Limpopo committee seek answers after PPE spending goes from R250m to R500m
In a previous engagement around June, the health department indicated to the committee that its spending on the PPE was in the region of a quarter of a billion rand.
Limpopo Health MEC Dr Phophi Ramathuba. Nehawu and the DA are calling for the suspension of MEC Ramathuba and all government officials who might have benefitted in the R900 million Covid-19 PPE tenders that recently set tongues wagging nationwide. Image: Twitter/ @PhophiRamathuba
The Limpopo health portfolio committee wants MEC Phophi Ramathuba to submit a detailed report on more than R500-million worth of expenditure on what it called “rushed spending” on Covid-19 essentials.
In a statement, the committee’s chairperson Joshua Matlou said they had been inundated with concern over serious allegations of malfeasance and corruption in Covid-19 related procurement.
“In a previous engagement around June 2020, the department indicated to the portfolio committee that its spending on the PPE was in the region of a quarter of a billion (rand).
Matlou said: “But in a ‘sudden turn of events’ in less than two months, the figure now stands at more than half a billion. The portfolio committee is deeply concerned with this state of ‘rushed spending’.”
He said procurement was seemingly not done on the basis of the province’s need analysis, but “was used as a free ticket by unscrupulous elements who saw this as an opportunity for wanton spending of the public purse”.
But head of the Limpopo health department Dr Thokozani Mhlongo, on Monday, was at pains to explain how certain companies based outside the province scored millions in the procurement of Covid-19 PPE.
Mhlongo said she was not worried because she believed all prescripts and processes were followed.
She told the media in Polokwane that local companies were unable to supply the products, as per specifications.
“There was a company that was found in Kwazulu-Natal which had the capacity to supply us. That was very early in the pandemic when everybody didn’t know what the future holds for us.
“To date, we haven’t run out of sanitisers in this province,” Mhlongo said.
She was unable to provide an exact answer on whether Ramathuba had taken a leave of absence following damning allegations of misconduct around PPE procurement.
Ramathuba, who constantly availed herself to the media since the start of the pandemic, was absent at the media briefing.
Mhlongo said: “The matters (of procurement) are driven by myself as a leader of operations. So, I’ve not invited the MEC.
“Whether the MEC has taken time off, I’m definitely not aware of that because she doesn’t report to me,” Mhlongo said.
Ramathuba herself had not responded to enquiries at the time of publication. Her comments would be added once received.
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