Staff reporter
Bloemfontein – The supply chain and finance management in Free State Provincial Government (FSPG) are becoming the achilles heel of the seventh administration.
This after the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) paid two companies a combined total of R1.6 million for goods(laptops) they didn’t supply.
Sources with intimate knowledge say Nkanyi and Siya Enterprise and Waduku Projects were the two companies paid and nothing delivered.
According to BAS report in our possession Nkanyi and Siya Enterprise and Waduku Projects wer paid R958,616.00 and R911,680.45 respectively on the 10 May 2024, just before elections.
At the time the MEC was Teboho “Sulky” Mokoena who splashed tax payers money on hotels on arrival.
A senior official in FSPG familiar with procurement who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained how the process should have unfolded.
“In this specific case, the end user (IT) should have captured the goods and because it’s laptops, they should have been allocated to staff at least.”
Another interesting payment in the BAS report is that of R118.178 to the Midrand based, Hamba Lwethu Travel.
Hambo Lwethu Travel is the same travel agency that sent a quote directly to MEC Teboho “Sulky” Mokoena, MEC for COGTA and Human Settlements instead of SCM.
Could this be another travel gate?
Modiehi Moeng, Director of Strategic Communication at DARD said the matter has been reffered to law enforcement agencies and disciplinary action taken.
“Yes, this matter was reported to both AGSA and the Hawks. The department is fully co-operating with the law enforcement agencies in this matter. The case was registered at Park Road under CAS 1479/10/2024.
Yes, disciplinary action has been taken against employee(s) implicated.”
Moeng could not respond to other questions as the department view the matter as sub judice.
Below are questions we asked.
- Have these been reported to both AGSA and Hawks?
- Any action taken against employees implicated?
- What POEs were produced for payments to be processed?
- Apart from the two companies that were paid, how many companies were asked to respond to RFQ?
- What are their names?
- How many responded?
- How much did each company quote?
- Were the companies tax compliant?
In other news, Tshepo Nkhetse and Comeback Legegeru, acting SCM directors at COGTA and Education respectively, are on their way out.
This is a developing story.
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Might I suggest a return to primary school to learn some basic arithmetic?
R958,616.00 plus R911,680.45 gives a total of approximately 1.87 million, not 1.6 million….