Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu yesterday, at the Mbombela government complex, announced the findings of the Integrity, Forensic Investigations and Security Management report into the procurement of 22 laptops.

Lowvelder reports Ndlovu said the Department of Education (DoE) appointed a service provider to supply 22 Dell XPS 15 laptops with accessories such as wireless mice and laptop bags at a cost of R91 482.50 each, and one HP printer for R8 269.45. Instead, the service provider delivered Dell XPS 13 and 14 laptops.

“The procurement of the laptops does not comply with Section 217 of the Constitution, read with the provisions of Sections 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 in defrauding 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 added that the supplier misrepresented to the DoE that it had supplied goods as per the tender award, while knowing the laptops did not meet the specifications.

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 be blacklisted on the National and Provincial Treasury Register for Tender Defaulters. Lifestyle audits will be conducted on the implicated officials.

The department’s functionality will be reviewed to strengthen internal controls around the procurement of Information and Communication Technology equipment. A progress report on the implementation of these recommendations will be released in June.

Regarding the MEC for Education, Cathy Dlamini, the premier said she was not involved in the procurement process but that he would take action against her following the department’s review.

“I would like 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.

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