately R7 200.

While the Eastern Cape education department will spend the money in an attempt to ensure a rescued academic year for matrics, an online search shows prices of tablets start at R899 for a Neon IQ 7-inch Wi-Fi tablet NQT7W at HiFi Corp. A Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8-inch with Wi-Fi capabilities in black is valued at R1 999, while a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 2019 10.1-inch LTE 32GB in black is valued at R6 299.

Further research using Price Check results in several other options which could equate to a better deal for the Eastern Cape department.

The Citizen