This is according to outgoing Auditor-General (AG), Kimi Makwetu, as he released his office’s first report on the management of Covid-19 funding on Wednesday. Makwetu says their inspection of orders placed by Health Departments countrywide revealed that some PPE items were priced at more than double - and in some instances, five times more - than the prescribed amount.

The outgoing AG says this happened despite national treasury providing clear specifications for PPE pricing. Makwetu further cautioned that the partial relaxation of tender processes for provincial departments, municipalities and municipal entities, to speed up the procurement of goods required to reduce and control the spread of the virus, did not mean supply chain regulations could be flouted in their entirety.

In April, Free State Finance MEC Gadija Brown assured the public and the government’s naysayers that the relaxation of procurement policies for emergency items during the coronavirus outbreak would be closely monitored by her department.

Brown’s comments on the matter came on the back of fierce criticism from DA Member of the Free State Legislature (MPL) Roy Jankielsohn, who argued fortuitously at the time that the relaxation of the procurement policies will be used as a gateway for further tender fraud and corruption in the province.

A mere four months after Brown made this pledge, several media outlets reported that companies affiliated with ANC Secretary General, Ace Magashule, had scored PPE tenders in the province under Brown’s watch. They included Magashule’s sons, a well-known events company and a local car wash/chisanyama that City Press alleges is not even registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC). The latter company scored a R 4,3 million tender without being registered.

Makwetu says his office is still busy auditing the procurement processes and “identifying matters such as suppliers not having valid tax clearance certificates, quotation and competitive bidding processes not being correctly applied, inadequate or inaccurate specifications and evaluation criteria and the incorrect application thereof, conflicts of interest, and the awarding of a contract in the health sector to a supplier with no previous history of supplying or delivering PPE”. 

Furthermore, the Auditor-General pointed out there were poor controls to curb and financial irregularities.

This report focuses on R 147, 41 billion of the availed funds to mitigate the economic effects of the coronavirus and for the procurement of equipment that will curb the spread of the virus. Overall, South Africa pledged to use R 500 billion towards the fight against the coronavirus, some of which was to be sourced from outside financial institutions.

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