Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube deserves all the credit for halting the issuing of a R9.8 billion tender which would have centralised procurement for the National School Nutrition Programme under a single provider.
The DA is seemingly “making all the right moves” in the Government of National Unity (GNU), much to the annoyance of its coalition partner, the ANC.
That the party is on a mission to make a good impression about its governance, judging by how quickly it has hit the ground running, is clearly there for all to see.
It is important not to forget that the groundwork did not start two months ago when the GNU was formed.
The foundation was laid out by the predecessors, who were ANC deployees. Perhaps it’s here that some in the ANC may feel hard done by.
For instance, Sihle Zikalala, the now deputy minister of Public Works and Infrastructure’s role is hardly recognised in unearthing the cybercrime-related matter that resulted in a staggering R300 million stolen from the department over the past decade.
Before him, Patricia de Lille was seized with the process of getting to the bottom of this issue.
While the newfound excitement in the affairs of government gives hope that things may be finally turning for the better, there are already notable instances where the DA’s double standards and hypocrisy become evident.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube deserves all the credit for halting the issuing of a R9.8 billion tender which would have centralised procurement for the National School Nutrition Programme under a single provider. It’s unimaginable that so much money was to be spent on one supplier.
The same outrage, however, was missing when the DA-led Western Cape Education Department (WCED) under then-MEC Debbie Schäfer, awarded a multimillion-rand PPE tender to one company, which did not have a website and was registered under a residential address.
The Special Investigating Unit is currently before the courts challenging the decision, which resulted in Masiqhame Trading 1057 cc supplying over 95% of the WCED PPE in response to the Covid-19 pandemic between April 1 and July 31 at a cost of about R322.8 million.
How the DA conveniently chose to turn a blind eye on this issue makes its stated objective of a clean and accountable government nothing but rhetoric, just like its coalition partner the ANC in fighting corruption.
Cape Times
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