Parliament’s committee flags possible abuse of Covid-19 funds
Parliament's standing committee on public accounts members were left unimpressed by the lack of substantial explanations from the department of public works on the border fence project when questioned.
Parliament members said there was something ‘fundamentally wrong’ with the bidding process of the R37-million Beitbridge 40km border fence project and flagged possible abuse of Covid-19 funds in the process.
Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts members were left unimpressed by the lack of substantial explanations from the department of public works on the border fence project when questioned.
Following a public outcry on the pricing of the project and much questionable value for money of the fence, which since its erection has been vandalised daily with no maintenance patch up, in the costly contract. Minister of public works Patricia de Lille said she opened an investigation into the ’emergency tender process’.
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The process happened through a closed procedure that resulted in the awarding to a contractor that was already doing a maintenance project for the department.
“I wrote a letter to the auditor general (AG) Kimi Makwetu to request for an independent investigation into the emergency procurement of the 40km borderline infrastructure between South Africa and Zimbabwe.”
“The AG is currently busy with the investigation and we are still waiting on that.”
Aside from the AG’s investigations into the project, De Lille said the department was also conducting an internal investigation.
The department said it followed an ’emergency procurement process’ which was guided by national treasury regulations.
However, the monetary department said it was also concluding its investigation into the bidding processes, which would be finalised next week Friday.
The awarding of the contract was said to be based on 2016 competitive market analysis, which also took into account the pricing of the bidders. This led to ANC MP Bheki Hadebe to question the minister’s reasoning of the costly contract which was said to be was due to logistics and pressed time of the Covid-19 lockdown project.
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This did not sit well with the MP’s as the price was determined four years before the ‘unprecedented’ Covid-19 outbreak. Over three investigations have been launched to determine if the government got value for money or not and whether the tender process was transparent and fair.
After being questioned by unsatisfied MPs on the quality of the R37-million fence, De Lille also questioned herself, “Did we get the best value for money? That is exactly one of the issues I have asked the AG to investigate. What are the current market rate offences, who are the suppliers and all of that – the investigation will determine whether we got value for money.”
The department’s director-general Sam Vukela said the department did get the value for money as the contract was awarded the bid for fencing and not maintenance.
Vukela’s comment ruffled the feathers of the MPs as they did not believe the fence was worth the millions. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) chair chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said there was something fundamentally wrong in the bidding process of the ‘closed tender process’.
“Something is amiss. The pieces of the puzzle don’t seem to fit. What we see there doesn’t give us the comfort that you should have when you paid R37-million. It’s just chalk and cheese,” he said.
Hlengwa suspected there was corruption in the bidding processes as the department failed to answer many questions posed by the MPs.
“That border post, as far as this fence is concerned, is a disgrace to say the least. It is anchored in corruption, in wrongdoing, in favouritism and it is anchored in abuse of the disaster. It cannot be right.”
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The EFF‘s Veronica Mente questioned the quality standards the department applied in approving the fence. DA MP Samantha Jane Graham said the fence was ‘an exact replica’ of the fence before it, which was completely removed.
The department said the fence was new and not the same as the previous one. MP Alf Lees said it was inappropriate to take to a company that was not specialising in fencing to do the rushed job. The MPs said there was nothing special about the ‘R37-m Covid-19 fence’.
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