Johannesburg – Pressure is mounting on ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe to account for the dodgy tender his company, Enviro Mobi Pty Ltd, entered into with the Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development (GDARD) in 2017.
According to a forensic report, Enviro Mobi mispresented the details of its directors when it scored the multimillion-rand deal to provide waste pickers in Gauteng with 200 three-wheeler tuk-tuks, known as “karikis”.
The report was compiled after the office of the premier David Makhura and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) entered into a secondment agreement to review acts of misconduct by officials of the department and Enviro Mobi. The report is not an official SIU report.
“The review has revealed a series of irregular and possible fraudulent acts by the GDARD staff and Enviro Mobi Pty Ltd and/or other implicated individuals during the appointment of Enviro Mobi Pty Ltd as a service provider,” the report reads in part.
“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.” The report, dated February 2020, further goes on to recommend that civil action be instituted against Enviro Mobi to recover “the full amount” paid to it.
“Enviro made a direct misrepresentation to GDARD 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.”
The deal was entered into in March 2017, while Mabe only resigned as a legislator in August 2017.
In 2016, while he was still a member of parliament, Mabe declared his directorship of Enviro Mobi in the register of members’ interests.
The evidence before the SIU also shows that:
• Enviro Mobi invoiced GDARD on the same day of the signing of the contract (March 14) and that the payment of R16.2-million was made 10 days later.
• A second payment was made on September 13 to the tune of R9.3-million. The third payment of R1.6-million was made in November 2017.
• Investigators found that the department’s CFO knew when he signed off the third payment that the first two were already flagged by National Treasury as irregular.
• The company was paid for goods not delivered to the department during the 2017/18 financial year. The SIU also recommended that the GDARD register a criminal case of fraud against Enviro Mobi for misrepresenting the details of their active directors.
The investigators said on July 27 2017, the City of Ekurhuleni sent a letter to GDARD requesting to participate in its contract with Enviro Mobi.
The department gave its permission. 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.
“There is no contract concluded between City of Ekurhuleni and Enviro Mobi,” the investigators say in the report. In April, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the SIU to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration in the affairs of the City of Ekurhuleni and GDARD and to recover any financial losses suffered by the state.
Pule Mabe’s response
Pule Mabe said that the report is a product of an investigation that the SIU conducted illegally and therefore has no legal standing.
“As you may be aware, the SIU may only conduct investigations pursuant to a proclamation issued by the state president. Such proclamation was only issued this year, which was long after the report was finalised,” charged Mabe.
“It would seem the post-facto procurement of the proclamation is an attempt by the SIU to regularise and/or legitimise its unlawful conduct and report. Further, in conducting such illegal investigation, the SIU never contacted me, as a subject of such investigation and, notwithstanding, proceeded to implicate and/or make adverse findings against me.”
He denied he was a director of the company when it won the contract with the Gauteng government, pointing to a press ombudsman report that ordered the Mail & Guardian to apologise to him for stating the allegation as fact.
SIU’s comment
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said: “It is not the first time that SIU officials were seconded to investigate allegations of corruption. And for the retigating cord, we are not investigating an individual, but processes involving Enviro Mobi, Ekurhuleni and the Gauteng department of agriculture.”
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