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Sunday Times reports that Department of Defence officials are being probed for allegedly manipulating dozens of lucrative Covid personal protective equipment (PPE) tenders in a second PPE scandal to hit the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).
Officials allegedly awarded contracts worth millions to legitimate companies on condition they “ceded” them to pre-selected middlemen. The SANDF boasted in September last year of bringing four officers before a military court to face corruption charges flowing from a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into a R273m PPE deal in 2020, but the second PPE scandal stayed out of public view. The elaborate and illegal fronting scheme unfolded in August and September 2021 at the department’s central procurement service centre in Eco-Park. The looting spree saw dozens of companies that had won PPE contracts being told to “cede” them to others, with a 10% fee being paid over to the original successful bidders. Simon Tshikalange, owner of Timhuti Medical Supply, and his brother, Walter, owner of medical supplies company PDC Health and Training, ceded contracts worth more than R4.4m and R2.58m respectively to a business called Vhuyo Consulting. Vhuyo Consulting is owned by Mpho Nevhutalu, one of the biggest winners in the alleged fraud and corruption spree. He allegedly scored R16.3m to supply three-ply masks. Nevhutalu allegedly fronted by using details of other companies registered in the National Treasury’s central supplier database (CSD). Some 28 companies ceded their contracts – in some instances to individuals they didn’t know, from a different province – in exchange for a 10% fee. This constituted fronting, which is illegal. SANDF spokesperson Brig-Gen Andries Mokoena Mahapa said: “The SANDF is not well placed to give clarity on matters contained in your inquiry as they are currently under investigation by the South African Police Service.” He refused to say which SAPS unit was involved.
- Read the full original of the extensive report in the above regard by Thanduxolo Jika at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page