KZN DSAC officials must be charged after spending R7.8million on undelivered library magazines

11 May 2023

In April last year, the DA raised red flags after KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) made a whopping R7.8million upfront payment on library magazine subscriptions.

While Treasury Regulations provide for pre-payments, this method should be avoided at all costs given that there is no guarantee that the goods will be delivered. Regrettably, this is what took place in this instance.

Documents confirming the payments, which are in the DA’s possession, also reveal that the address linked to the company in question is a residential flat and not a business able to supply R7.8 million worth of magazines.

The documents further reveal that the same company was one of a panel of service providers appointed to provide library books, a process that had to be halted after the Auditor-General (AG) found that the system was irregular.

According to the Central Suppliers Database, the company is also not a VAT vendor despite an annual turnover of more than R10 million.

A business must register for VAT if the total value of taxable supplies made in any 12 consecutive months exceeds R1 million. This means that the company is not tax compliant and should have been disqualified from the tender process.

It is also astonishing that the DSAC opted for magazine subscription services given that our postal service has collapsed. Magazines and newspapers are available online at a fraction of the cost.

A monthly premium subscription of less than R500 allows access to more than 7 000 magazines and newspapers, locally and internationally, which can be downloaded to read at home.

This is proof, yet again, that the DSAC’s priority is looting public funds rather than service delivery. It has now been confirmed that, despite the DA raising the alarm a full year ago, none of the magazines have been delivered to libraries to date.

The DA appeals to Acting MEC, Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi to take this matter seriously and investigate and charge the relevant vultures within this department for this ongoing fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

We remain committed to ensuring full accountability from this ANC-run government.

Issued by Bradley Singh, DA KZN Spokesperson on Sports, Arts and Culture, 11 May 2023