Two KZN agency board members suspended amid probe into R50m tender

Two board members from KwaZulu-Natal’s Agribusiness Development Agency, Sinethemba Cele and Nkosentle Mngadi, have been placed on suspension amid a probe into a questionable R50 million tender allegedly given to a company with links to politicians

While the agency and the KZN government have cast a veil of secrecy over the suspensions and the probe, The Citizen can reveal that it is linked to the awarding of a R50 million tender to a company that came second in a tender bid.

The millions, approved for payment to AGB Finance (PTY), were sourced from the troubled National Skills Fund (NSF) for the agency to support previously disadvantaged farmers in KZN, according to an internal document seen by The Citizen.

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In the Agribusiness Development Agency’s internal memo to chairperson of the board, Willis Mchunu, who is also the former premier of KZN, its acting CEO Dr Nonhlanhla Myeni, motivated for the tender to be passed down to AGB Finance (PTY) and overrule the bid adjudication committee’s initial award to Umbuso Growth Management.

In the petitioning for the move, she claimed that her team established anomalies in the bid documents submitted by Umbuso Growth Management.

She recommended the tender be given to AGB Finance (PTY).

The Citizen has seen the letter from Myeni to Mchunu.

“The acting CEO conducted a thorough analysis on the potential bidders to establish the veracity of the information submitted by all bidders. This was triggered by glaring anomalies that were identified in Umbuso Trading Service’s bid documents,” the letter read.

Among the discrepancies Myeni said were picked by the verification process was that Umbuso Growth Management was not a joint venture as it claimed to be in its bid documents.

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Two months since that letter, the board has now placed Cele and Mngadi on suspension amid allegations of misconduct.

It’s not clear what the allegations against them are but The Citizen has it on good authority that their suspension relates to the tender.

The Board’s spokesperson Palesa Kwitshana would not be drawn into discussing the matter and referred questions to the shareholder of Agribusiness – the KZN Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD).

Mchunu also declined to comment, saying “matters of investigations into board members’ conduct are the responsibility of the MEC”.

The MEC’s spokesperson Lethu Nxumalo promised to issue a statement on Friday but failed to do so. Her comments will be added when received.

Myeni declined to comment on the matter and also referred questions to the MEC’s office.

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Efforts to get a comment from Cele and Mngadi were also unsuccessful at the time of going to print. Their comments will also be added once received.

Meanwhile, two senior officials at the National Skills Fund, from which the R50 million was taken from, have been charged by the Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation in connection with R5 billion that went missing.

The charges came after an audit uncovered that the entity could not account for the R5 billion.

Fraud and payment of suppliers for non-existing work was also uncovered by a forensic investigation commissioned by Minister Blade Nzimande.

NSF is an entity of Nzimande’s Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation.

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