Special Tribunal orders GDE suppliers to pay back profits

The Special Tribunal has ordered some Gauteng PPE suppliers to pay back profits made on irregularly awarded tenders and contracts to decontaminate, disinfect and sanitise schools in response to Covid-19.

A Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe found that Gauteng Education paid over R431 million to service providers “pursuant to a process that was hap-hazard, unfair and littered with procurement irregularities.”

“The investigation revealed that the procurement process was not cost-effective, as service providers were not paid per square meter of the area cleaned,” said SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.

“Rather, a senior official in the Gauteng Education appears to have arbitrarily decided to offer a fee of R250,000 to R270, 000 for the decontamination of primary schools, R250,000 to R290,000 for secondary schools; and R250,000 to R300,000 for district offices,” said Kganyago.

The fees bear no relation to the work done by service providers or the cost of material used.

Some of the names of service providers appointed were received via WhatsApp from officials in the Gauteng Education Department.

“The service providers were appointed without first checking whether they were accredited or appeared on the Central Supplier Database,” according to SIU investigators.

The outcome of this review application is a continuation of the implementation of the SIU investigations’ outcomes and consequence management to recover financial losses suffered by State institutions.

The SIU is seeking to recover all profits made by service providers from irregular contracts.

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“To ensure the profits are calculated and recovered in full, the Special Tribunal ordered the service providers submit a statement and debatement of account in respect of their appointment, performance and payment to the SIU, to determine the profits derived,” said Kganyago.

If the accounting and the sum of profit determined are disputed by either the SIU or the service providers, the parties shall approach the Special Tribunal for an appropriate order on supplemented papers as necessary.

“In the event that there is no dispute on the accounting and the sum of profits, the Special Tribunal ordered that such profit shall be paid to the SIU within 15 days of such agreement, together with interest.”

More than R60 million has been preserved pending final determination of profits derived from irregular contracts.

The SIU approached the Special Tribunal to review and set aside the contracts following an intensive investigation.

There are 45 matters enrolled in the Special Tribunal which are still awaiting adjudication to the combined value of R2.1 billion and will result in further recoveries for the State.

Compiled by Narissa Subramoney

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