Gauteng Health's R500m rip-off revealed
Health officials in Gauteng placed orders for personal protection equipment (PPE) and other products related to the fight against Covid-19 at a cost of more than R500m above market-related prices, says a report on the latest Scorpio investigation featured on the Daily Maverick site.
It says its investigation of the Gauteng Department of Health’s (GDH) procurement of products such as face masks, surgical gloves and hand sanitiser reveals that department officials ordered a range of items at a cost of R1.28bn, while these same items could have been bought at a cost of only R776.5m.
This means the GDH’s contentious PPE suppliers collectively inflated their prices by a whopping R507.5m, or 65%, compared to goods on offer in the open market.
Scorpio says it only managed to assess about half of the GDH’s total expenditure for PPE and related goods.
The total over-expenditure figure could grow as more data on government’s expansive PPE procurement drive becomes available.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
