The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
TWO Bulawayo City Council employees have been implicated in a procurement scandal involving $1 million that was donated by the National Aids Council (Nac) for the procurement of Covid-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs).
The two are said to have hired a company that is not registered to supply hardware products to supply Covid-19 PPEs claiming that companies that were registered for this purpose were closed due to lockdown regulations.
The exposure of the two employees could be a tip of the iceberg with the council internal audit revealing that during the course of investigating this particular case, they had unravelled a number of fraudulent dealings within the local authority’s Procurement Management Unit inclusive of bid rigging.
According to a council confidential report, the local authority’s procurement manager, Mr Mlungelwa Khumalo had raised a red flag on the alleged mis-procurement of the donated funds which had led to the implication of Mrs Sikhangezile Mhlanga, the city’s acting procurement specialist and Ms Sithulisiwe Sithole, the acting tender officer in the tendering scam.
The two have now been singled out to face disciplinary action.
“A complaint was received from Mr M Khumalo, the city’s procurement manager that while reviewing documents relating to the procurement of PPE material for Covid-19 response, he observed that the evaluated and recommended suppliers for the supply of PPE material were ignored despite the fact that it was provided and it was a must to use these suppliers as per guidance of PRAZ. Only two quotations were sourced for each of the three transactions that were processed instead of the standard three or more, a wrong method of procurement was used for the procurement of disposable overalls,” reads the report.
In one of the misappropriation cases it was revealed that Harvest Africa Private Limited had quoted the local authority $654 000 for the supply of 600 non-woven gloves stating that their quotation was valid for three days but a day after quoting the local authority they gave an invoice that stated an inflated figure by $27 823.
“The increase was done within the quotation validity period and there is no written documentary evidence pertaining to request for price increase by Harvest Africa Private Limited. In addition, there is no written communication from PMU approving the price increase.
Responding to how the price increase was communicated, Mrs Mhlanga stated that the price increase was communicated through a WhatsApp message to Ms Sithole who, however, refuted that and instead stated that she received instructions from Mrs Mhlanga to effect that increase after Mrs Mhlanga had seen the increase on the invoice without any communication from the supplier,” reads the report.
The audit also noted that in some cases requisitions were made well after the procurement process was complete while in others planned and budgeted quantities and prices varied resulting in more funds being allocated.
“We confirmed that indeed quotations for disposable medical gowns were sought from Harvest Africa Private Limited and Privian International Private Limited, Like Privian International, Harvest Africa has no history of supplying medical supplies or PPE.
Harvest Africa had only supplied latex gloves in 2011 and dust masks in 2013.
“Moreover, the two suppliers have no record at PRAZ to show that registration for supplying PPE or any medical equipment, instead they have been registering for tools and hardware and various forms of piping,” reads the report.
In defending their decision to use suppliers that were not recognised, Mrs Mhlanga claimed that the notice board was not working due to Covid-19 restrictions and that many of the local authority’s suppliers were not open or had no stock, claiming it was going to take long to deliver.
“We noted that although the lockdown had been partially lifted on 3 May 2020, essential service organisations like pharmaceuticals and pharmacies were not affected as they were exempted. There is no evidence presented to show that the companies mentioned fall under essential services.
“The open pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies were not used to conduct a market consultation and if it was done there is no documentary evidence to show such process was done and additionally the use of one quotation from a company with no history or reputation of supplying medical supplies or PPE is not enough to declare a market survey,” reads the report.
The internal audit recommended that the two employees face appropriate disciplinary action and a criminal investigation be instituted against the companies and the employees.
