Mvoko said: “Doing business with government while you are the employee of the same government that pays your salary constitutes a serious breach of government regulations. To address this, the head of provincial Treasury has written injunction letters on conflict of interest to all affected institutions to demand immediate action.”
He said the conduct by the affected officials could lead to criminal prosecution in terms of the public administration management act, came into effect on April 1 2019.
The act states that government and municipal employees may not do business with the state or be a director of a public or private company conducting business with the state.
Any person found guilty of the offence is liable to a fine, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both such a fine and imprisonment, and may result in the termination of employment, Mvoko said.
“The directive issued by the office of the premier, dated August 19 2019, states that 'the head of department should note that he or she will be held to account for failing to act against any official who is found to have contravened the statutory provisions',” he said.
He said all officials in the value chain of supply chain processes must be held to account.
“The department should also mention what measures it has implemented to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future.”
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Eastern Cape Treasury on trail of state officials involved in Covid tenders
Image: Eugene Coetzee
The Eastern Cape Treasury has given administration bosses of departments that awarded Covid-19 tenders to state employees until Wednesday to explain why the conflict of interest was not picked up.
This, after 10 public servants were red-flagged for doing business with provincial and local government since the global health pandemic hit the province in March.
The 10 state employees secured contracts worth a combined R24m to supply Covid-19 personal protective equipment from the provincial government.
Their names formed part of the list released last week by the provincial Treasury in line with Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s call for provinces to publish the information of companies that had been awarded tenders by government to maintain accountability, transparency and ethical behaviour.
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In a statement on Sunday night, finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko said the 10 workers had breached stipulated regulations by doing business with government, saying he had written, demanding answers to senior officials in the implicated departments, including education, transport and health.
This comes after a huge public uproar over suspected corruption in the procurement of personal protective equipment, which led to President Cyril Ramaphosa signing a proclamation for the Special Investigative Unit to probe the allegations.
The list revealed that 73% of the orders for PPE, totalling R875m, went to Eastern Cape suppliers.
The biggest contract — worth R63m — was given to a company in Tshwane.
The lists showed that the provincial health department topped the list that procured Covid-19-related goods and services with a R628.9m, bill, education R545.4m transport R5.9m, social development R3.8m and the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency R3.6m.
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Mvoko said: “Doing business with government while you are the employee of the same government that pays your salary constitutes a serious breach of government regulations. To address this, the head of provincial Treasury has written injunction letters on conflict of interest to all affected institutions to demand immediate action.”
He said the conduct by the affected officials could lead to criminal prosecution in terms of the public administration management act, came into effect on April 1 2019.
The act states that government and municipal employees may not do business with the state or be a director of a public or private company conducting business with the state.
Any person found guilty of the offence is liable to a fine, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both such a fine and imprisonment, and may result in the termination of employment, Mvoko said.
“The directive issued by the office of the premier, dated August 19 2019, states that 'the head of department should note that he or she will be held to account for failing to act against any official who is found to have contravened the statutory provisions',” he said.
He said all officials in the value chain of supply chain processes must be held to account.
“The department should also mention what measures it has implemented to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future.”
DispatchLIVE
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