SIU Covid19 Expenditure Report Reveals Nearly 100% Increase in PPE Prices for Gauteng Tender

• The Special Investigating unit's report on government expenditure in response to the Covid-19 pandemic revealed multiple instances of PPE fraud
• One of the governmental actors involved in the alleged fraud is the Gauteng Health Department, which overpaid by nearly 100% for PPE
• In the Free State, Ben Moseme has been accused of securing overpriced and fraudulent PPE tenders from the provincial government

JOHANNESBURG - Yesterday (25 January), the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) released a report on the government's spending during the Covid-19 pandemic. The report revealed that the majority of the expenditure was irregular and fraudulent.

The report led to the SIU launching an investigation into the Gauteng Health Department, after the unit found that the department overpaid by nearly 100% for PPE.

An example of the PPE fraud in Gauteng is that Mlangeni Brothers Events CC received R24 million in a contract with the province's health department to supply 100 000 boxes of gloves, News24 reports.

Read also

R42 million spent on Covid19 camp for Cape Town's homeless people

SIU refers PPE tender fraud suspect to NPA

Ben Moseme, a businessman from the Free State and close associate of Ace Magashule, was referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) by the SIU due to his alleged involvement in the PPE tender fraud scandal, according to The Sowetan.

Moseme is accused of securing two fraudulent PPE tenders from the Free State provincial government by using his company, C-Squared Consumer Connectedness. One of the two tenders was worth R4.9 million.

“It was found the procurement process followed ... did not comply with section 217 of the constitution as it was not fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective,” the SIU said in their report.

South Africans react to PPE tender fraud revelations in the SIU report

Read also

ISS reports on staffing challenges facing SAPS, limited resources and mass retrenchment

@zipreeper asked:

"How else must BEE beneficiaries survive?"

@MurrayMam believes:

"Covid from start to finish was a well-planned money-making scamdemic where so many insiders caused total havoc to the economy of SA and the public were fleeced politically and medically."

@MrBhiyo remarked:

"Ja no."

@Jessica52363352 asked:

"Fancy gloves, but the bigger question is who are they related to in the ANC?"

Covid19 Government spending made public in SIU report, 2 803 irregular contracts

In earlier news about this case, Briefly News reported that on (25 January, the Special Investigating Unit said the South African government's Covid-related expenditure public. President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised this report.

The SIU's report investigated a total of 5 467 contracts between the government and various service providers since the advent of the pandemic. The combined value of these contracts is R14.3 billion.

Of the 5467 contracts, the SIU has analysed 4 549 of them and discovered that 62% of them (2803 contracts) amount to irregular expenditure. As a result, 45 of these irregular contracts have been forwarded to the Special Tribunal for further investigation.

Source: Briefly News