Former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize may still be criminally charged for his role in the Health Department's awarding of a R150m communications contract to Digital Vibes – a company he is closely linked to.

The SIU says Mkhize may have committed acts of criminality and caused irregular and wasteful expenditure by approving budgets for the contract.

This, notes News24, emerged yesterday when the unit briefed Scopa on the contract. According to a presentation by SIU head, Advocate Andy Mothibe, the allegations against Mkhize relate to his failure to execute his function in compliance with the Constitution.

Mothibe added: ‘His resignation will not affect our investigation. There are still allegations that are coming in and we are looking at that. Should evidence come our way, we will continue to look at that. The statement that says “may have committed criminal acts”, we say so because we have found evidence pointing to criminal action. That evidence was then referred to the NPA. All of those 19 referrals will be evaluated, and we are hoping that those charges will be sustained.’

Mothibe said action would be taken ‘very soon’.

Mkhize also allegedly failed in his general oversight responsibilities in respect of the affairs of the department and his obligations in terms of section 63 of the Public Finance Management Act.

Other allegations include: causing irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure to be incurred; committing acts of criminality; possible conflicts of interest in the appointment of Digital Vibes; negligence in approving budgets in respect of the National Health Insurance and Covid-19 media campaigns; and possibly acting contrary to a relevant Cabinet decision.

Full News24 report

Gross flouting of procurement processes and a 104% price inflation were among the irregularities in the Digital Vibes contract, notes a Mail & Guardian report.

The bypassing of procurement processes, according to the SIU, dated as far back as July 2019, when the Health Department initially wanted to give Digital Vibes a contract without inviting competitive bids. 

MPs heard how the National Treasury blocked the department in July 2019 from deviating ‘from normal procurement processes’ to appoint Digital Vibes. The department had asked the Treasury to approve the deviation on a ‘turnkey costing’ for 12 months to the value of R133m for the government’s communications and awareness strategy for the anticipated National Health Insurance (NHI). An open tender process was subsequently opened with two companies, including Digital Vibes, submitting bids.

According to the SIU, the bid evaluation committee scored Digital Vibes 100% on each criterion, ‘despite the fact that (it) had only had one year (of) experience’ and should have only received 60%. 

These findings were tabled by the SIU’s lead investigator on Digital Vibes, Advocate Johnny Le Roux, who told Scopa that the other, unnamed, bidder received a 60% score on experience despite being operational for five years. 

‘Digital Vibes quoted R141m and the second bidder quoted R69m. It should be noted that Digital Vibes was R72m (104%) more expensive than the second bidder,’ Le Roux said. 

The service level agreement for the NHI communication project between Digital Vibes and the Health Department was signed in November 2019. 

However, Le Roux said Mkhize only approved the total R132m budget for NHI communication in March last year, 199 days after the agreement was signed.

Digital Vibes only delivered Covid-19-related communications services.

Full Mail & Guardian report