Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cape Town – On Wednesday the standing committee on public accounts will discuss the government having an open tender system for the storage and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.
The committee has been calling for the open tender system to avoid corruption in the system.
This follows the widespread looting in the PPE tender scandal a few months ago when some of the people and companies were implicated by various investigations by agencies including the Hawks, the auditor-general and the Special Investigating Unit.
Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the committee had written to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Health Minister Zweli Mkhize about the open tender system.
“The committee has requested the two ministers… to ensure that there is a transparent public adjudication of the tender processes. Furthermore, the committee calls upon the executive to ensure that all normal tender processes are adhered to according to Note 3 of the National Treasury Regulations and the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA),” said Hlengwa.
“According to the committee, the distribution of the vaccine is a turning point in the fight against Covid-19 and, therefore, the country cannot afford the recurrence of maladministration and fraud in the tender process for the vaccine as it happened in the procurement processes for personal protective equipment (PPE).
“The committee said it is important to close all the gaps and loopholes that can be exploited by those who want to benefit from this pandemic that has taken lives of thousands of South Africans.”
He said the budget was stretched to the limit and they could no longer afford more funds to be lost because of irregularities in the procurement system.
Political Bureau
