Investigations into the acquisition of Personal Protective Equipment by the Departments of Social Development and Education in KwaZulu-Natal have found irregularities in some procurement processes.
This was confirmed by Premier Sihle Zikalala during a media briefing in Durban. He says the investigation also revealed that the provincial Department of Social Development procured blankets for homeless shelters at exorbitant prices.
11 service providers were given purchase orders prior to the approval of their procurement submissions.
“As a result of the above, the investigation concluded that all payments made to the service providers are irregular to the tune of R13 630 229.50. Had the Department applied the regulated prizes and processes correctly it would have saved R2 231 996.21.” #GrowingKZNTogether pic.twitter.com/wqxFJwUu5K
— KZN Provincial Gov (@kzngov) July 21, 2020
Zikalala says disciplinary actions will be taken against officials who were involved.
“Some of the service providers exceeded the minimum amount of purchase as regulated under Treasury Instruction Note. In some instances, quotations were changed three times and on each occasion, the quantities of items were reduced in order to reduce the total cost of procurement. However, most noticeably, there was no reduction of the pricing per unit. The investigation concluded that all payments made to service providers are irregular to the tune of R13 630 229.”
Zikalala says the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education bought their PPEs within the budget that was allocated by Treasury.
“The negotiations led to the prices being revised in favour of the department and inclusive of everything, the department eventually procured and inclusive package at the cost less than that set by the National Treasury. The report indicates that in all cases, the Department of Education did not go beyond the maximum prices recommended by National Treasury. In fact, most of the order prices are much lower than the prices that were recommended by the National Treasury. There is a trail of evidence that indicates that the department’s approach yielded savings to the government.”
