Public Protector must investigate most recent Cele tender scandal
Reports today reveal that suspended National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele signed off on a R26 million tender awarded to a businessman who allegedly showered top police officials with expensive gifts to approve the deal.
Thoshan Panday, owner of Goldcoast Trading, was awarded the tender to provide accommodation for 1 280 police officers during the World Cup. Other earlier police deals to which Mr Panday is linked are currently under investigation.
There appear to have been a range of irregularities in the awarding of the World Cup accommodation tender, including:
- The contract did not go out to tender, which violates Treasury rules that state all contracts worth more than R500 000 must be subject to a competitive tender process.
- Cele signed the deal after his officials said that there was no time "to advertise the bid", despite the fact that Treasury rules state that the absence of proper planning is not a viable excuse for not pursing a competitive tender process.
- Mr Panday reportedly showered three key police officials with gifts in return for their approval of the deal. These gifts include paying a car rental bill for Major-General Ravi Pillay, who certified the World Cup tender as being urgent, paying R43 500 for the college fees of the son of Captain Aswin Narainpershad, the KwaZulu-Natal police supply chain manager who dealt with the accommodation quotes, paying R8 584 for flights for the family of the KwaZulu-Natal police supply-chain head, Colonel Navin Madhoe, and paying R60 000 for a car that was registered in Colonel Madhoe's son's name.
This recent tender scandal must be seen in the context of the ongoing attempts to discredit KwaZulu-Natal Hawks Boss Johan Booysen, who is leading the investigation into the earlier police deals to which Mr Panday is linked. In September last year, Mr Panday and Colonel Madhoe were arrested after being accused of trying to pay Major-General Booysen R2 million to obtain access to a piece of evidence being used in the investigation into the deals.