Delays in finalising the investigation into the Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) school defogging scandal that occurred on the watch of Panyaza Lesufi, the then MEC of Education during the Covid-19 pandemic is hindering justice for the residents whose money was looted and shielding the corrupt individuals implicated.
GDE was opposing claims instituted by implicated service providers and the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) was tied up in a legal battle with the service providers.
The transactions were part of the scrutiny of Covid-related expenditure, where corruption, mainly by the Health Department, was highlighted. Lesufi claimed to be unaware of this expenditure in his department.
The defogging and deep-cleaning activities occurred between June and August 2020, where 270 companies were awarded contracts to the value of R431 million. Of these, seven companies were awarded contracts of more than R10 million, with the highest being R55,62 million. A further 62 companies were awarded contracts between R1 million and R10 million.
On the face of it, many of these companies appear to have had no expertise or involvement in the cleaning industry, with company names including words such as “bookshop”, “catering”, “travel” and “payroll”. This, together with the fact that neither the National Department of Health nor Education made defogging or fumigation a requirement, lends credence to the allegation that the process was manipulated to serve a motive other than value-for-money service delivery.
The Auditor-General flagged these transactions as a“material irregularity”, which is defined as any non-compliance with, or contravention of, legislation, fraud, theft or a breach of a fiduciary duty that resulted in or is likely to result in a material financial loss, the misuse or loss of a material public resource or substantial harm to a public sector, institution or the general public.
It is disconcerting that investigations into such matters do not enjoy a sense of urgency, since government absolves itself of responsibility and simply points fingers at the investigators.
A DA-led Gauteng government would drive speedier investigations to satisfy the public that awarding a defogging contract to companies that appear to have no expertise or experience, is not yet another scam by politicians, officials and tenderpreneurs to unlawfully enrich themselves at the expense of the public purse.
We will table follow-up questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to determine whether any progress has been made in this investigation.