Johannesburg – The Special Tribunal has, on Thursday, set aside contracts by the Gauteng Department Of Education given to companies to decontaminate schools during the Covid-19 outbreak.
It was found that proper procedures were not followed in awarding these companies the contracts – some appointed via WhatsApp by officials in the department.
What was supposed to cost approximately R6 million ballooned to a bill of over R431 million.
In a statement, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), who approached the Tribunal, said it seeks to recover the profits made by the contracted service providers.
Investigations revealed that companies were appointed without verification or checking whether they appeared on the government’s Central Supplier Database.
“SIU approached the Special Tribunal to review and set aside the contracts following an intensive investigation, which revealed that Gauteng Education paid over R431 million to service providers pursuant to a process that was hap-hazard, unfair, and littered with procurement irregularities.
“The investigation revealed that the procurement process was not cost-effective, as service providers were not paid per square meter of the area cleaned. Rather, a senior official in the Gauteng Education appears to have arbitrarily decided to offer a fee of R250 000 to R270000 for the decontamination of primary schools; R250 000 to R290 000 for secondary schools; and R250 000 to R300 000 for district offices. The fees bear no relation to the work done by service providers, or the cost of material used.
“Some of the names of service providers appointed were received via WhatsApp from officials in the Gauteng Education. The service providers were appointed without first checking whether they were accredited or appeared on the Central Supplier Database, the SIU investigation has revealed,” the statement read.
The judgement ordered these 49 companies to pay the determined sum of profits plus interest within 60 days, after submitting their statements and debatement of account to the SIU.
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