Johannesburg - The DA in Gauteng is fuming after the provincial government awarded a R350 million tender to the former general manager of Dinokeng Tourism, Solani Mtetwa, for accommodation and training facilities for Panyaza Lesufi’s traffic wardens.
Dinokeng Tourism is one of the government entities under the Department of Economic Development.
These revelations emerged after DA’s Shadow MEC for Finance, Adriana Randall, asked questions in the provincial legislature to the MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko.
In her questions, Randall asked Mazibuko whether any business was done with any of the companies, including Mvelenhle Construction, Sebedisanang Trading and Projects, Yonga Waste, Management Co-Operative Limited, Mopani Lodge Resort, Solan Accountants, Bala Accountants, Humelela Events Management, Ronsol Agri Farming, The Accountants and Auditors Lab, Dinokeng Tourism Organization, Jobe Motors, Yonga Waste Management Co-Operative Limited, Bhubesini Primary Co-Operative Limited, Sowell Motors Primary Co-Operative Limited Bunelani 30 Primary Co-Operative Limited and Mopani Lodge Resort.
Mtetwa is an active director in all these companies.
In her reply, Mazibuko confirmed that she did business with Solan Accountants, saying it was for the “provision for accommodation and training facility of six thousand (6000) crime prevention peace wardens.”
Mazibuko said the government paid Mtetwa R350 million for a period of four months.
Randall said this was not the first time that the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) had done business with Solan Accountants. A total of R73 599 05 was spent by Dinokeng Tourism on Mopani Lodge Resort during the 2022/2023 financial year.
“It is worrying that Solan Accountants are benefiting from government tenders,” said Randall.
“It is still unclear if Mtetwa had signed a declaration while in the employ of Dinokeng Tourism that she is the director of the company that was doing business with them. Mtetwa’s company appears to have an unfair advantage over other companies that may have submitted a tender to train the 6000 Traffic Wardens,” she said.
Randall said a forensic investigation must be conducted into all tenders awarded to this company by the GPG, saying the DA would be submitting follow up questions to determine if the other companies have put in a tender to provide accommodation and training for the Traffic Wardens.
“Our residents deserve a government that assists in developing SMMEs, especially those that operate in the township economy. This will help assist in stimulating the township economy by creating job opportunities for our unemployed residents,” she said.
These revelations also came as the government had, over the years, tried to implement measures to prevent public servants doing business with the state.
As of April 2020, there were up to 1 539 public service employees who were thought to have conducted business with the state. Of those, 1 111 were from the provincial departments, and 428 from national departments.
According to the government, that required disciplinary action if it was proven to be true, but it was also a criminal act that required law enforcement intervention so it could be dealt with.
To monitor the implementation of the regulations, the department had introduced several initiatives. From March 2017, National Treasury had started to monitor all new registrations of public service employees on the online central supplier database (CSD) system by matching prospective suppliers against the personnel salary (PERSAL) system, using an identification number. When a match was obtained, the person was flagged and was then required to provide proof that he/she was not a public service employee before registration continued.