Telecommunications giant MTN has lost a Special Tribunal exception application in connection with the alleged irregular supply of mobile devices for COVID-19 screening to the Limpopo Department of Health.
This, after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) launched an investigation into the affairs of that department which – the unit insists – “revealed that MTN made an unsolicited proposal to supply the department with 10 000 cellphone devices intended for COVID-19 mass screenings” in that province.
According to the SIU, this proposal cost the department R10 million and falls outside the prescripts of the Public Finance Management Act. The Department of Health accepted the proposal and subsequent delivery of the devices, it adds.
“The SIU’s investigation also found that the former head of the department, Dr Thokozani Florence Mhlongo, as the accounting officer, allegedly exposed the department to a wasteful expenditure when she authorised the procurement and payment of 10 000 cellphones to the value of R10 million for COVID-19 household screening.
“The department could only manage to distribute 388 of the 10 000 cellphones between September 2020 and March 2021, and the cellphones were distributed without the required screening application,” the SIU says.
The corruption-busting unit adds it has instituted civil action in the Special Tribunal “to review and set aside the contract and recover financial losses suffered by the Limpopo Department of Health”.
So far, the SIU says it has successfully interdicted the pension payout of Dr Mhlongo after she resigned from her position as head of the department in the face of disciplinary action.
“The SIU is also empowered to institute civil action in the High Court or a Special Tribunal in its name to address any wrongdoing uncovered during investigations related to acts of corruption, fraud, or maladministration. In line with the Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act 74 of 1996, the SIU refers any evidence of criminal conduct it uncovers to the National Prosecuting Authority for further action,” the unit says.
Responding to the allegations, MTN SA tells ITWeb in an e-mail: “MTN can confirm that it submitted the proposal to the Limpopo Department of Health (DOH) for the supply of 10 000 cellphone devices, which proposal was accepted by the DOH in April 2020. MTN supplied the devices and DOH paid for the devices accordingly.”
It notes that the SIU issued summons against the then Limpopo DOH director-general and MTN, claiming that payment made to MTN is fruitless expenditure and that MTN must be disgorged of profit it made from the transaction.
“MTN applied for exception of the summons on the basis that they did not disclose a cause of action and they never alleged anything unlawful and unconstitutional done by MTN. The Special Tribunal dismissed MTN’s exception application. We are now considering the summons on the merits of the case and will prepare MTN’s plea in answer to the summons,” it concludes.
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