DA requests Public Protector to probe R1,3 billion Set-Top Box tender
16 August 2017
The DA has lodged a request with the Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, to investigate possible corruption in the process undertaken by the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA) to procure 1,5 million government-sponsored Set-Top Boxes (STBs), satellite dishes and antennae at a cost of R1,3 billion.
Depending on the Public Protector’s findings, our request also asks for Mkhwebane to recommend that the entire procurement process be cancelled and to suggest possible criminal investigations.
The STB orders, placed with six companies in August 2015, were part of the first share in government’s plan to give 5 million STBs, satellite dishes and antennae to qualifying indigent households at a cost - estimated in 2015 - of R4,3 billion in 2015.
In 2015, in response to my concerns about the procurement process, former Minister of Communications Faith Muthambi requested National Treasury to investigate the process and this report was delivered to her, as the custodian of the Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) programme in April 2016.