The department of basic education wishes to refute categorically the allegations made in the Mail & Guardian of January 28 regarding the tender process for the appointment of a service provider for the printing, packaging and delivery of learner workbooks for grades one to six.
The department stands by the fact that neither it nor the director general, Bobby Soobrayan, is aware of any of his relatives who may be involved with any of the bidders for this tender. Furthermore, we want to make it clear that the director general has not been involved in any of the tender processes in question. He did not even see the bid proposals.
The department reiterates that all the legal requirements were met throughout the tender process. Given the nature of the bid, the director general, as the accounting officer, met officials from the national treasury to discuss potential risks and how best these could be managed. Based on a recommendation by national treasury officials, the department called for quotations to contract an independent audit firm to monitor the tender process.
An independent audit firm, OMA Chartered Accountants, was duly appointed. The appointment of an external auditor to oversee procurement processes is discretionary and is not commonly done in government procurement. This was the first time that the department appointed an external auditor to perform this function in its procurement process.
The department takes the accusations regarding the director general’s alleged involvement in the process extremely seriously. At no stage was the director general as the accounting officer involved in any part of the process, including the compulsory briefing session, receiving of tenders, reading out of prices and storage of bid proposals and he did not serve on any of the evaluation or adjudication committees.
It is important to note that the evaluation and adjudication process was monitored by the office of the auditor general in addition to the independent audit firm. The department remains open to any independent audit of the process by a competent authority.
‘The department of basic nepotism’
Education Minister Angie Motshekga has exercised active oversight over the entire process of awarding this tender. The minister has received regular reports on the process and she is on record as being satisfied with it.
The article in question makes no reference to the fact that the workbooks were produced at a fraction of the retail price and are of arguably better quality. The entire project will consume less than half the amount made available by the national treasury based on its own assessment of market prices. The substantial savings are already being used to make further interventions aimed at improving literacy and numeracy in schools.
It is telling that the allegations have been made by unsuccessful bidding companies and “sources” under the cloak of anonymity.
The article and the defamatory poster headline, “The department of basic nepotism”, only serve to cast aspersions on the integrity of the department and the person of the director general. This is reckless journalism of the worst kind, based on hearsay, gossip and innuendo. Inferences are made which create a negative public perception without basis in fact. This type of irresponsible journalism seriously undermines the authority of the national department and could compromise its capacity to lead the education system.
These malicious allegations were first published in the Times on December 10 2010. It is hard to understand why it was necessary to repeat the same hollow accusations. As a department, we cannot allow such irresponsible journalism to tarnish our good name and we will explore all options to seek the necessary relief.
We have no doubt that the use of the learner workbooks will make an enormous contribution to the improvement of literacy and numeracy in all our schools.
Granville Whittle is spokesperson for the department of basic education.