Mpumalanga premier releases investigation report on R2m laptops

The Mpumalanga premier, Mandla Ndlovu, announced the findings of the Integrity, Forensic Investigations and Security Management report regarding the procurement of 22 laptops, at Mbombela government complex on Monday, May 5.
Ndlovu said the Department of Education (DoE) appointed a service provider to supply 22 Dell XPS 15 laptops with other accessories such as wireless mice and laptop bags at a rate of R91 482.50 each and one HP printer at the cost of R8 269.45. Instead, the service provider delivered laptops of Dell XPS 13s and 14s.

“The procurement of the laptops do not comply with Section 217 of the Constitution read with the provisions of Section 38 and 45 of the Public Finance Management Act of 1999. The process cannot be said to have been fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective. The departmental officials irregularly specified the brand they required instead of the functionality, resulting in only specific suppliers responding to the issued request for quotations. They also irregularly invited bids from a particular brand of suppliers and within the limited locality of Mbombela, despite the fact that it was required that they expand the scope to all suppliers of all brands provincially,” he said.

Investigation findings
Ndlovu said the investigation revealed that eight officials aided the service provider to defraud the department.
“The supplier did not comply with the terms of the purchase order and delivered laptops of a lesser quality than what was approved and paid for, and the DoE accepted this delivery,” said Ndlovu.
He also said the supplier misrepresented to the DoE that it supplied goods as per the tender award, when it knew that the laptops were not in accordance with the specifications.

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Recommendations
The premier recommended that the provincial government immediately recover any losses from the service provider. Disciplinary action will be taken against the eight implicated officials, as well as the head of department Lucy Moyane.
The service provider will also be blacklisted on the National Provincial Treasury Register for Tender Defaulters. Lifestyle audits will be conducted on the implicated officials. The functionality of the department will be reviewed to identify and enhance weak internal controls regarding the procurement of Information and Communication Technology equipment. A progress report will be made available in June on implementation of all the recommendations highlighted.

Regarding the MEC for education, Cathy Dlamini, the premier said she was not part of the procurement of the laptops, however, he will take action against her after the department’s review.
“I would to inform members of the public that while I am the premier of the province no corruption or fraud will be tolerated. I am going to deal with any corruption decisively. People need to learn to live by the means that they are getting rather than commit fraud to make a better living at the expense of the public. The Mpumalanga government is committed to clean, ethical and transparent governance,” said Ndlovu.