The FF Plus will lodge a complaint with the Public Protector (PP) against the Gauteng Department of Education for spending R431 million on sanitizing schools in the province. The staggering amount of money was spent in just three short months – June to August 2020.
In November last year, the FF Plus voiced its concern after it came to light that the Gauteng Department of Education spent R98 million on sanitizing schools in September alone.
The amount of R98 million was paid out to 28 different service providers, many of which seem to have shelf company names and were, thus, probably only recently established. Many of the names of the companies that were awarded tenders contain the words “Trading” or “Consulting”, which is indicative of the standard names often associated with shelf companies. Many of the companies’ names also seem strange when compared to the service that they are expected to render, i.e. decontaminating buildings.
According to the Minister of Education, Angie Motshekga, it is not necessary to deep-clean schools, only surfaces must be cleaned. In addition, Bidvest sponsored the cleaning process for many schools and various other schools paid for it out of their own pockets.
The FF Plus will ask the PP to find out whether deep cleaning really was done at the schools in question, whether it really was necessary and whether any of the actions taken are irregular.
The PP will also be tasked with determining whether the companies that were awarded the tenders really were able to provide the services, who owns or controls the said companies, when these companies were established and whether or not this was just a self-enrichment scheme.
The PP must further determine if the money was fraudulently spent and if so, how the money will be recovered.
Given the ANC in Gauteng’s sordid history with Covid-19 tenders, the FF Plus will make doubly sure that the complaint against the Gauteng Department of Education is thoroughly investigated.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Adv Anton Alberts on FF Plus
