FS Health awards R76,5 million medicine supply tender to Sedtrade – double the cost of previous contract

21 November 2017

The financially beleaguered Free State Department of Health continues to suffer from acute medicine and staff shortages while medical facilities in the province are in a general state of decay.

In the audit outcomes for the 2016/17 financial year, the department recorded irregular expenditure of more than R3,5 billion. This is a massive amount of money.

But these woes do not end here. The department faces malpractice litigation claims of more than R1,5 billion.

Despite these problems, the department still sees it fit to squander money on what can only be regarded as corrupt tenders.

The latest allocation of a R76,5 million tender to Sedtrade over 36 months for the delivery of medication from the Provincial Depot to various clinics and hospitals in the province is an example of this.

This same tender was previously valued at R36 million and has increased by an extravagant R40,5 million.

Although the new specifications include barcoding and scanning equipment, the DA has determined from private sector distributors that this tender should not have exceeded about R44 million, including a substantial profit. This implies that this tender is overpriced by about R32 million.

Sedtrade already holds several lucrative provincial government contracts for the building of roads, housing developments, the supply of promotional materials, and will now supply medicine. It is astounding that a company which used to traditionally trade in clothing retail now enjoy such a diverse tender portfolio.

This whole affair reminds us of how the Guptas started out with the supply of computers to government departments and schools, and look where they are today, in control of the state president, Jacob Zuma.

The plundering of our state coffers leading up to the ANC’s elective conference with its uncertain outcomes is now a provincial sport.

Corruption makes poor people poorer and that is why the people of the Free State are among the poorest in the country.

The DA will not allow this plundering to continue and will follow all legal and other measures necessary to expose this blatant corruption and ensure that those responsible are brought to book.

Issued by David van Vuuren, DA Chief Whip in the Free State Provincial Legislature, 21 November 2017