Q&A with Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi on schools sanitation tender

Why didn't you know about this?

By law the accounting officer is the sole person who deals with contracts, and he only reports to the MEC at the end of the year.

When did you first know?

When the journalist [Mark Heywood, who broke the story] asked me questions.

Wasn't there a departmental report before that?

Such reports go straight to National Treasury, they don't come to me.

You don't see your own department's reports?

On the payments or who has been appointed as contractor, not at all.

As MEC, don't you need to know what your budget is spent on?

This was on corona. Corona was not part of our [budgeted] procurement plan because we didn't know it would come. On any other things, like school buildings and stationery, I will know because it's part of our procurement plan. This was an emergency.

Did you know about the sanitation project?

I had no knowledge of the service providers or the amounts paid to them, or how they were selected. I only knew that we needed to make our classrooms ready and safe, and I was aware of companies that came to us to provide free services for deep cleaning of schools. Bidvest and many others.

So there were companies doing this for you for nothing?

Once off. Schools were opening in phases. Bidvest only did this for the first phase. We had responsibility to continue after that.

But you had no sight of what was being paid to other companies to do what Bidvest did for nothing?

That's the law. Politicians are told not to interfere with contracts. We must not be part of tendering, or briefed about who has been appointed, or know how they're selected. The department of health was doing this job for all of us, including [the department of] education ...

So why did your department have to procure these services?

When the department of health was hit by that PPE scandal, these responsibilities were taken back to the departments.

Do you think R431m was money well spent?

I was taken aback when I saw the figures, and I'm still worried. That's why I've asked the Special Investigating Unit, auditor-general and Hawks to investigate.

Didn't your department assure the portfolio committee that everything was above board?

Yes, in the meeting the HoD said everything was above board.

So he misled the committee?

We'll only know when the SIU, A-G and Hawks investigate.

Didn't the DA warn you these were dodgy transactions?

No-one wrote to me formally to say there are these dodgy accounts. I only knew when the journalist brought me questions.

Do you accept that companies with no expertise were paid millions?

The department got these service providers from the National Treasury's database.

So your officials are blameless?

They've written that in their statements but it must be verified. Anyone can say they used the database only to find they've not.