Johannesburg- The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is turning up the heat on ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe over a multi-million tender awarded to a company linked to him.
Sunday World can reveal that the SIU summoned Mabe to its offices in Tshwane and questioned him about the tender that was awarded to
Enviro Mobi by the Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development in 2017.
The SIU started investigating the tender after a forensic report it compiled for Gauteng premier David Makhura revealed suspicious acts of misconduct and fraudulent activities by the provincial department’s officials and the company. The report, which the SIU compiled after entering into a secondment agreement with the department to assist with the investigations, was handed over to Makhura last year.
After handing over the report to Makhura, the SIU applied for a proclamation order from President Cyril Ramaphosa to officially investigate the tender, which was meant to provide Gauteng waste pickers with 200 three-wheeler tuk-tuks, known as “karikis”.
In April, Ramaphosa authorised the SIU to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration in the affairs of the City of Ekurhuleni and the department, and to recover any financial losses suffered by the government. A senior SIU official, who did not want to be named because he is not allowed to speak to the media, said Mabe arrived with his lawyer at the law-enforcement agency’s headquarters in Centurion last Friday, where he was grilled about the tender.
According to the forensic report, which we have seen, Enviro Mobi mispresented the details of its directors when it scored the tender.
“It further will reveal irregular payments of R27 231 750 to the service provider without any services rendered as set out in the professional services contract entered into between the contracting parties,” reads the report dated February last year.
“Enviro made a direct misrepresentation to GDARD [Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development] during the submission of their tender proposal in which they failed to declare all the directors, which included Mr Pule Mabe, who was still a member of parliament [government employee] at that stage.
The appointment of Enviro was therefore irregular in terms of Section 217 of the Constitution,” states the report.
It further stated that the tender was awarded to Enviro Mobi in March 2017, while Mabe only resigned as a legislator in August 2017. This after he declared his directorship of Enviro Mobi in the register of members’ interests in 2016.
The report stated that investigators found that the department’s CFO knew when he signed off the third payment that the first two had been flagged by the Treasury as irregular.
The SIU also recommended that the department register a criminal case of fraud against Enviro Mobi for misrepresenting the details of its active directors.
The investigators said on July 27 2017, the City of Ekurhuleni sent a letter to the department requesting to participate in its contract with Enviro Mobi.
The department acceded to its request and in October 2017, Ekurhuleni sent an appointment letter to Enviro Mobi to manufacture and deliver 70 three-wheeler vehicles at a value of R7.8-million. The investigators charged that there was no contract between the city and the company.
Kaizer Kganyago, SIU spokesperson, said they would not comment on ongoing investigations.
Mabe confirmed that he was questioned by the SIU over the kariki tender.
“The SIU wanted clarification from me on certain issues about the entity, so they invited me there to shed more light on them,” he said.
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