Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu is investigating his Department of Education for buying 22 laptops for R2 million.
This was revealed by education MEC Cathy Dlamini responding to questions from EFF lawmaker Ntsako Mkhabela in the provincial legislature this week.
Mkhabela demanded to know why the laptops were acquired despite failing to meet procurement specifications for items bought last December.
“A preliminary report from our internal investigation does indicate that the service provider did not deliver as per the specifications provided,” Dlamini responded. “The matter is currently being investigated through the Integrity Management Unit in the Office of the Premier.”
MEC is still using a laptop inherited from her predecessor
Asked how much the laptops cost the department, Dlamini stated that each was R91 482.50. She added that she was not a beneficiary of the costly laptops and continues to use a second-hand device she received when she became MEC last year.
The laptops are for office-based officials in the department.
“The total amount paid for the laptops was R2 020 883.45,” she said.
Mkhabela pressed further, questioning the hefty price tag.
What type of laptop is this?
“We want to know what type of laptop this is. I just want to ask the MEC to at least give us the name of this laptop so that we know we are talking about a R91 000 laptop because we have never seen such a laptop in all the shops,” said Mkhabela.
Dlamini asked that she be allowed to respond in writing, as the answer was technical.
Sources within the department later told Sunday World that the laptops were Dell XPS 16s. A quick online search showed the same model retailing at similar prices on Takealot.
Dlamini told the sitting that the procurement followed national protocols and used a panel of suppliers approved by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA).
She said government departments are encouraged to procure IT equipment through SITA to promote standardisation and pricing parity.
“These materials are not classified as Learner Teacher Material and thus should be procured through the SITA contract,” she explained. “The beneficiaries are administrators and school managers. They use these for administration processes and not for teaching and learning.”
Dlamini was not involved in the procurement
Departmental spokesperson Jasper Zwane confirmed the investigation and was adamant Dlamini was not involved in the procurement.
“It must be emphasised that the MEC was not involved in the procurement process at any stage, nor did she receive any of the laptops in question,” said Zwane. “The fact is, by law, the MEC is not involved in any procurement processes. To implicate her or her office in this matter is both misleading and unjust.”
SITA is a public entity under the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, led by Minister Solly Malatsi. It is responsible for managing IT procurement for all state entities and ensuring that purchases are compliant, cost-effective, and standardised.
Only OEMs can sell ITC products to the government
Only suppliers approved by SITA can sell products to government departments. These suppliers must be Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) distributors.
An OEM distributor must be registered on the Central Supplier Database and sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with SITA.
The agreement insists on cost-effectiveness
According to SITA: “The primary goal of the MoA is to ensure that OEMs support SITA’s mandate to enable procurement of standards-based, cost-effective, high-quality solutions for deployment in government, fulfilling the requirements of the e-Government House of Value.
“Once the agreement has been finalised, OEMs must follow the rest of the Technology Certification Process to certify their products, as it is not sufficient to have the brand listed with SITA. OEM products are continually certified by SITA, independent of bids or tenders, but only certified products may be supplied to the Government at any time.
“In the absence of a signed MoA, no products will be certified for that OEM. If an MoA lapses or is cancelled, any existing certified products will be removed from the product catalogue.”
The education department said it will await the outcome of the investigation before making further comments.
