Exposed!

The irregular and fraudulent awarding of tenders and contracts in Limpopo is now starting to bite —  and it is getting closer to home for certain people in Limpopo’s lowveld. The departments of education and health have thus far been responsible for most of the news regarding deeply rooted corruption.
One of the disturbing discoveries made by us confirms how hospitals in the province have been used to feed friends and relatives with lucrative contracts, or to enrich people in key positions. We first discovered this at Phalaborwa’s state hospital in June last year, where we were shown a stack of groceries bought at highly inflated prices.
The Sunday Independent newspaper on Sunday published details showing  that Nandis Food Suppliers JV Rufaro Trading Enterprise, was awarded a contract to supply cooking oil to all hospitals in the province for five years.
It is, however, especially the education department — accounting for nearly half of Limpopo’s R2 billion cash-flow crisis — that have been abused to enrich people. It is claimed that the department awarded R1,2 billion school infrastructure contracts irregularly and fraudulently.
The bulk of the tenders were awarded to associates of Premier Cassel Mathale and ANCYL leader Julius Malema, including Rivoni Properties owner Thulani Nkuna. Nkuna, a businessman based in Tzaneen, was among a Limpopo government delegation, led by Mathale, that visited Italy on a trade and investment mission last year.
Education MEC Dickson Masemola, who is also the provincial ANC deputy chairman, is a close ally of both Mathale and Malema. It is said that Masemola was the master mind behind the scheme to reward certain contractors by giving them lucrative contracts in exchange for donating piles of cash towards the construction of the Limpopo ANC’s luxury headquarters, the R40 million Frans Mohlala House.
The education department’s former general manager for school infrastructure, Tumisho Makofane, resigned last month amid allegations that he played a central role in manipulating contracts for the benefit of businessmen linked to Mathale and Malema.
Makofane has (obviously) denied all the allegations as well as news that he was joining Aurecon, one of the companies which benefited from the multi-million rand contracts awarded under his watch.
The department accumulated unauthorised expenditure of R2,2 billion, accruals amounting to R190 million and is expected to overspend by R293 million. Apart from having 200 ghost teachers and 2 400 excess teachers on its payroll, it could not pay staff and for security company services.
Hope Mokgatlhe, spokesman for the department of basic education, could neither deny nor confirm that R1,2 billion tenders were awarded irregularly and that the Limpopo education department had a budget deficit of R900 million.
In the meantime the Hawks, Sars and Public Protector Thuli Madonsela are probing scores of alleged tender irregularities, including fraud and corruption, and the investigation touches Malema and a network of his key allies, who include Mathale. They are accused of widespread looting of multi-million rand contracts to bankroll their lavish lifestyles and buy political patronage.
The investigators are combing provincial departments for any documents that could lead them to the doors of businessmen, civil servants and politicians who have looted Limpopo.
Sello Lediga and Gerda Hawker, who were sub-contracted by Rivoni to supply 950 desks to a school he built outside Polokwane, said they had been told they would not get their R500 000 payment because Nkuna’s tender was irregular.
They said Nkuna himself said he could not pay them as the education department did not pay him because of the intervention. Lediga added that Nkuna refused to heed Gordhan’s call for businessmen to submit valid supporting documents in order to get paid.
The level of supply chain malpractice in Limpopo is further highlighted by revelations that the provincial health department allocated hospital food and perishable goods tenders to hand-picked companies at either inflated prices or below market fees.
Some hospitals are now running short of food partly because contractors without valid contracts have withheld their service in the face of finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s refusal to pay unless valid contracts were produced.
Insiders said the contracts had been manipulated by officials. In some instances, contractors were told to under-quote to ensure they got the contracts. To make up for the losses, they would be allowed to supply fewer goods and bill the department more money.