According to the SIU’s latest presentation to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) in parliament, these contracts amount to over R16, 6 million collectively. OFM News’ Olebogeng Motse reports, the Free State Treasury, led by MEC Gadija Brown, came under fire in early August after media reports surfaced alleging the sons and close affiliates of ANC Secretary General, Ace Magashule had scored big from PPE tenders awarded by her department.

Sunday newspaper, City Press, published an article based off of a leaked list of service providers at the time, alluding to which service providers were implicated in Treasury’s PPE scandal. They included a company that organises an annual festival in the province that received R4,9 million, as well as an unregistered shisa nyama, allegedly not registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission which also received a R4,3 million tender.  The Free State Provincial Treasury in turn undertook to audit the COVID-19 procurement in an effort to find out if indeed supply chain processes were flouted when these contracts were awarded.

Overall, the SIU is probing R52 million worth of PPE contracts across varying Free State Provincial Departments. The probe, involves 12 service providers. The details regarding each of the providers is not revealed in the SCOPA presentation.

Whilst the Free State has dominated the headlines with regards to the PPE scandal in the Central South Africa region, its neighbours the Northern Cape and North West have not been without their fair share. Eight PPE contracts in the North West are also being probed for irregularities. These include the awarding of a PPE tender by JB Marks Municipality at an inflated price of R451 200……

OFM News