Deviations from tender processes top R37bn

THE Treasury’s Chief Procurement Office has reported to parliament that government departments and state-owned enterprises requested deviations from normal procurement processes amounting to more than R37-billion in the 2016-17 financial year.

The report, presented by acting chief procurement officer Willie Mathebula, showed Eskom accounted for the largest chunk of the requests, accounting for deviations of R31.3-billion.

Mathebula said departments and SOEs often asked to depart from the normal processes at the last minute due to poor planning‚ lack of skills and capacity, and weak contract management, among other reasons.

Others in the Treasury’s top 10 public entities with large deviations were the SA Revenue Service (R1.2-billion)‚ the Department of Rural Development (R648-million)‚ the SA Social Security Agency (R405-million) and Transnet (R380-million).

MPs from both the ANC and the opposition parties were not impressed when Mathebula failed to provide the finer details of the deviation requests‚ saying his report did not indicate whether fraud and corruption were behind the requests.

ANC MP Derek Hanekom suggested that corrupt officials often used deviation requests when they wanted to benefit from or award government contracts to parties close to them.