Mpumalanga Premier denies allegations of child’s involvement in vaccine tender

Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane has denied reports alleging the involvement of her child in a company believed to be a distributing agent for the Covid-19 vaccine.

This follows allegations on social media that her daughter was involved in a Mpumalanga-based company that was paid money to distribute vaccines.

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While there is a company that was registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) on 29 January, the Mpumalanga provincial government said in a statement that no member of the premier’s family was involved in it.

“Such unfounded and disparaging allegations are part of the attempts by individuals or a group of individuals to tarnish the image of the premier.

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“The peddling of fake news is not only irresponsible, it undermines the efforts of the inter-ministerial committee [IMC] led by the deputy president to successfully manage the roll out of the vaccines and save lives

“The premier urges the people of Mpumalanga to be vigilant and guard against the dissemination of fake news,” the provincial government said in a statement.

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The first batch of one million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII) arrived in South Africa on Monday.

However, it will take 10 to 14 days for various processes to be completed before the vaccines are ready to be distributed across the country.

• Editor’s note: This story’s headline and content has been updated, after it emerged that the registered director of the company is male, and not female.

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde

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