WeeklySA_AdminLIE: Former minister Zweli Mkhize under spotlight
By Monk Nkomo
NOW that the Special Investigations Unit has completed its investigations into the misconduct of certain national department of health officials in the illegal awarding of the National Health Insurance media campaign contract, the question still remains : Why did these implicated officials approve unlawful payments of millions of rands? Did they also benefit from the company that was illegally awarded the contract?
The SIU has already established that the former Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize did benefit. So did his son. What remains is for the SIU to probe further and establish if there had been any exchange of money between the company at the centre of the storm, Digital Vibes, and the officials fingered in the unauthorized payments of R150 million to Digital Vibes.
The storm is not yet over.
In their scathing report that also exposed Mkhize as a liar, the SIU was silent on whether those officials implicated, including the so-called master-mind, Dr. Anband Pillay, financially benefited from their unlawful role in the awarding of the contract to Digital Vibes as well as the irregular payments of millions of rands to the company. The investigation and findings would put to rest the scandal that has rocked the health department and resulted in the former Minister quitting his job.
The officials implicated in the scandal were so daring in defrauding the institution that even unauthorized personnel, approved unlawful payments worth millions to Digital Vibes which is at the centre of public outrage because of the wasted millions that could have been put to better use in improving the lives of poor people.
Following an intense investigation, the Special Investigations Unit has established that payments worth millions were paid to Digital Vibes without following the necessary National Treasury procedures. This seemed like a well orchestrated move which also involved the former Minister of Health.
The mission seemed to have been accomplished before the bidding started. The contract to render communication services in respect of the National Health Insurance was to be awarded to Digital Vibes at all cost and at a whopping R150 million although the initial quote was R14i million.
Driving this narrative was Dr. Anban Pillay, who was Acting Director -General of the national department of health at the time. The SIU found that the appointment of Digital Vibes was based on an arbitrary decision by Pillay which was seemingly made even before Digital Vibes submitted its quote. The SIU has since recommended that Pillay be criminally prosecuted for financial misconduct. In a letter dated May 11, 2020 he (Pillay ) requested approval to deviate from normal procurement procedures and also made numerous intentional misrepresentations to the National Treasury in an attempt to obtain belated approval to deviate. This indicated a commitment of fraud, according to the SIU report.
The SIU also established that Digital Vibes which was owned by Radha Hariram and had tendered for the contract, was actually fronting for Tahera Mather and Naadhira Mitha and as a result had committed acts of money laundering after having been irregularly allocated the contract.
Mather, according to the report, was involved with Mkhize as early as May 30, 2019 or shortly thereafter as his Strategic Communications Advisor. On July 12, that year, Mkhize attempted to appoint Mather as a Communications Expert for the department in respect of the envisaged NHI media campaign. Three days later, he (Mkhize) sent a whatsapp message to Precious Matsoso, who was Director-General of the department of health, asking her to sort out ‘’ contractual arrangements’’.
In their report, the SIU said it was apparent from the contents of the whatsapp message that Mkhize was giving instructions to the DG. “ At best, this conduct on the part of the Minister was improper and at worst , the conduct was unlawful as it constituted an interference by the authority in the affairs of the administrative authority of the national department of health.’’
According to the chronology of events, these occurences took place about four and a half months before the Service Level Agreement between the department of health and Digital Vibes was signed on November 29, 2019. Mather and Mitha were then appointed as purported contractors by Digital Vibes for the media campaign contract.
Between January 20 and June 16, 2020, Mkhize then approved budgets amounting to about R132 million in respect of the NHI and Covid-19 media campaigns. A total R46 million for the NHI media campaign was approved 52 days after the Service Level Agreement had been signed between the department and Digital Vibes.The R85 million for NHI media campaign was approved by Mkhize more than six months after the agreement was signed between the department and Digital Vibes.
‘’In these circumstances the Minister should at least have raised concerns regarding the belated budget approval request and the fact that the budget had already been allocated to a service provider (Digital Vibes) where budget allocations are normally aligned to a need being identified before a Supply Chain Management is launched’’, the SIU said.
The SIU said Mkhize, at a media briefing held on May 21, 2021, had lied when he said he and his family did not benefit from Digital Vibes. From the evidence gathered, the SIU established that the company paid R6720 for repairs at a property belonging to him (Mkhize).
The SIU also established that Digital Vibes on May 2, 2020 transferred R300 000 via a company belonging to Mather, to a company belonging to Mkhize’s son.
Two days later, Digital Vibes paid R160 000 to a Pietermaritzburg car dealership in respect of a 2003 Toyota Land Cruiser for Mkhize’s son. At the time of these transactions , the department of health had transferred nearly R50 million to Digital Vibes for services related to the Covid-19 media campaign.
On May 26, 2021 Mkhize denied at a media briefing that he and his family had benefited from the deal. ‘’ This denial was, objectively speaking, untrue, as the Minister’s son and the Minister himself ( via property belonging to him) had directly benefited from Digital Vibes, who in turn, had benefited from the national department of health contracts’’, the SIU said.
Evidence obtained indicated that the procurement process in respect of the NHI and Covid 19 media campaigns, were irregular and the subsequent contracts were void.
The national department of health incurred wasteful expenditure of R72 million which is the difference that was quoted by another company offering the same services. Brandswell had submitted a quote of R69 million for provision of the same services but was rejected – unfairly – by the department of health’s Technical Evaluation Committee
According to the SIU the following department of health officials approved invoices that were submitted by Digital Vibes :
Ms. P. Ngobese ( Senior Administrative Officer : Affordable Medicine) R69, 428, 952.
Popo Maja ( Chief Director : Communications and Stakeholder Development) R61,876,121
Dr. Abna Pillay ( Deputy Director General: Health Regulation and
Compliance Management R10, 352,300
T. Chidakire ( Director : Prevention Strategies) SUB TOTAL R143, 505,107
The SIU said they had enough evidence justifying the institution of disciplinary action against Pillay for financial misconduct, gross dereliction of duty and gross negligence. They also recommended that he should be criminally prosecuted. The SIU also found that :
• Maja approved payments to Digital Vibes which were not in line with National Treasury approved amounts. His conduct undermined the financial management of the department of health which paid excessive amounts to Digital Vibes.
• Shireen Pardesi ( Chief Director of the department and TEC member). She approved a request memorandum for payment of R35 906 450 to Digital Vibes on March 24, 2020. This expenditure was not in line with National Treasury approved amounts and had resulted in unauthorized and irregular payments to Digital Vibes.
• Senzeni Ngubane ( TEC member). Grossly and negligently failed to apply the required evaluation criteria correctly , fairly and consistently which resulted in Brandswell company being unfairly and incorrectly deemed to not have achieved the minimum threshold of 60% for functionality.
• Reginald Ngcobo (TEC member).Grossly and negligently failed to apply the required evaluation criteria correctly , fairly and consistently which resulted in Brandswell company being unfairly and incorrectly deemed to not have achieved the minimum threshold of 60% for functionality.
• Dr. S.S.S. Buthelezi ( Current Director – General of the department of health).After assuming duties he gave instructions that all NHI and Covid-19 media campaign -related matters must be centralized in his office. He allowed payments to Digital Vibes amounting to about R60 million which payments constituted irregular expenditure. He should have conducted a comprehensive due diligence exercise before allowing such payments, the SIU said.
• Ms. P. Ngobese ( Admin. Clerk and Personal Assistant).She approved payments to the value of R69, 428,952 to Digital Vibes without having the necessary authority to do so due to her position.
• Ian van der Merwe (Chief Financial Officer of the department of health). He allowed payments of R25 909 884 to be made to Digital Vibes contrary to the National Treasury approved amount and also allowing payments to be made to Digital Vibes without a Purchase Order as required in terms of the national department of health procurement policy.
• The SIU recommended that disciplinary action must also be instituted against Maja, Pardesi, Buthelezi, Ngubane, Ngobese, Ngcobo and Van der Merwe.
• The SIU has also obtained enough evidence justifying the blacklisting of Digital Vibes from conducting business with the public sector.
• They have also briefed lawyers with an intention to institute court proceedings to recover money that had been irregularly paid by the national department of health.
