The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize to step down as controversy surrounding the R150 million Digital Vibes contract continues.
In a statement on Wednesday, DA spokesperson and shadow minister of health, Siviwe Gwarube, said “looting of public money” has occurred under Mkhize’s leadership “while there is a glaring conflict of interest.”
Minister ‘should step down’
“It cannot be that the very person entrusted with the COVID-19 response in the country is embroiled in this kind of scandal involving public money. Minister Mkhize should step down pending a full Special Investigative Unit (SIU) investigation,” Gwarube said.
“The Minister cannot be both the player and referee in an investigation that involves him directly. He must simply step down to allow the independent investigation to take its course and for President Cyril Ramaphosa to give an update on who will be criminally charged and held accountable for this grand theft.”
Daily Maverick‘s Scorpio investigative journalism unit first exposed the contract earlier this year and published an update this week.
According to its reports, Mkhize’s former associates allegedly pocketed around R90 million in suspicious payments flowing from a R150 million COVID-19 and National Health Insurance (NHI) contract.
The associates include Tahera Mathe, who was once Mkhize’s “personal spokesperson,” and Naadira Mitha, who was once his personal assistant.
Mathe and Mitha allegedly controlled Digital Vibes, the company that was awarded the contract by the Department of Health. The contract ran from March 2020 until February 2021.
Irregular contract
During a media briefing earlier on Wednesday, Mkhize said a forensic investigation had found that the contract was awarded irregularly in contravention of Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) prescripts.
“Irregularities include inconsistencies in the bid committees to a lack of disclosure of conflict of interest,” he said, adding that Mathe and Mitha were not his friends but “comrades.”
The Minister also denied personally benefitting from the contract, adding that a process of recovering some of the funds and instituting disciplinary proceedings against responsible officials is underway.
“[W]e will leave no stone unturned on this matter. Consequence management will be applied. A Senior Counsel has already been appointed to recover some of the money spent,” he said.