Zweli Mkhize
2019 – 2021. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
As pressure mounts on President Cyril Ramaphosa to act on the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) Digital Vibes report, investigators are tracking down about R90-million of the R150-million paid to the company, which has “disappeared.”
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, who was placed on special leave by the president over alleged corruption in the Covid-19 Digital Vibes communications contract, is not expected to survive the scandal because the SIU has recommended “executive action” against him.
On 30 June, the SIU submitted its final report into allegations that Mkhize had influenced the tender in favour of the company, which is linked to his former spokesperson, Tahera Mather, who reportedly controlled Digital Vibes together with the minister’s former personal assistant, Naadhira Mitha.
The investigative body submitted additional information requested by the presidency on 2 July.
Although Ramaphosa is still to announce his decision regarding the fate of Mkhize, a source with intimate knowledge of the matter said the SIU had recommended “executive action” against the health minister and disciplinary action against the officials who were involved.
“Executive action” is understood to mean dismissal.
Mkhize has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in connection with the awarding of the tender and has distanced himself from Mather, describing her as his “comrade” instead of a “personal friend”.
Payments to buy a Land Cruiser for Mkhize’s son, Dedani, and to carry out maintenance at a Johannesburg house owned by his family have already been made public.
Mkhize’s associates were “favoured with” the contract at R150-million when other companies with extensive infrastructure and experience in the industry bid at nearly half the price, according to the source, who asked to remain anonymous. “Digital Vibes was favoured despite another provider having tendered to do the job for half the price.”
Companies involved in the bidding process have confirmed that bids for the 12-month contract were as low as R90-million.
The source said that “R90-million of the R150-million [paid to Digital Vibes] cannot be accounted for’’ and the SIU team was now focusing on tracing and recovering the money.
Thus far the SIU has managed to freeze R22-million in bank accounts belonging to companies and individuals associated with the deal.
Judge Lebogang Modiba granted an order at the end of July that also freezes R1-million in a bank account of a company called Strategeewhizz, which is registered in Mitha’s name, plus roughly R9-million held in four accounts in the name of WT Graphics and Designs, which is linked to one Wasim Mather.
Last, the order freezes R7.79-million in an account belonging to Amod Attorneys, whose sole director is listed as Ahmed Rashid Amod.
“The team is going after the money. Some of the money went to Royal Bhaca [the company owned by former presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko’s late husband, Thandisizwe],” the source said.
The investigation into the flow of money from Digital Vibes to a number of other companies and individuals had already unearthed evidence of money laundering, the source said.
The alleged inflation of the tender amount is also understood to have made up a significant part of the investigation.
The SIU has analysed the unsuccessful bids in addition to that of Digital Vibes to ascertain if any of the other bidders were acting in cahoots with the company.
One of the unsuccessful bidders is understood to have tendered for the contract — which began its life as a National Health Insurance (NHI) communications programme but was converted to Covid-19 communications when the pandemic began — at R90-million.
The SIU also interviewed bidders to evaluate whether they would have been capable of delivering the services required for the tasks of publicising the NHI rollout.
Bidders for the contract were first contacted by the department of health in September 2019 through a tender request on the treasury’s Central Supplier Database (CSD) to a number of level one service providers.
They were required to provide an implementation plan along with a media buying plan, a digital and social media campaign, a public relations and marketing strategy and a “community engagement” programme. They were also asked to design a package of digital materials, which would be made available to all health department facilities as a long-term resource they could make use of.
But, in October 2019, bidders were contacted by the department and asked to urgently provide additional detail that had been left out of the original tender document.
These included special requirements and conditions of contracts, which included testimonials from clients.
The unsuccessful bidders received no further communication about the tender once it was awarded. This is required to allow any prospective service provider to object to the award within 14 days.
One of the bidders, who asked not to be named, said the request for further documentation had raised red flags about the tender process, as had the by-passing of the objection period. “There was no communication with unsuccessful bidders, which is strange for a contact of this size. Normally unsuccessful bidders are informed, which allows them to object within a 14 day window period. This did not happen, which meant none of us could object.”
The service provider said they were also not notified when the contract was converted to Covid-19 communications.
Although the presidency has acknowledged that the SIU report is with the president, it is not clear at this stage at what point Ramaphosa will act on it.
On Tuesday, a scheduled briefing by the presidency and the SIU to parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on the Digital Vibes investigation was called off.
This sparked an outcry from parliamentarians, who were told that the matter was still being dealt with by the presidency.
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