Bling-Bling General: DA writes to Public Protector

Following reports in today's Business Day that the Minister of Communications, Siphiwe Nyanda, is to suspend his Director-General Mamodupi Mohala following her refusal to approve tenders to companies linked to him, I will be writing to the Public Protector requesting an investigation of all state tenders awarded to companies linked to the Minister of Communication, Siphiwe Nyanda.

This latest incident is just another in a long list of tender scandals that the Minister has been embroiled in and it is has now become necessary that all tenders involving companies linked to the Minister be investigated in order to determine whether there were any other irregularities in their awarding. It is at the very least highly suspicious that the Minister seems to want to remove the key obstacle to his handling his department and its finances in its entirety. Why is the Minister seeking to revert control of all departmental tenders to himself? There can be no justification for all major departmental spending to be centralized in one person. It runs against all the basic tenets of good governance and ideas like accountability, competition and transparency, as listed in the Public Finance Management Act.

Worse still the Minister already has serious suspicions and allegations of benefitting from tender irregularities hanging over him. So not only are we talking about the creation of personal financial fiefdom, but that it will be centred on someone whose track record is not beyond reproach.

Currently, the Public Protector is investigating a R67.8-million tender unlawfully awarded to General Nyanda Security (GNS) Risk Advisory (now renamed Abalozi), a company in which Nyanda has a 50% stake. However, it is vital that the Public Protector also investigate the following tenders awarded to GNS:

• A R19-million tender irregularly awarded to GNS by dismissed Transnet boss Siyabonga Gama. The cost of the tender is said to have escalated to R55-million.

• A tender to award ‘various security-related functions' to the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

• An alleged tender from the Gauteng Provincial Government to investigate and protect the provincial government garage.

This matter now needs to be investigated by the Public Protector. Tenders are there to ensure the public gets best value for its money when it comes to service delivery. If those tenders, however, are used to benefit the individual decision makers, it is to the public's detriment. And so the Public Protector needs to intervene on their behalf.

The DA will furthermore be issuing parliamentary questions to establish what other state departments and entities have contract with Nyanda-linked companies and will also be asking the Ministry of Communications what bearing this has on the adoption of the standard to be used for digital migration .

Statement issued by Niekie van den Berg, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of communications, July 15 2010

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