Justin Arenstein and Leonard Ndzhukula
Senior Mpumalanga Tender Board officials shredded highly confidential letters detailing an alleged R16-million tender fraud two weeks ago and are still attempting to keep a high-level investigation into the dubious contract under wraps.
The independent investigation, headed by an external auditor, was launched three weeks ago after Senoko Chemicals, also known as Sen Enterprises, presented Mpumalanga’s education department with a R16-million invoice for chemical cleaning materials.
The company doesn’t, however, have an official tender contract for supplying materials to the department, and according to departmental representatives, may have misrepresented itself by using the name of a company holding the national tender for supplying government with cleaning materials. Education department representative Peter Maminza said this week that his department suspected that at least three senior tender board officials had personally issued the documentation used by Sen Enterprises to convince schools to order supplies from the company.
In addition, there are indications that the brother of an as yet unnamed board member works for Sen Enterprises.
When the Mail & Guardian approached the tender board for comment, assistant director Benedict Mkhabela placed the reporter on hold and then loudly proceeded to assure an unnamed board member that he had destroyed two “highly confidential” letters which had been sent to him by mistake.
“We know they weren’t supposed to come to us, it was a mistake. But don’t worry, no one will see them as I shredded them immediately after reading them,” Mkhabela told the board member. The letters apparently referred to tender board secretariat head, Vincent Khoza, and Sen Enterprises. Their contents were not, however, discussed.
After realising that the M&G had heard his entire conversation, Mkhabela refused to comment further other than insisting that he had been obliged to destroy the letters as they were not addressed to him.
He instead referred the M&G to the letter’s apparent author, board member Eric Mabuza. Mabuza refused to speak about the letters, insisting that despite being aware of Constitutional provisions allowing him to disclose any state-held information to the public, he had “strict instructions” not to speak to the media. After confirming the letters dealt with Sen Enterprises, he slammed the telephone down.
Finance department head, Abel Erasmus, who is responsible for monitoring the tender board, also refused to take calls on the issue. Erasmus earlier denied that there was an investigation into the tender board at all.
Finance officials confirmed, however, that Khoza was suddenly transferred to a position with fewer responsibilities for “increased efficiency” just days before the investigation was launched. He also took one month’s immediate unscheduled leave. Khoza has since denied that he took a bribe or otherwise acted improperly and insists that the tender board cannot be held responsible for a company which “acts outside of its mandate”.
The finance department’s chief director, Shadrack Mashile, who works closely with the board, also took one-month study leave as did the head of the education department, Faith Sithole. All three officials are scheduled to return to duty shortly after the investigation team presents its report to education MEC David Mabuza next week.
Documents leaked to the M&G indicate that Sen Enterprises was originally the distributor for Hotel and Industrial Supplies, which was awarded a national tender and which sub-contracted Sen Enterprises to provide cleaning materials to schools in Northern Province, Mpumalanga and North-West Province.
The contract between Sen Enterprises and Hotel and Industrial Supplies was, however, terminated three weeks later, after Sen Enterprises began marketing their own products using Hotel and Industrial Supplies, said its managing director Nick Crosby.
Despite the termination of contract, five months later Sen Enterprises invoiced the Mpumalanga education department for R16,15-million and Northern Province for R6-million for supplying goods to 200 schools. The company has allegedly also demanded millions of rands from other departments in the Northern Province, including some hospitals.
Attempts to contact the director of Sen Enterprises, Walter Senoko, were fruitless. – African Eye News Service