Halalaaaa R39.1m Free State PPE scandal halalaaaaaaaaa  

Pressure is mounting on the Free State Premier Sefora Ntombela to at least indicate what she has done since she received the Special Tribunal judgment which was handed on the 31st January 2022.  
 
Judge Lebogang Modiba set aside the R39 150 739.60 tender which was awarded to 36 companies under SCMQ 11/2020: COVID-19 following an application by the Special Investigative Unit’s Chief Forensic Investigator, Johannes Hendrik Nicolaas Nepgen.
 
Step UP SA News reported a total of 231 331 surgical gowns were discovered to have not been sterilized as required.
 
Background: The Free State PPE scandal has been a hotly debated topic since the news broke late in 2020. The President also gave a go-ahead to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate the misuse of Covid-19 funds.
 
According to the tribunal, Modiba invalidated the appointment of 36 companies that won contracts worth R39.1 million.
 
Modiba ruled that respondents’ entities are to be divested of the profit they have derived or stand to derive from [contracts].
 
She also ordered that the SIU should enlist the services of an appropriate independent expert to assess the surgical gowns.
 
Modiba also directed that companies, which were found to have supplied surgical gowns that were not up to standard, to supply audited financial statements reflecting “all the money due or received”.
 
The SIU referred 27 suppliers who provided incorrect gowns and committed fraud by providing false addresses in bid documents to National Prosecuting Authority.
 
Its been full five months since the judgment was handed.
 
Halala R39.1m Free State PPE scandal halalaaaaaaa

Palesa Chubisi, spokesperson to Free State Premier Sefora Ntombela did not respond to our questions including if any of the recommendations have been implemented.

 
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