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Durban - KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala released the names, identity numbers and race groups of the directors of companies that benefited from the more than R2 billion Covid-19 provincial expenditure.
Five companies were paid R833.8 million or 41.6% of the overall amount.
Of the five companies, GVK-Siya Zama Building Contractors, whose director is listed as Nasser Mogamat Gamieldien, was given a contract worth R311.6m, followed by RGZ Projects owned by Gugulethu Reginald Zondo, who received R163.7m.
Logan Medical and Surgical, whose owner and director is listed as Vimla Naidoo, was given R122m, with Leomat JJS JV, owned and directed by Arnaldo Corbella, getting R121.9m, while Enza Construction, which has Mark Rowan Crowie listed as its director, got R114.6m.
The latest report did not detail if any of the companies or individuals were being probed over allegations of corruption or price gouging, allegations that have encompassed South Africa’s emergency Covid-19 expenditure and that in the province.
Zikalala said the largest chunk of the spend went to “African-owned companies”, which scored contracts worth R810.2m, split between 235 businesses.
Indian-owned companies accounted for 29.52%. The coloured and Asian communities received 0.51% and 0.46% respectively.
R17.7m, or 0.84% of the Covid-19 spend, went to companies for which the government had no details, Zikalala admitted, adding that the matter was being probed further.
Other numbers mentioned included that 35%, or R687m, was spent on majority women-owned companies, while 15%, or R310m, was spent on majority youth-owned (35 years and under) companies.
“We want to reiterate as we did with the first Covid-19 Procurement Disclosure Report, this report is not meant to pass judgement on the process, on anyone or any company that was awarded a contract,” said Zikalala.
“We are releasing the information merely to account and be transparent to our people. Should we nd, at a later stage, that there was something untoward in the awarding of any of the contracts, we will not hesitate to act.”
Zikalala would not be drawn into answering why the public should believe the latest anti-corruption and accountability drive, as this was not the first time investigations had been done into allegations of corruption and reports released that were not acted on.
He said that government was unable to provide the same detail contained in the latest report for municipalities as they used different reporting systems. The National Treasury was in the process of streamlining reporting formats that would enable the extraction of director and owners details, he said.
“I must stress that we do this of our own accord. We have not been compelled or pushed by anyone or by any circumstance. We are merely driven by the desire to honour the contract we have with the people of this province.”
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is probing 658 contracts countrywide, worth just over R5bn. In KZN, the SIU has confirmed that it is probing:
1. 57 personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts in the provincial Education Department valued at R492.6m.
2. Four contracts for the procurement of blankets by the Department of Social Development (DSD) to the value of R22.4m.
3. 18 contracts for the procurement of PPE by the Department of Social Development to the value of R 21.2m. The investigations are set to be completed within three months.
Lifestyle Audits
Zikalala also touched on the subject of the much-vaunted lifestyle audits to be conducted within the province, as he did with the release of the first report.
The State Security Agency and Sars had been approached, he said, to assist with the task of auditing executive council members, senior government officials and all supply chain management officials.
The “process” was in motion, said Zikalala, but he provided no dates.
Reaction
Opposition parties said they did not believe the new-found drive towards accountability and transparency was “genuine”.
The IFP and DA said that Zikalala was avoiding presenting any of the reports to the Office of the Premier Portfolio Committee in the provincial legislature where they could be further interrogated, but that he was keen to disclose them to the media.
Zikalala’s political opponents told The Mercury that all too often there was insufficient follow-up in holding those accused of benefiting irregularly from public funds to account, or of clearing those accused of wrongdoing.
As an example, the second biggest beneficiary of the Covid-19 contracts, RGZ Projects, has contracts worth R163.7m with the provincial Health Department for the upgrading and alterations to wards at Scottburgh’s GJ Crookes Hospital.
In a 2010 forensic report conducted by eThekwini Municipality, known as the Ngubane Report, the company was accused of housing contract irregularities.
In order to obtain clarity on the outcomes of the allegations, now more than a decade old, The Mercury last week sent detailed questions to both the eThekwini metro and the KZN Department of Health (as the giver of the contract, asking about due diligence).
Both failed to respond.
The owner of RGZ Projects, Reginald Zondo, did however speak to The Mercury.
He said he had never been accused of wrongdoing or interviewed by anyone involved in compiling the Ngubane Report, nor had he been approached by other investigators after the report was released.
In another report, the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs oversaw and then in February 2012 released the Manase Report, which investigated widespread corruption in eThekwini metro.
It implicated companies, senior managers and sitting councillors.
The report, among its many findings, provided evidence that former eThekwini mayor Obed Mlaba was found to have unlawfully influenced a R3bn tender involving a waste-to-energy landfill site in the Bisasar Road landfill Site of Clare Hills.
It is understood that many of those publicly implicated were never further investigated or publicly cleared.
IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa said that Zikalala and his administration were trying to “create the impression” that they were dealing with corruption.
“Soon they will deteriorate back to their old ways,” he said. “None of what the premier has disclosed to the media over the last month has come before the portfolio committee.
“He is neglecting his duty to account before the legislature.”
Hlabisa said the ANC was unable to be “truly decisive against corruption” if it could not remove sitting MPL and former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede from the legislature while she faced criminal charges for her alleged involvement in a R430m Durban Solid Waste tender racket.
Zwakele Mncwango, who leads the DA in the province, said Zikalala needed to be “accountable to the portfolio committee” where he could be asked “specific questions”.
“The premier is trying to fool the public. In most cases when it is a comrade implicated in corruption, the ANC will cover for them,” he said. |
