Protector to probe R62m KZN mobile clinic tender

Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela is set to investigate a controversial R61 million tender that saw the KwaZulu-Natal health department lease a mobile clinic unit for R52.5 million. On Thursday evening, Madonsela’s spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi said: “The Public Protector has taken a decision to investigate the tender.” Masibi said she could not comment further on the tender or the investigations. The announcement follows a complaint lodged, first by the Inkatha Freedom Party in June last year, and then another by the Democratic Alliance in August last year. In October last year, Masibi confirmed to the African News Agency (ANA) that the Public Protector had launched a preliminary investigation ?to determine whether a full investigation of the tender was warranted. I?t was the outcome of this preliminary investigation that had led to the decision of a full investigation.

The now defunct South African Press Association (Sapa) reported in January 2015 that the KwaZulu-Natal health department had awarded the R61 million tender to two companies - Mzansi Lifecare and Mobile Satellite Technologies. Mzansi Lifecare was awarded a tender to lease a truck and trailer, equipped with a standard X-ray machine and ultrasound, to the department for R52.5 million over a period of three years. At the end of the lease period later this year the department will not own the lorry. The company, Mzansi Lifecare, was created a mere 17 days before the tender, ZNB 9281 / 2012-H, was advertised in the Government Gazette in June 2012. Former KwaZulu-Natal health department head Dr Sibongile Zungu signed off on the lease in August 2013, agreeing that the department would pay Mzansi Lifecare R1.5 million every month until August this year to lease the vehicle without staff.

When the tender made headlines in January 2015, it emerged that the department could have purchased outright four similar units from the United States. “That kind of money is crazy. If it cost that much, you already wasted four-and-a-half million [dollars],” was the reaction from Richard M Dinse, vice president of LifeLine Mobile, a company based in the US state of Ohio that manufactures such vehicles. “For the price they were charged, LifeLine could have delivered four identical vans to Durban. And, it wouldn’t be on a lease agreement; they would own all four of the vans.” He said the company could supply a 12-metre vehicle with a comparable floor plan with an X-ray and ultrasound machine for about US$1.1 (about R12.5 million at the time he commented). That price, he said, would include a tent, training and warranty costs. In October, police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi also confirmed that the Hawks were investigating the tender.

The department’s annual financial statements for the 2014/15 revealed that the department was negotiating to buy the leased truck and trailer. Sam Mkhwanazi said at the time he could not comment on the negotiations with Mzansi LifeCare because the tender was the subject of investigations. It is not currently known if a deal was struck to purchase the vehicle, and if so, at what price.