Digital Vibes: Former health spokesperson Popo Maja due in court on corruption charges

Popo Maja, the former director of communications at the national Department of Health, is due to appear before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on corruption charges related to a tender awarded to Digital Vibes.

Digital Vibes scandal

Maja was granted bail of R5 000 last month, after handing himself over to the police.

He faces charges of two counts of corruption for allegedly receiving two bribes amounting to R15 000 from the controversial company related to a tender worth more than R140 million to provide communication services to the department for the National Health Insurance (NHI) programme.

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It is alleged that in 2019, Maja was appointed as a member of the bid specification and bid evaluation committee. The committee was tasked to appoint a service provider to provide communication services in relation to the NHI.

It is alleged that on 1 November 2019, the bid evaluation committee members set to evaluate bidders for functional and technical evaluation after Digital Vibes was recommended to be given the bid amount of over R141 million, for a period of 12 months.

The same day the committee sat, it is alleged that a bribe of R10 000 was paid into Maja’s personal bank account, from the Digital Vibes bank account. A month later, on 5 December 2019, an amount of R5 000 was paid again to his personal account by Digital Vibes.

Court appearance

During his last court appearance, state prosecutor Phumla Dwane-Alpman did not oppose Maja’s bail application. However, she asked the court to set an amount of R10 000 bail with conditions that Maja should hand in his private and official passport to the investigating officer, that he should inform the investigating officer when travelling outside Gauteng, and that he should not interfere with state witnesses.

However, Maja’s attorney told the court that Maja was already demoted at work in relation to the same matter and could only afford bail of R5 000. He also told the court that Maja has been cooperating with the state since the inception of the matter and therefore he was not a flight risk.

Disclosure of contents of docket

During Wednesday’s court proceedings, the state is expected to disclose the contents of the docket related to the case.

Maja was sanctioned by the department in July last year for his involvement in awarding the tender to Digital Vibes following an internal disciplinary hearing.

He was found guilty of two charges against him, including initiating the request to extend the service-level agreement with Digital Vibes and gross misconduct as a member of the bid evaluation committee.

He was subsequently demoted as the department’s national spokesperson and was issued a final written warning and demoted one salary level. Both sanctions were made valid for a year.

Former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize resigned over the Digital Vibes scandal in August 2021 after he was implicated in a R150 million irregular communications contract awarded by his department to Digital Vibes.

Mkhize has denied the allegations against him even though a Special Investigating Unit probe linked him to the contract and the owners of Digital Vibes.

The company was initially contracted to handle the department’s National Health Insurance communication work, but its scope was later expanded to include work on the department’s Covid-19 campaigns.

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